While the phrase ‘don’t drink the Kool-Aid’ is pretty common, many have admitted they don’t actually know why it’s popular in the first place.
One curious social media user took to Reddit to ask Americans more about the drink and why people would use the phrase and what the context behind it.
Many are very unlikely to have suspected it had such a dark origin however.
User TobiasDid posted on the Ask an American subreddit and said: “We don’t have this stuff where I live. I know it’s a drink, and I know in the commercial a big jug man busts through a wall and says ”Oh yeah!”
“But what kind of drink is it? Is it like a soda? I’ve got a feeling it comes in a powder, but that could be completely wrong. Also, I’ve heard the expression ‘to drink the kool-aid’, which I do not believe is a literal thing. I think it has some sort of double meaning, but I don’t know what it is. Help me you clever Americans!”
One curious social media user wanted to know everything to do with a Kool-Aid phrase (Getty Images)
Now, many were quick to explain what the drink is, but things took a darker turn when explaining the origin of the ‘don’t drink the Kool-Aid’ phrase, as it was in direct reference to a murder-suicide that shook the nation at the time.
The phrase originated from the tragedy that happened in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978 that saw more than 900 people die in a mass/murder suicide plot by an American religious cult.
On November 18, 1978, cult leader Jim Jones forced his followers to drink a powdery fruit drink laced with deadly cyanide. Many have believed this drink use alongside the cyanide was Kool-Aid or a similar off brand.
Jim Jones was the leader of the cult responsible for over 900 people’s deaths (Janet Fries/Getty Images)
Explaining how the phrase is used now, one Reddit user said: “Drinking the Kool Aid means ‘buying in to an idea unequivocally’ and refers to the Jonestown Massacre.”
Another added: “This was a perfect question to go along with today’s thread of uniquely American phrases. “Drink the Kool-Aid” is so familiar here that many of us use it automatically to imply brainwashing.”
With a third writing: “Drinking the Kool-Aid’ is a reference to the [Jim Jones massacre]. Ironically, the flavoring used was apparently Flavor Aid.
“Of course, not everyone at Jonestown went to their deaths willingly- it’s used for the sort of person who would kill themselves because their idol said so.”
The more you know.
