🍻 As Drunk As… You Name It! 🍷
Language about intoxication has a rich (and sometimes belligerently drunk) history. Since the seventeenth century, some expressions stuck around longer than an unreciprocated bar tab, while others stumbled drunkenly into linguistic obscurity. Let’s stagger through the most resilient and the quickly forgotten.
Categories and Meanings
As Drunk As A Lord (Seventeenth Century)
The upper crust might not have always shown restraint, but they sure knew how to show off a proverb! Commoners saw them take to tipple, and, with grammar slightly lubricated, they proclaimed them “As drunk as a lord.”
As Drunk As A Skunk (Early 1900s, America)
Nothing exudes more American rhyme and rhythm in talking about booze-headedness than this little number. It’s got a catchy beat and smells like a good time.
Forgotten (But No Less Funny) Comparisons:
- As Drunk As An Ape (From Chaucer’s Time): Monkeys always find a way to make things more fun or chaotic, like that one overly festive guest at your wedding.
- As Drunk As A Fish/Swine/Devil/Beggar: From fish who drink like…well, fish to devils enjoying hell’s happy hour—each had its liquid moments of stardom.
- As Drunk As David’s Sow: Odd as a pig in a parlor, this one’s ancient and documents sowing the wild drink. Based on an anecdote lost to time, but worth translating to today’s ‘darndest thing this side of the pigsty.’
Related Terms:
- Drink Like A Fish: Amphibious does not equal sober. 🤷♂️ Often related to anyone whose tolerance level is the talk of the tank.
- Tight As A Tick: Bugs don’t need beer to balloon, just good ol’ blood.
Synonyms & Antonyms:
- Synonyms: Inebriated, plastered, hammered, soused, three sheets to the wind
- Antonyms: Sober, abstinent, temperate, clear-headed
Humorous Quotes:
- “I work until beer o’clock.” - Stephen King
- “Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough.” - Mark Twain
Recommended Reads:
- “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Not only does it dive into the roaring ’20s’ party scenes, but it dives into a vat of gin.
- “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer: Illustrative of how even jesters should probably drink responsibly.
Drink-influenced Songs:
- “Tequila” by The Champs
- “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks
Quiz Time!
Keep your livers light and expressions delightful! Until then, whether humble fish or high-fluting lords, may your grape-inspired musings always be grand.
Remember: “The wisdom of the ages often glistens at the bottom of a well-used glass.” 🍷
Farewell!
-Sir Lancelot Lushington, 2023
