Top 10 drinking expressions

The amount of English terms for drunkenness may well top the fabled number of Eskimo words for snow.

Whether you want hair of the dog or mud in your eye, there are a lot of bizarre drinking expressions that we use without knowing their original meaning.

Some of the reasons behind these delightful phrases have disappeared – but we can at least provide you with some of the more colourful explanations for them.

And next time someone describes you as three sheets to the wind and talking utter codswallop, you can tell them what they actually mean.

“Pissed as a newt”

For some reason, animals often take the blame for our extreme levels of intoxication. Theories suggest that newts are considered the ultimate in inebriation either because of their wobbling gait or because they were “pickled”.

Newts are not the only ones guilty of being tight. Other creatures that have been deemed blotto include boiled owls, skunks, lords, apes, David’s sow, pipers, mice and chaplains of the army.

“On the wagon”

The image of a town’s alcoholics piling onto a wagon to be driven to rehab is an appealing one, but the true explanation is even odder. The phrase has evolved from the expression “on the water-cart” which referred to vehicles that drove through US towns during dry days, damping down the streets. During the 19th century temperance movement, those who had sworn off alcohol would say that they would rather drink from the water-cart than touch alcohol.

“Codswallop”

Mr Hiriam Codd’s patented bottles kept the fizz in carbonated drinks by using a glass marble as a stopper. The story goes that “wollop” (beer) drinkers showed their contempt of weak or gassy beer by describing it as “Codd’s wallop”. Unfortunately, there is no record of codswallop ever being two separate words, so this idea is itself the wallop of cod.

“Dutch courage”

Due to trade rivalries between Britain and the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries, it became customary for the British to refer to their cross-channel neighbours in derogatory fashion. “Dutch” was often used as a synonym for fake, as in a Dutch nightingale – a frog – or a Dutch treat – which was no treat at all as you had to pay for yourself. Extending this idea, the British insisted that the only courage the Dutch possessed was a liquid one.

“High jinks”

“High jinks” originally meant a Scottish drinking game in the late 17th century. According to Sir Walter Scott, it involved rolling the dice with the loser having to act out a particular character or recite a rude poem. If the other players thought that their acting skills were inadequate or they failed o keep up the part, they had to pay a forfeit, which inevitably involved downing a lot of alcohol.

“Hair of the dog”

Pic credit: Kinjeng Submiter

Dog hair and alcoholic hangover cures seem at first to be completely unconnected. The full phrase is “the hair of the dog that bit me”, derived from the medieval belief that the burnt hair of a rabid dog would cure its bite. It is related to the homeopathic philosophy that “like cures like”, sometimes attributed to Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine. As the Oxford Dictionary points out, there is no evidence that this works for either alcohol or for rabies.

“Paint the town red”

Legend has it that in 1837 “the Mad Marquis” of Waterford and his drinking companions decided to paint red the doors and signs in the Leicestershire town Melton Mowbray. Sadly, while the Marquis may have indulged in such practices after a night out, the first recorded use of the phrase is not till 50 years later in the US. It may be linked to the slang expression “paint”, meaning to drink, because of the ruddy faces drinking would cause.

“Wet your whistle”

Urban myth has a delightful yarn about beer tankards in the medieval period coming with whistles in the handles so that you could give a toot when you wanted more ale from the barman. Whistle was actually a medieval word for throat and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales suggests that “wetting your whistle” was a preface to clear speech. Ensuring you have a well lubricated throat is, after all, only a short step to a euphemism for having a pint.

“Three sheets to the wind”

Painting: Michael Zeno Diemer – The Santa Maria at Sea

From splicing the mainbrace to tapping the admiral, the navy has an expression for every conceivable way of drinking. Perhaps the one that has permeated everyday language most successfully is “three sheets to the wind”. “Sheets” are the ropes that attach to the sails and if they are too loose the ship veers around wildly, rather like a boozy sailor. Originally there was a sliding scale to indicate how trollied the individual was, with one and two sheets also acceptable descriptions.

“Here’s mud in your eye”

Even though no one has a clue what it means, this is still used as a toast. Some argue that it is a brag related to horse-racing – all but the winner would end up with mud in their eyes. Others say it comes from the story of Jesus healing a blind man by applying a mixture of mud and spittle to his eyes, meaning you are wishing for anything that ails your drinking companion to be cured.