Founding Father Benjamin Franklin return usmany things : the lightning rod cell , bifocals , a musical official document named the armonica that happened to bepretty severe — and more than 200 synonyms for theworddrunk .
The authorship of “ The Drinkers Dictionary ” isdebated , but Franklin issue thelengthy leaning of expressionsmeaning “ intoxicated ” in thePennsylvania Gazettein January 1737 . “ The Phrases in this Dictionary are not ( like most of our term of Art ) borrow’d from Foreign Languages , neither are they take in from the Writings of the Learned in our own , but gather’d completely from the modern Tavern - Conversation of Tiplers , ” Franklin wrote . “ I do not doubt but that there are many more in use ; and I was even tempted to add a new one my self under the Letter B , to mentality , Brutify’d : But upon thoughtfulness , I fear’d being guilty of Injustice to the Brute Creation , if I represented Drunkenness as a beastly Vice , since , ‘ tis well - known , that the Brutes are in oecumenical a very sedate sort of People . ”
Here ’s an abridged tilt of price from “ The Drinkers Dictionary ” that you might want to utilise the next time you ’re a few sheets to the wind . ( The spellings are all as they are in the original , by the way , sosicthroughout . )
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
V
W
A version of this story ran in 2013 ; it has been update for 2023 .
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