Drunk - The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary (Hardcover, Annotated Ed)


Here it is: from a "Guinness World Records" holder, the most English synonyms ever recorded for a single word--"drunk."
Wise-guy lexicographer Paul Dickson, a consulting editor at "Merriam-Webster," has long held the record for collecting the "Most Synonyms" for any term in the English language. He made the "Guinness Book of World Records "with 2,231 terms meaning "drunk"-beating out no less than Benjamin Franklin, who published his own list ("The Drinker's Dictionary") in 1736. But records are made to be broken . . . .
Enter "Drunk," wherein Dickson breaks his own record with 2,964 terms for tipsy: blitzed, roasted, on the sauce, whazood, whiskey frisky, and Boris Yelstinned.
An introduction puts the list into context: Why are there so many synonyms for "drunk" and how did Dickson get to collecting them? Dickson's wacky terms are annotated, too, and lushly illustrated, explaining the twist and turns of a language that has thousands of ways to describe somebody who is two sheets to the wind. How, for example, does a word like "blotto" go from the lips of P.G. Wodehouse, into the writings of Edmund Wilson, before landing with Otto from "The Simpsons" ("My name is Otto, I like to get blotto").
It's a terrific exploration of language and a meditation on drinking culture throughout the ages.

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Product Description

Here it is: from a "Guinness World Records" holder, the most English synonyms ever recorded for a single word--"drunk."
Wise-guy lexicographer Paul Dickson, a consulting editor at "Merriam-Webster," has long held the record for collecting the "Most Synonyms" for any term in the English language. He made the "Guinness Book of World Records "with 2,231 terms meaning "drunk"-beating out no less than Benjamin Franklin, who published his own list ("The Drinker's Dictionary") in 1736. But records are made to be broken . . . .
Enter "Drunk," wherein Dickson breaks his own record with 2,964 terms for tipsy: blitzed, roasted, on the sauce, whazood, whiskey frisky, and Boris Yelstinned.
An introduction puts the list into context: Why are there so many synonyms for "drunk" and how did Dickson get to collecting them? Dickson's wacky terms are annotated, too, and lushly illustrated, explaining the twist and turns of a language that has thousands of ways to describe somebody who is two sheets to the wind. How, for example, does a word like "blotto" go from the lips of P.G. Wodehouse, into the writings of Edmund Wilson, before landing with Otto from "The Simpsons" ("My name is Otto, I like to get blotto").
It's a terrific exploration of language and a meditation on drinking culture throughout the ages.

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Product Details

General

Imprint

Melville House Publishing

Country of origin

United States

Release date

September 2009

Availability

Supplier out of stock. If you add this item to your wish list we will let you know when it becomes available.

First published

September 2009

Authors

Dimensions

203 x 127 x 21mm (L x W x T)

Format

Hardcover - Cloth over boards

Pages

202

Edition

Annotated Ed

ISBN-13

978-1-933633-75-6

Barcode

9781933633756

Categories

LSN

1-933633-75-1



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