Where Does ‘The Real McCoy’ Come From?
Question
Where does ‘The Real McCoy’ come from?
Lewis
Answer
**Definitive**
Name: Terry
Qualification: Read it in an in-flight magazine
Answer: Distillers in Canada. During the Prohibition they used to ship stuff across the border. As it was made properly it was much better than the stuff they used to make in bath tubs and steel vats in the States so the people who had a drink said ‘this is the real McCoy’ as in ‘it’s the good stuff’.
**Definitive**
Name: Mark
Qualification: Watched a programme about black inventors
Answer: Based on a gentleman in the 1800’s called Elijah McCoy an American engineer. He invented a way of lubricating train engines called the Oil Dripping Cup. He was poor and there were lots of knockoffs. When people got one that actually worked they called it ‘the real McCoy’.
