Wisconsin Has Some Creative Ways Of Saying ‘You’re Drunk’
You'll want to make sure you have all the lingo down the next time you bend an elbow in Wisconsin.
Riley and I got to talking about hangover cures and drinking on this morning's show. We have some experience with the subject (full disclosure, I'm a bit more experienced than Riley but he definitely has stories as well) and it does come up often on our show.
That led to one of our listeners sharing a list of regional drunken terms we use in the United States. I thought it was going to be words like "hammered," "blitzed," "sloshed," and "lit," but it was actually a list of much more regionally specific and less-well known phrases.
One that jumped out at me was the word "Plotzed." As soon as Riley said it, I said "that has to be a Wisconsin thing because "plotzed" is one of the most Wisconsin sounding words I've ever heard."
And it turns out I was exactly right.
Now I've never actually heard anyone say the word plotzed before so I don't know how accurate it is but I definitely have been plotzed in Wisconsin before. I mean that's what you're supposed to do in the Dairy State. They're really good at it.
So what is the origin of the word plotzed? Great question. The Mental Floss article doesn't seem to really know either.
This might come from the Yiddish, plotz, meaning to explode (figuratively), to split at one's seams, or to die from laughter, etc.
Here are some of the other drunken terms from around the country.
- Cork High And Bottle Deep - A Georgia saying that makes sense if you think about it.
- Drunk As A Bowdow - This comes from the saying drunk as a boiled owl which also doesn't make sense.
- Pifflicated - First used by O. Henry and derived from the verb spiflicate, to deal with in such a way to confound or overcome completely. Used in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
- Drunk As Cooter Brown - Probably my favorite on the list. Here's how Mental Floss describes it.
The Farmer's Almanac describes [Cooter Brown] as someone who lived on the Mason-Dixon line during the Civil War. To avoid getting drafted by either the North or the South, he got drunk and stayed that way.
I like Cooter Brown's style, make sure you're so unappealing as a soldier that neither side wants you. Quite the way to live.
So remember this the next time you tip back a few north of the border, asked the bartender if anyone is getting plotzed in here tonight.
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