Plastered

January 10th, 2012 by admin

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8 comments on this post.

  1. Phrases on Fridays: Are You Drunk, Schnookered, Plastered, Sauced, Hammered, Inebriated or Wasted? | The Procrastiwriter:

    July 26th, 2013 at 5:41 am

    […] a bird, you might have accidentally loaded your shotgun with buckshot. Word Detective adds that the first appearance of plastered as a synonym for very drunk appeared in print in 1902, […]

  2. clare:

    March 14th, 2014 at 5:12 am

    Well I work for a brewery in Burton On Trent and in 1870, Burton was the biggest brewing complex in the world-it was renowned for its water which ran over gypsum beds. Gypsum is found in plaster but the water was used in the brewing industry-hence the saying I got plastered!

  3. Dot:

    April 19th, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    I was told during a visit to a historical building that plasterers in the 17 and 1800s used stale beer ( the main form of beverage as water was insanitary) to ‘stick’ plaster artwork to ceilings. Unfortunately, they drank it as well and we’re ‘plastered’ as in drunk by the end of the day and put said artwork up wonky sometimes. Certainly true in the country home we were in.I will leave it there!

  4. Jonno:

    July 21st, 2015 at 4:30 am

    While researching my family on Ancestry.com I found a distant relative in Wales, William Parry (1832-1901), whose occupation in 1861 was recorded as “Tiler and Plasterer”. In 1871 he was running the Castle Madoc Arms in Brecon, Wales and his occupation was recorded as “Plasterer and Publican”. I wonder if………

  5. Jeanette Fougere:

    June 30th, 2017 at 2:29 pm

    I’m landscaped!

  6. sue mcginn:

    September 30th, 2019 at 8:29 pm

    Plasterers met in particular pubs when looking for work…lots were called Plasterers’ Arms…presumably some of them, and anyone else who went there, got plastered. xx

  7. Gilbert:

    March 24th, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    As I enjoy learning new words, I sometimes wonder about the history of them; One word often used by people who like to use drugs or get drunk never made a lot of sense to me.
    “Getting Plastered” – the www has not given me satisfaction on this one so today one of my clients asked me about “Placidyl” a sleeping medication marketed by Pfizer in the 50’s. That’s about the time when “Getting plastered” came around I believe.

    So phonetically the pt spoke about is like “Pastidyl”. I thought “Bingo” – any thoughts on this?

    Gil

  8. Ken McAllister:

    July 28th, 2021 at 8:56 pm

    I always assumed that it was due to the widespread use of gypsum (calcium sulfate) to moderate the acidity of beer and wine, and as a preservative. Gypsum is a core element of building plaster.

    Rod Phillips, in his book The Enemies of Alcohol: 1830-1914 writes: “One form of adulteration was the widespread practice of adding plaster (gypsum or calcium sulfate) to wine. Plaster improved acidity and therefore acted as a preservative, and it also gave wine a brighter and clearer color. It was particularly common in the mass-produced wines of southern France, Italy, and Spain, which were frequently shipped long distances to their markets and benefited from the preservative qualities of plaster. But plaster found its way into many “quality” wines in the 1880s, as Bordeaux producers blended these plastered wines with their own to make up for losses due to phylloxera.”

    To be “plastered” then meant to have overindulged in cheap wine or beer.

    Here’s a fun reference about this in an 1889 California newspaper.

    ksm.

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