Drunken

Between lots of yucky pics of drunk people, I liked this best, pic: ifightthelaw.wordpress.com

There are literally dozens of words for being drunk or a drunken person and they span the spectrum from the harmless to the bad, from the words you can (almost) use in polite conversation to slang expressions best left to frat parties.

Here are some common ones:

Blasted –  definitely not an appropriate word when talking to your boss

Hammered – sort of like blasted so also better used at a prty among friends then the company Christmas function

Intoxicated – the official term, sounds very “official” like something a doctor would say

Loaded – like hammered or blasted but also means to have a lot of money – ‘see the guy over there, he is loaded, owns half of  the city.”

Pickled  – like hammered

Pissed and shit-faced – really bad vulgar slang, frat house use only

Spaced – spaced out, refers more to being high on drugs than being drunk

Tipsy – being slightly drunk like after one glass champagne too many – mild expression and not appropriate for someone really drunk

Under the influence – official expression, used by police and lawyers, also found in the acronym DUI – driving under the influence

Enough talk about drinking, I am going to get a drink now!

Philosophical German words

No discussion of German loan words in English would be complete without the philosophical pair Weltanschauung and Weltschmerz.

Granted, they are neither particularly useful in everyday conversation nor easy to pronounce but nevertheless they seemed important enough and missing in the English language that they got adopted despite these shortcomings.

Jean Paul, the man we owe "Weltschmerz" to, pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Paul

Weltanschauung means “comprehensive world view,” a philosophy or conception of the world, universe, and human life.  It also refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts with it.

I was looking for the origin of the word or the philosopher who coined it but didn’t find anything definite.  The word is old which in the end isn’t that surprising, it is a very German concept and has probably been used for a long time.

Speaking of German concepts: Weltschmerz – “world pain,” or the melancholy over the state of the world is probably even more so typically German. Weltschmerz expresses pessimism associated with the poets of the Romantic era that arose from their refusal or inability to adjust to those realities of the world that they saw as destructive of their right to subjectivity and personal freedom.   The expression was coined by the writer Jean Paul, who despite his French sounding name, is a German romantic writer.

Enough philosophy for one day.