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English Got Completely Gazeboed & Came Up With 546 Words For 'Drunk'

maximus otter

maximus otter

Recovering policeman
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"Other languages don’t do ‘drunkonyms’ — it’s all down to our grammar and boozing culture.

Britain’s unique drinking culture and sense of humour have given the English language 546 words meaning drunk, researchers have found.

Linguists have discovered that in English virtually any noun can be transformed into a “drunkonym”, a synonym for intoxication, by adding “ed” at the end, and have listed hundreds of formally identified examples. These included expressions such as “trolleyed”, “hammered”, “wellied” and “steampigged”.

Professor Christina Sanchez-Stockhammer, of Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany, believes that it is down to Britain’s drinking habits and absurdist sense of humour. “In English there’s an extremely large number of words that can mean drunk, and more can be formed simply by adding ‘ed’ to the end. It means pretty much any word in Britain can inherit the meaning ‘drunk’ from the context."

Paywalled here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...nd-came-up-with-546-words-for-drunk-p62tll60c

Quoted here: https://www.timworstall.com/2024/02/apparently-german-academics-read-this-blog/

maximus otter
 
I think it's now become like the case of Bendymop Cablewich (the British actor): you can pretty much insert any word that sounds appropriately slang-like and faintly onomatopoeic and everyone will figure out it means drunk by context. It doesn't even need an origin story.

You should have seen her, standing there topless, completely milnered!

I'd been on the Stoat's Mitre all afternoon, so I was utterly grouted by the time the other lads arrived.

Etc.
 
I think we have a very useful side-discussion on the English word 'piss' somewhere in the archives here, and its use as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb. I suggest it's the most versatile term in the current vernacular.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Great to know we lead the world in something!
Those Eskimos can keep their 50 words for snow!
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I've contended that the British have at least 16 words for rain - the quality, quantity, and frequency of it. We are a faintly damp and grey nation.
 
I heard a term a week or so back that I've never heard before for being excessively drunk.

The bloke who lives in the flat below mine was looking seriously under par one morning when he got in the lift (I live in a tower block), and when asked he said in his broad Scots accent, 'I got blue-tarred' last night.

I'm not even sure how to spell it? Bluterred? Blueterred? Etc.

Over Christmas another neighbour said to me he got so drunk that had he been a mosquito in a crowded lift packed full of naked women, he wouldn't have able to find a victim. He described himself as being 'smished'. In other words, so drunk he wouldn't be able to say 'smashed' or 'pissed'.
 
kesavaross said:
I heard a term a week or so back that I've never heard before for being excessively drunk.

The bloke who lives in the flat below mine was looking seriously under par one morning when he got in the lift (I live in a tower block), and when asked he said in his broad Scots accent, 'I got blue-tarred' last night.

I'm not even sure how to spell it? Bluterred? Blueterred? Etc.

Over Christmas another neighbour said to me he got so drunk that had he been a mosquito in a crowded lift full of naked women, he wouldn't have able to find a victim. He described himself as being 'smished'. In other words, so drunk he wouldn't be able to say 'smashed' or 'pissed'.
Click to expand...

Blootered :)
 
Lobeydosser said:
It's probably the most common word for drunk you'll find in the West of Scotland - well after pished, pretty close as to which is more common.
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Unbelievable for me that I've never heard that term before. All my family are from the west coast, Mallaig and Morar, I was bought up in London, long story. Some still live there, on the west coast and Skye. I've always visited often.
 
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Yithian said:
I think it's now become like the case of Bendymop Cablewich (the British actor): you can pretty much insert any word that sounds appropriately slang-like and faintly onomatopoeic and everyone will figure out it means drunk by context. It doesn't even need an origin story.
Click to expand...
Comedian Michael McIntyre made this point with a bit long ago in the mists of time, quoted in the headline:

I think I saw it about 15 years ago, and he appears to be making an observation on a practice that the audience found recognizable at the time, rather than inventing it. Though I suppose he might have been influential on its spread. So I wonder how long people have been doing this?

For what it's worth, I find these kind of affected quirky Britishisms get right up my nose. The worst offender is 'creative swearing', i.e. calling people a 'cockwomble' or 'twatbadger'.
 
Langered was a phrase I picked up from the Irish lads working on site. I’d never heard it before and assumed it was an Irish colloquialism for drunk.

“Three sheets to the wind” has always piqued my curiosity, where did that originate from?
 
Tempest63 said:
Langered was a phrase I picked up from the Irish lads working on site. I’d never heard it before and assumed it was an Irish colloquialism for drunk.

“Three sheets to the wind” has always piqued my curiosity, where did that originate from?
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“…a nautical term originating from the 19th century. On large ships, the ropes hold the sail corners taut, so they catch the wind, propelling the vessel forward.

These ships would typically have three sails. If the first sail lost is tautness, the boat would lose stability. If it lost two sails, it would yaw and pitch from side to side, and with three sails to the wind, the ship would lose all control.”

https://english-grammar-lessons.com/three-sheets-to-the-wind-meaning/

maximus otter
 
kesavaross said:
I heard a term a week or so back that I've never heard before for being excessively drunk.

The bloke who lives in the flat below mine was looking seriously under par one morning when he got in the lift (I live in a tower block), and when asked he said in his broad Scots accent, 'I got blue-tarred' last night.

I'm not even sure how to spell it? Bluterred? Blueterred? Etc.

Over Christmas another neighbour said to me he got so drunk that had he been a mosquito in a crowded lift packed full of naked women, he wouldn't have able to find a victim. He described himself as being 'smished'. In other words, so drunk he wouldn't be able to say 'smashed' or 'pissed'.
Click to expand...
Try 'blootered'. It's pretty common in Canada, probably from some Scottish connection.
 
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