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Three Sheets To The Wind
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                    02-Apr-08  
susan331            03-Apr-08

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Date:   02-Apr-08

"Three sheets to the wind"

Common definition: Very, very drunk (e.g. "Chugging those long island ice teas put her three sheets to the wind, bro")

Original definition: Sheets, as you may have guessed, is a nautical term. However, it does not mean "sail" as most people believe but instead refers to the rope that holds the sail in their lower corners. If the sheets were loose, the sail would flap around resembling the stumbling of a very drunk sailor. Sailors had a scale for the level of drunkeness: one sheet to the wind being just a bit tipsy and three sheets meaning full-on plastered.

First use: The earliest printed mention is in Pierce Egan's Real Life in London from 1821: "Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind."

Subject:   RE: Three Sheets To The Wind
From:   susan331
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Date:   03-Apr-08

That was me Monday night. Do I smell a reissue?

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