The bug juice machine (left) aboard the submarine USS Blueback (SS-581) at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).

Definition

Noun

  • (slang) A colored non-alcoholic beverage similar to Kool-Aid or Gatorade.

Origin

Unknown. Modern times. One story relates how it resembles mashed-up bugs; hence the different colors. Another story relates how it stems from American animation companies using their characters as military mascots in WWII; the Warner Bros. mascot being Bugs Bunny. At one point Warner Bros. marketed a powdered drink product called “Bug’s Juice,” which eventually slid to bug juice.

Comments

Simply put, it’s the industrial-strength Navy version of Kool-Aid or Gatorade served at sea. It usually comes in the colors red, orange, yellow, green, or purple (others exist as well, such as blue). However, the color has zero bearing on the flavor. It all tastes the same…sweet.

It’s really just water with ascorbic acid powder (AKA vitamin C), vitamin D powder, food coloring, and lots of sugar added to it. If you leave out the sugar and food coloring, it can indeed be used as a cleaning agent to scrub or shine all sorts of things like heads, linoleum, brass fixtures, concrete, etc.

Whatever nostalgia you had for Kool-Aid as a child will quickly be lost once you drink bug juice for any period of time. You can look at it more or less as the modern version of grog. The vitamin C will help prevent you from getting scurvy. After a while, it tastes more or less like sugary water with a bit of lemon flavoring. Then again, Kool-Aid isn’t much different.

References

Crowell, J. (2003, October 31). Naval Terminology, Jargon and Slang FAQ Part 1 – A through M. Retrieved from http://www.hazegray.org/faq/slang1.htm