A smart, hilarious, and lavishly illustrated guide to the most euphemised word in the English language: Drunk
A record-breaking assemblage of 2,964 different ways to say "drunk." Tipsy, roasted, three sheets, whazooed and Boris Yeltsinned are just the beginning....With an introduction by the wise-guy lexicographer himself, Paul Dickson, and illustrations by renowned artist Brian Rea.
Dickson, who holds the Guiness World Record for collecting the most words for being, er, not sober, not only provides a dictionary of those words, but reveals why there are so many synonyms for being "drunk," and how he came to collect more of them than anyone else.
The terms are annotated, too, and lushly illustrated, explaining the twist and turns of a language that has thousands of ways to say the same thing. 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 Simpson's ("My name is Otto, I like to get blotto").
“Spanning centuries, it is both a celebration of drinking and a chronicle of the laments that come after having drunk too much.” — The NY Daily News
"A splendid new book."
—Ben Schott, The New York Times
"Where else could we learn that 30 years after the term plastered entered the drunk lexicon, the Arizona Lath and Plaster Institute would protest the use of the term?"
—Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
"Is it a worthy book for anybody who likes food or wine (or beer or cocktails)? Absolutely. Because reading through these definitions, accompanied by Brian Rea’s charming drawings, is so immensely pleasurable that it’s intoxicating. Just like the title suggests."
—Time Out Chicago
“Dickson has done it again, entrancing those who want to eavesdrop on the slanguage of everyone from barista to bitheads.”
—Erin McKean, American lexicographer and editor of Verbatim: The Language Quarterly
“With focus, a passion for language, and a world-class ear, Dickson has produced brilliant chapter after brilliant chapter, any one of which would be a lifetime achievement for most lexicographers.”
—Tom Dalzell, senior editor of The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
