18 dummy juice
photo credit: "Tequila " by Jens Odegaard (CC BY-SA 2.0) Image cropped.Definition: (noun phrase) Jose Cuervo 1800 Tequila
Example: Rachel knew she’d never survive the office Christmas party unless she came with her friend, 18 dummy juice.
“I'm off that 18 dummy juice Like a mayne, labeled the Black Zeus.”
It’s that season—one party after another and too much to drink at all of them. But although it’s interesting to look at the drinks themselves (as we have in the past) or what happens to you the next day, I thought it might be fun to explore some old school ways to talk about being drunk (apart from our word of the week, which is current slang from the San Francisco Bay Area).
Bosky, which originated in the early 1700s, is a fun one I learned from reading trashy Regency romance novels in high school. The unusual chirping-merry came into use several decades later. Another, even stranger expression for this state is to “get a Brannigan” which was current at the end of the 19th century.
And finally, tight, which I usually associate with the 1950s (and which is now often used as a synonym for cool) was actually being used by college students before the Civil War!
A. C. Kemp | December 14, 2006
