#teetotalism

[danskjavlarna]

"Among the virtuous Non-Drinkers was an alarming Percentage of the Kind that no one would care to have around the House on a Rainy Sunday."

Source details and larger version.

My strange collection of vintage alcohol imagery will have you seeing things.

[thewordwideweb]

(Don't) raise a glass: Here's to the teetotalers

I’m not exactly a teetotaler, but I don’t drink much alcohol. Frankly, I prefer a nice chocolate milkshake to an ice cold beer, and wine, to quote the character Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory,” is “grape juice that burns.”

Did I forget to mention that the Word of the Day is “teetotal?”

“Teetotal” or “teetotalism” refers to a pledge of complete abstinence from intoxicating alcoholic beverages. The first thing you need to know about the word is it’s not “TEAtotal.” It has nothing to do with tea (unless perhaps you’re talking about Long Island Iced Tea, a potent mixed drink which, in my youth, kicked my arse more than once.)

It’s generally (but not universally) agreed that the first known use of the word was by temperance advocate Dicky Turner in Preston, England in a speech in 1833. Wikipedia hints that Turner had a stutter, and was actually urging “t-t-t-total abstinence” from liquor, but there’s no convincing proof of that (Not even 80 proof, like a good strong vodka or gin. See what I did there?)

Let’s break it down. The “total” part means just what it says on the box. The avoidance of alcohol is complete and total. The “tee” part is both a reduplication (like “itty-bitty,” “easy-peasy,” “okey-dokey” and the like) and an intensifier. English has lots of intensifying prefixes, such as the “dis-“ in “disgruntled” (completely, entirely grumbling and grunting like a pig.) There’s also “re-“ like the one in “resplendent” (completely shining and glittering), and the “de-“ in such words as “declare” (make thoroughly and completely clear) and “depraved” (thoroughly, um, “praved,” from the Latin “pravus,” meaning perverse or crooked.)

So the “tee” in “teetotal” indicates a complete and utter totality. No alcohol. Not one drop.

Now please don’t ask me about the origin of the word “cocktail.” There are at least a dozen theories, and frankly, they’re all pretty implausible. It’s enough to drive one to drink. Milkshakes.

[bazooket]

[milliekou]

AUU Omake #1 : Teetotal

‘Been a while since I last posted. I’m quite out of practice and bonus / extra comics are a good way for me to warm up. :D

[npr]

Teetotaling Made Trendy

High-end, non-alcoholic beverages are on the rise — with growing demand from bars and restaurants to carry drinks that go beyond water and sweet sodas for those who don't drink alcohol.

[kiddisalive]

... because I am proud of the control I have over my mind and body, and the fact that I don’t need any “help” for having fun. Sometimes I felt different and it wasn’t great, until I realized that I was bound to be different and there’s nothing wrong with it. I won’t drink alcoholics anymore, I’ve never smoked or used drugs, and I never will. This is my choice. Some people criticize sXe people for bragging about their choice. If you really think this is “bragging”, take a look about how many teenagers take photos with drinks or cigarettes to look “mature”. That’s bragging.

[the-mirandalorian94]

so I stumbled across the teetotalism article on Wikipedia, which is basically the practice of abstaining from alcohol

and there’s a section where it discusses research performed on people who practice it, and there have been studies where drinking habits of people on the asexuality spectrum are compared to those who are allosexual/not asexual, and its been found that asexual people drink significantly less than people who aren’ t asexual

and as someone who is ace and recently decided to stop drinking (which honestly, I didn’t ever really drink often anyways, only at parties), I just thought that was really interesting.

[jellobiafrasays]

the cup of fury (1956, cover illustration by a.l. edebohls)

i so associate upton sinclair with the beginning of the twentieth century that reminders like this that he was still alive and publishing things like this cranky anti-drinking tract in the ‘50s are a bit of a surprise (in fact he lived another decade plus after this)