the.com/happy hour
capitalism's apology, served at half price between four and seven
means A period, usually in the late afternoon or early evening, when a bar or restaurant sells drinks and sometimes food at reduced prices.
from The phrase surfaced in U.S. Navy slang in the early 20th century, where a "happy hour" was a scheduled stretch of onboard entertainment — boxing, music, films — to break up the monotony of life at sea. By the mid-20th century it had drifted ashore and into bars, attaching itself to the cheap-drinks slot it owns today. The escape from tedium stayed; only the venue changed.
- origin
- US Navy slang for scheduled onboard entertainment
- banned
- illegal in Massachusetts, Indiana, and elsewhere
- economics
- bars profit by selling you a third drink
- rarely an hour
- often stretches two to four hours
- prohibition era
- speakeasy term for pre-dinner drinking