Chrysti The Wordsmith: Three Sheets to the Wind

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. Sloshed rect plastered wasted liquored up American English slang synonyms for drunk are almost too numerous to count. Harold Wentworth and Stuart Flexner authors of the fascinating Dictionary of American Slang published in 1960 observed that Americans seem obsessed with talking about drinking especially drinking to excess. Each generation invents liquor lingo novelties while at the same time retaining some of the old classics one that has weathered the years quite well is the expression three sheets to the wind or three sheets in the wind. This phrase has nothing to do with bed coverings. And in the nautical world where the expression comes from a sheet is not a sail as the landlocked might suppose to sailors a sheet is a rope or chain attached to the lower corner of a sail. The angle of the sail is determined by extending or shortening the sheet when the lines of a three sheeted craft are completely extended.

The sails flap and flutter in the wind. The craft out of control reels like a drunkard or one who we might say is lost up stewed bombed oiled or corked. Charles Dickens in his 1848 novel Dombey and Son put this phrase to good use when he wrote Captain Cuttle looking at Bunsby more attentively perceived that he was three sheets in the wind or in plain words drunk. I'm Christie the wordsmith good Dave herbivores Christie the wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.