Slang and drunkenness

Whenever I discuss examples of slang and informal language with students, we're always collectively and pleasantly struck by how many slang expressions exist for the standard "drunk" or "drunken."  As far as I know, and I'm no linguist, there's really only one standard or common word for the state of being intoxicated by alcohol: drunk. There are a few more formal ways of saying this, including the aforementioned "intoxicated" and similar terms like "inebriated."  But there are perhaps hundreds of informal or slang terms milling about. Naming just a few from the top of my 45-year-old brain (and young people tend to be the main purveyors and inventors of slang), we might say a drunk person is wasted, slammed, lit, shit-faced, fucked up, hammered, plowed, or happy.

Each of these words perhaps suggests a different degree of drunkenness, although most slang terms for drunk connote a state of inebriation that is beyond being simply buzzed or pleasantly affected by alcohol. Indeed, most of these informal terms, which often involve figurative language, are designed to conjure images of the drunk person being out of control (George Carlin had a great bit about "shit-faced" in particular), and the words exist in order to convey something more out of control than drunk.  He wasn't just drunk; he was wasted.  Some words seem to imply a happier state of inebriation, as well. Personally, I'd rather be "lit" (which has a nice connotation of warmth) than "wasted" (which suggests being poisoned or damaged).

In spite of this, these informal terms are mostly used in the spirit of celebrating or poking fun at the exploits of good friends.  We don't normally say, "She was so wasted she had to go to the hospital."  Instead, we say, "Oh my god, she was so wasted!" when attempting to convey the idea that a good time was had by all.

Blue Moon beer (original photo)

It's interesting that we have so many words for such a common, if rather unfortunate, human condition, but I think that's just the point.  My theory is that because drunkenness is such an ordinary and rather pathetic human failing, we tend to make it more colorful through language.  The words are varied because the experience itself does not lend itself to all that much variety. Yes, people do lots of different things while drunk, but drunk is drunk, and watching someone be drunk, in spite of what sober people may say, is never quite as interesting as these colorful words imply.  Yet the human love affair with alcohol continues, as does the never-ending march of words to help us identify and describe the condition of having had one too many.