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 Animals used in "as drunk as" similes

As drunk as...

a skunk, a boiled owl, a kettlefish, a monkey, a mouse, a drowned mouse, a newt, a piss-ant, a sow, Davy's sow, a loon, a billygoat, and forty billygoats.

 

 Hooligan

The origins of "Hooligan" are lost. The OED explains that there are several theories and personal attestations on its etymology, but nothing has been confirmed.

The preferred theory is that a street gang in Islington (1890 - 1900) was led by a man called "Hooley", and the police referred to its members as "Hooligans".

Another theory dating to the same period is that it comes from a Patrick Hooligan who worked as a "bouncer" at various pubs and inns in London, most notably the Irish Court and the Lamb and Flag.

Even earlier, a play "More Blunders than One", first produced in 1824, featured an often-drunk valet called Larry Hooligan. One theory goes that this character lent his name to similar character types and the word "Hooligan" entered common usage as a theatrical stereotype.

There is also an Irish word, "hooley" which means a wild, spirited party.

 

 

 Kibosh

"...Put the kye-bosh on her, Mary!" (Charles Dickens ‘Boz’, 1836)

To "put the kibosh on" something means to ruin it or to spoil it. The OED concedes that the etymology of "kibosh" is unknown, but suggests that it may come from the Yiddish "kabas", meaning "to suppress".

Analyzing the Dickens citation above, Partridge notes that the Yiddish words "kye bosh" are a literal translation of "Eighteen pence". The linkage between this meaning and its current meaning, however, is unclear.

A final theory suggests that "kibosh" may share a common etymology with "cabbage" through the verb "caboche", which means to cut off the head of a deer.

 

 

 

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