Femim* (for Femin*)

A Mimosa is clearly a feminine libation—if pretty, sparkling, and packing a fairly weak punch is your definition of "feminine." It usually comprises three parts champagne to two parts orange juice and is customarily drunk at brunches, showers, and holidays such as Mother's Day. It made its first appearance at the Ritz Hotel in Paris during the early 1920s. The word also refers to "any tropical shrub or tree of the leguminous genus Mimosa, having ball-like clusters of yellow or pink flowers and compound leaves that are often sensitive to touch or light." (It's actually known as the sensitive plant.) A somewhat less girly name for this femmey beverage is a "Buck Fizz." If you want your beautiful, brightly-colored Mimosa, served in a slender champagne flute, to appear even lovelier, you can garnish it with a section of orange or other fruit frippery attached to the rim. We found five instances of Femim* in OhioLINK and 50 in WorldCat.

(Mimosa—champagne and orange juice cocktail—San Francisco, 2007, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid