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Can Any English Word Be Turned Into a Synonym For 'Drunk'? Not All, But Many Can. (arstechnica.com) 72

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: British comedian Michael McIntyre has a standard bit in his standup routines concerning the many (many!) slang terms posh British people use to describe being drunk. These include "wellied," "trousered," and "ratarsed," to name a few. McIntyre's bit rests on his assertion that pretty much any English word can be modified into a so-called "drunkonym," bolstered by a few handy examples: "I was utterly gazeboed," or "I am going to get totally and utterly carparked."

It's a clever riff that sparked the interest of two German linguists. Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer of Chemnitz University of Technology and Peter Uhrig of FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg decided to draw on their expertise to test McIntyre's claim that any word in the English language could be modified to mean "being in a state of high inebriation." Given their prevalence, "It is highly surprising that drunkonyms are still under-researched from a linguistic perspective," the authors wrote in their new paper published in the Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association. Bonus: the authors included an extensive appendix of 546 English synonyms for "drunk," drawn from various sources, which makes for entertaining reading.

There is a long tradition of coming up with colorful expressions for drunkenness in the English language, with the Oxford English Dictionary listing a usage as early as 1382: "merry," meaning "boisterous or cheerful due to alcohol; slight drunk, tipsy." Another OED entry from 1630 lists "blinde" (as in blind drunk) as a drunkonym. Even Benjamin Franklin got into the act with his 1737 Drinker's Dictionary, listing 288 words and phrases for denoting drunkenness. By 1975, there were more than 353 synonyms for "drunk" listed in that year's edition of the Dictionary of American Slang. By 1981, linguist Harry Levine noted 900 terms used as drunkonyms.
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Can Any English Word Be Turned Into a Synonym For 'Drunk'? Not All, But Many Can. More

Can Any English Word Be Turned Into a Synonym For 'Drunk'? Not All, But Many Can.

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  • Comedian? (Score:3, Funny)

    by raburton ( 1281780 ) on Thursday February 22, 2024 @04:27PM (#64261000) Homepage

    I would dispute Michael McIntyre is a comedian, on account of not being funny. But these days you can self-identity as anything I suppose.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sique ( 173459 )
      The definition of comedy does not require it to be overly funny. Instead, it is a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an agon or conflict, which gets resolved other than the utter destruction of at least one side of the conflict. You might counter this by pointing out the tragic dimension of Michael McIntyre's failure at being funny, but it requires a more careful argumentation.
      • A made-up definition by wannabe comedians who failed to be funny.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Sique ( 173459 )
          That's exactly the definition of the Greek Komodia, of which the English word comedy derives from. A drama with a happy ending: comedy. A drama with a bitter ending: tragedy.

        • Usually failed comedians pivot to becoming conservative/libertarian political pundits...

          =Smidge=

  • But that doesn't stop rap artists from trying.

    • Re:No (Score:5, Funny)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday February 22, 2024 @04:46PM (#64261058)

      The English have many words for drunks for the same reason the Inuit have many words for snow.

      • Man, I sure Yorkshire Pudding'ed one last night...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Almost every word in the English language can be a euphemism for sex too.

        • >"Almost every word in the English language can be a euphemism for sex too."

          Ah, damn. You beat me to it.

          "We are going to make XXX"
          "They had XXX all night long"
          "Nothing beats some hot, sweaty XXX"

          You just have to preface it with some cue.

          Of course, if you are the seemingly typical speaker nowadays, you also have to throw in several "like"'s in there as well. No utterance is complete without at least a few "like"'s. But that is a different topic, entirely.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bob_Who ( 926234 )

        The English have many words for drunks for the same reason the Inuit have many words for snow.

        You might mean Yellow Snow

      • The Inuit, and that's a language group so let's say Baffin Bay Inuit, really only have around ten words for snow, but the language exhibits polysynthesis where you can modify the base with any number of suffixes that change the meaning. So whereas we'd say "deep soft snow on the ground", Baffin Bay Inuit would modify the base with a bunch of suffixes that do the same thing. The English probably have about as many words too (snow, sleet, hail, whatever), only we build up the rest of the description differe

      • The English have many words for a lot of things. Urban Dictionary can recount far more than me, but think of names for a penis, or even a vagina - dozens, if not hundreds each. How about food - yep, probably a couple of dozen names for that too. What about a less-than-even-handed football (soccer) referee? Yep, plenty there too.

        I doubt it's unique to us Brits, but as soon as a (slang) word becomes common usage for something, we go ahead and think of another.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        The English have many words for drunks for the same reason the Inuit have many words for snow.

        We also have a talent for turning almost any random word into an insult... For example:

        You total armchair!

        For the record, Michael McIntyre is not a comedian, he's the equivalent of an annoying game show host (but I believe Alexander Armstrong beats him to most jobs requiring that).

  • Former Australian PM welded without a mask on and he became a meme for drunkeness i.e. lets get blind. Former Australian Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce (he killed Jonny Depps dogs) was drunk in the gutter and he immediately became a drinking term: https://frothies.com/products/... [frothies.com]

    • Re:Its not just words (Score:4, Informative)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday February 22, 2024 @05:44PM (#64261198)

      he killed Jonny Depps dogs

      He did nothing of the sort. The dogs are alive and well, and that despite two entitled rich cunts who were told they can't bring their pets in to Australia bringing them anyway in breach of well known and strict quarantine rules. If any Barnaby Joyce stepped in with leniency. If it were your dogs they'd be dead because those are the rules. But rules aren't for rich actors, even incredibly fucking stupid ones like Johnny Depp and Amber Heard who don't bother looking up the basic rules for entering a country.

    • Nah, he stated he wanted to, but Barney isn't exactly a well loved politician. Then again not many of us where fond of Depp & Co's behavior either. But we draw a line at killing dogs.

  • The beautiful language of DrunkJibberish aside for a moment, I'm wondering how many variations on a theme came from having to speak easy about getting drunk on a night that ends in 'y' in America during Prohibition.

    13 years is a long time to get linguistically creative about poppin' off to the pub to get pissed.

    • 13 years is a long time to get linguistically creative about poppin' off to the pub to get pissed.

      Pissed?

      I know being pissed off is synonymous for being "mad/angry"....

      Never heard of it being used to me drunken? (taking it from context here).

      • I am a Brit. I was in my 40s before I heard "pissed" meaning angry but when I was younger I went to pubs and got pissed.

        The Atlantic is wider than you think.

        • I was born in NZ
          Piss is a synonym for beer

          • I am reminded of some graffiti that I saw in a pub toilet in England "all the beer in this pub has been passed by the management".

            Hmmm: I wonder if the use of English is understandable in the USA or elsewhere.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by JSG ( 82708 )

            I was born in the UK. Piss is a synonym for crap beer. Make of that what you will! Obviously: shite will normally stand in for crap.

            Pissed is easily the most commonly uttered euphemism for being tired and emotional in the UK. A celtic fringe variant is: "pished".

            • Pissed is easily the most commonly uttered euphemism for being tired and emotional in the UK.

              Here in the US, being tired and emotional is typically referred to as being "bitchy". If you're pissed, you're angry or otherwise dissatisfied.

              • Here in the US, being tired and emotional is typically referred to as being "bitchy".

                "Tired and emotional" means drunk over here.

                • Re:The Atlantic is wider than you think. (Score:4, Informative)

                  by mikeb ( 6025 ) on Friday February 23, 2024 @03:54AM (#64261976) Homepage

                  'Tired and Emotional' was a term coined by the satirical magazine Private Eye when a well-known politician, George Brown - notoriously alcoholic - put in a rambling performance which one of his aides then put down to him being in a 'tired and emotional' state. From then on, Private Eye repeatedly used it as a euphemism (something they are well-known for, see 'Ugandan affairs' and numerous others) until it passed into common usage.

                  As others have pointed out, in British slang, 'pissed' has always meant drunk and never the American 'annoyed, angry' intepretation, at least not until very recently.

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

                    In Canada we just use everybody's. You can be pissed and go to the bar to puch a guy, or go to the bar, get pissed and punch a guy.

                    If you're cranky then you're in a pissy mood, or just pissy, which might cause you to get pissed, in which case you might go to the bar to get pissed, which would likely cause you to have to take a piss. There are even people who like to drink piss, like American beer.

        • Is it because of all the piss?

      • I grew up in the south.

        I was 14 before I learned damned yankee was two words.

        There is very little correlation between proper english slang and American Slang. I always refer to: I have a torch in my boot

        • I always refer to: I have a torch in my boot

          That's just the logical conclusion when you find a snek in your boot and decide to kill it with fire.

      • Better to be pissed off than to be pissed on...

      • "couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery"

  • I'll remember that the next time I'm tired and emotional.

  • this kind of 'announcement' stays a joke in a English department at a university, I guess this one got out.

  • Stuff that matters.

  • I guess the main terms in the US would be:

    - Fucked up

    - Wasted

    - Trashed

  • shitfaced (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Getting shitfaced leaves me feeling awful. I much prefer to get pussyfaced.

  • OK boys (Score:4, Funny)

    by Chalex ( 71702 ) on Thursday February 22, 2024 @06:33PM (#64261316) Homepage

    I'm getting slashdotted tonight.

  • Of course any smurf(1) can be smurfed(2) to mean anything else. Smurf(3) is smurf(4).
    Just look at all the smurfs(5) here using the word smurf(6) for anything but its real meaning which is to smurf(7), and this smurfs(8) everywhere.

    Translated:
    1 - word
    2 - transformed
    3 - Language
    4 - fluid
    5 - comments
    6 - get
    7 - receive
    8 - happens

  • Ah yes, reminds me of this episode in which Polly tries to indicate to Basil in front of the guests that the chef for the Big Night [wikipedia.org] (another dinner disaster) is drunk by accentuating a long list of such terms.

  • like a Cisco CEO at a DoD meeting.

  • I bet they went out to the pub and got absolutely sobered.

  • From the article:

    The following list combines material from the Oxford English Dictionary, Collins Dictionary’s thesaurus, Wiktionary’s thesaurus as well as synonyms for drunk collected by the audience of BBC One’s Booze programme

    The above appendix cites four reputable sources, but it neglects to add the most important disreputable source: The Urban Dictionary.

    The Urban Dictionary will bludgeon the cutting edge of the Dirty Sanchez, Blumpkins, and getting pissed (off and on) etymologies.

  • Gnats piss & american beer spring to mind.
  • I'd gladly accept suggestions for an alternative to slashdot. Thank you.

  • I am glad to see this kind of research.
    Now I am going to try to get COBOLed.

  • See "Drinking On The Job" [youtube.com] by The Rainmakers for many examples.

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