Cube and Coronas
Drunk, hammered, sozzled, sauced, destroyed, trashed, wasted, smashed, blitzed, gunned, tripping, stoned, buzzed, high, toasted, baked, soaked, pissed, tipsy, blazed, over, flying, three sheets to the wind, red (also red-nosed, red-faced), blind, gone, done.
This is only scratching the surface. Do languages other than English have this many ways to describe a willful loss of one’s faculties? What does it mean that English has so many?
(Feel free to add your own synonyms to the list!)
This is a perfect demonstration not only of the fundamentally metaphoric nature of language, but also of how inherently onomatopoeic words are. Even the most familiar, overlookable words (”sheet,” for instance) are so aurally tied to denotation and connotation, it almost makes me believe the theory that singing came before speaking.
I wanted to reply to that in some way, but I couldn’t really think of anything that wouldn’t just be tacked on. It left me with some good food for thought, though.
Related to the original post, here’s another list of synonyms, this time for the present financial crisis.
I can’t believe I forgot “loaded” when I made that list.
Hosed.