Ngams: beverage 1980-2015. … I’ve had a hunch for years that David Letterman had popularized the use of the word “beverage” by repeatedly using it himself, particularly in the phrase “tasty beverages,” but finally getting around to checking Ngrams about today, I find the conjecture is not borne out. In fact, the word “beverage” seems to have decreased in popularity during the time he was on late night television.
All sorts of caveats of course apply to using ngrams for this purpose, and yet the more likely hypothesis now seems to me that I had been influenced by Letterman saying “beverage” (Instead of “drink”) while society at large had not.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 