Finished the book—now give me a drink
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 63). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook assessment: Plausible
Date or witness: Late 14th–early 15th centuries in the cited witnesses
Region: Netherlands and England
Workbook date-sort bounds: 1375 CE to 1425 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
Scribes reuse rhyming requests for refreshment after finishing. Leiden VLF 5 f.172v requests a drink; Wellcome MS 405 f.66v offers Latin and English versions, including a request for good ale.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Requests for a post-copying drink recur in separate manuscripts, with Latin and vernacular variants.
What remains uncertain
The occupational act and voluntary addition are promising evidence of adoption; the exact social status of each writer and the first origin of the formula remain uncertain.
Candidate-index family 28: Finished the book—now give me a drink
The workbook groups records 63 here and rates the family Plausible. This is a research shortlist, not proof of an independently established meme family.
Dated evidence: Late 14th–early 15th centuries in the cited witnesses
Region: Netherlands and England
Shortlist uncertainty: The occupational act and voluntary addition are promising evidence of adoption; the exact social status of each writer and the first origin of the formula remain uncertain.
Workbook revision note: Reassessed using grassroots criteria