---
title: Pot Liquor or Potlikker?
tags:
  - exclude-from-word-count
  - type/media/article
authors:
  - Zell Miller
journal: New York Times
pages: "18"
source: _New York Times_, Section A, Page 18, February 23, 1982
url: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/23/us/pot-liquor-or-potlikker.html
year: 1982
---
# Pot Liquor or Potlikker?

In an article on Senate debates on food
that ran on this page Feb. 10,
mention was made of a 1935 filibuster
in which Huey Long lectured his colleagues on the merits of potlikker.
Due to an unfortunate consultation with a dictionary,
that great Southern delicacy was referred to as ''pot liquor,''
prompting the following communication
from a regional authority on the subject:

Dear Sir:

I always thought The New York Times knew everything,
but obviously your editor knows as little about spelling
as he or she does about Appalachian cooking and soul food.

Only a culinarily-illiterate damnyankee (one word)
who can't tell the difference between beans and greens
would call the liquid left in the pot after cooking greens "pot liquor" (two words)
instead of "potlikker" (one word) as yours did.
And don't cite Webster as a defense
because he didn't know any better either.

Sincerely, \
ZELL MILLER \
Lieutenant Governor \
State of Georgia
