SOMETIMES THE OLD words are the best words.
Instead of being in bits, why not suffer from one of these venerable ailments? Illustrated with owls:
1. Crapulence
An excellent word from the 1530s. Also: crapulous; crapulously; crapulousness.
2. Bottle-ache
Used from the mid-19th to the early 20th century.
3. Carpenters in the forehead
Danish slang.
4. Katzenjammer
Nineteenth-century American slang, from the German for ‘wailing cats’.
5. Bust-head
Extremely descriptive American slang.
6. Wooden mouth
French slang.
7. The zings
American, from a 1967 dictionary.
8. Cropsick
“Sick from excess in eating or drinking”, 1913.
9. Hair-ache
Old French slang, now out of use.
10. Gallon distemper
Noted in 1905.
11. Blue devils
Feeling bad about yourself after drinking too much. Noted in 1823.
Owl photos inspired by Hungover Owls
