Friday 14 January 2011

An embarassing admission

Until yesterday I thought the word "teetotaller" was spelt "teatotaller", its derivation having something to do with drinking lots of tea instead of alcohol. Its exact etymology is unclear, but one possible explanation, which traces the word's origins to a meeting of the Preston Temperance Society in 1832 or 1833, is quite intriguing. To quote from Wikipedia:
The story attributes the word to Dicky Turner, a member of the society, who had a stammer, and in a speech said that nothing would do but "tee-tee-total abstinence".

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You had me on tenderhooks there.

Grant said...

I believe the word is TenTerhooks

Walking fool said...

I believe Mr Anonymous was being ironic.

grant said...

Oh. Sorry.