Being inebriated

[Jonathan Lighter]

Haven't checked, but like Joel I doubt it's there - or in the 1722 version.

JL




On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 9:09 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Being inebriated
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It might be interesting to compare the 1771/1770 lists of 80 terms,
> from The Providence Gazette and the Gentleman's Magazine, with the
> 1736 list of 227 terms that is still erroneously referred to as
> Benjamin Franklin's.  There are more than a few in Ben's list I don't
> recall from 1736, including "tar on his heel".
>
> Joel
>
> At 8/16/2009 06:42 PM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake wrote:
>
> >I should add that the expression "tar on his heel" was mentioned in 1818
> as
> >a synonym for "inebriated."  This according to an updated list of ways to
> >say "drunken"; see, for example, *The National Aegis* (Worcester, Mass.,
> 18
> >February 1818, p. 4) and *The Dartmouth Gazette* (Hanover, 4 March 1818,
> p.
> >3), both viewable in the America's Historical Newspapers database.  (In
> >2004, Ben Zimmer posted a 1771 version of the list, which lacked "tar on
> his
> >heel."  See link far below.)
> >
> >Of course, it's anyone's guess whether 1840's "we wear tar on our heels"
> is
> >related to 1846's "Tar heels."
> >
> >-- Bonnie
> >
> >http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0412A&L=ADS-L&P=R3894
>
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