The Drinker's Dictionary

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The Drinker's Dictionary is a list of 228 "round-about phrases" to describe drunkenness. It was published on January 6, [1] 1737 (1736 Old Style) in The Pennsylvania Gazette . [2] [3] The Pennsylvania Gazette publication is attributed to Benjamin Franklin and appears in his memoirs; however, a very similar wordlist appears in the New England Weekly Journal on July 6, 1736, and differences between the two suggest earlier origins by a different author. [4] Franklin deemed drunkenness as a vice that could never be a virtue, so various terms and phrases were created to mask the inappropriateness of the act. [5]

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References

  1. Levine, Harry (1981). "The Vocabulary of Drunkenness". Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 42 (11): 1046. doi:10.15288/jsa.1981.42.1038. PMID   7038310.
  2. Benjamin Franklin; William Temple Franklin; William Duane (1859). Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 2. Derby & Jackson. p.  496.
  3. From the Writings of Benjamin Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette 1736–1737 Archived 2008-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Berson, J. S. (2006). "The Source for Benjamin Franklin's "The Drinkers Dictionary" (And Was It Mather Byles?)". American Speech. 81 (2): 164–179. doi:10.1215/00031283-2006-011.
  5. Levine, Harry (1981). "The Vocabulary of Drunkenness". Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 42 (11): 1046. doi:10.15288/jsa.1981.42.1038. PMID   7038310.

Bibliography