The language of intoxication: Drunk, hammered or merely tipsy?
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‘Drunk’ is the oldest English-language synonym related to intoxication. But people who drink alcohol use a variety of words to describe their level of inebriation, and those descriptions are often at odds with the terms used by doctors and health professionals, say researchers from the University of Missouri.
Individuals do not perceive the word ‘drunk’ in the same ways, says Ash Levitt, a graduate student in psychological science and a co-author of the study. The study of 290 college students found that ‘drunk’ often reflected a level of intoxication between moderate and heavy. Intoxicated men tended to say they were ‘hammered’ and women to say they were ‘tipsy.’
‘As social and cultural animals, humans have developed a rich and diverse vocabulary of intoxication-related slang to describe the subjective states they are experiencing while drinking,’ said Levitt in a news release. ‘However, alcohol researchers have largely ignored the language of intoxication.’
Women’s descriptions of alcohol use could have important public health implications, Levitt said. The study found that women’s use of the word ‘tipsy’ reflected an average of four drinks over two hours. That’s a quantity that actually meets the criteria for binge drinking for women. When doctors and researchers ask about drinking, they should use terms that are personalized and relevant to the patient’s gender, he said. The study is published online today in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
-- Shari Roan