The Drinker's Dictionary is a list of 228 "round-about phrases" to describe drunkenness. It was published on January 6, 1737 (1736 Old Style) in The Pennsylvania Gazette.From the Writings of Benjamin Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette 1736–1737 The Pennsylvania Gazette publication is attributed to Benjamin Franklin and appears in his memoirs; however, a very similar wordlist appears in the New England Weekly Journal on July 6, 1736, and differences between the two suggest earlier origins by a different author. Franklin deemed drunkenness as a vice that could never be a virtue, so various terms and phrases were created to mask the inappropriateness of the act.
References
Bibliography Franklin, Benjamin, Franklin, William Temple, Duane, William, Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin, volume 2, New York: Derby & Jackson (1859), p. 496.
External links Internet Archive text of the Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin