Let me, at the outset, wish all my readers a Happy New Year. I hope and pray that the pandemic does not raise its ugly head and take us back to 2020 days.
FC #125 was much appreciated. Apparently, it served the purpose of making people smile.
Shanti Dugar very kindly says: “I am amused by your art of writing and deciphering a word to the minutest extent possible and delivering a message. You are so good at it, and I am always more educated by reading it and keep waiting for the next one.”
Salil Rajadhyaksha says: “Nani Palkhivala too often said: ‘brevity is the soul of wit’, but also improvised it with, ‘the rest is silence’.”
Tarun Kunzru believes that: “Wit = words+intelligence+timing.”
Dr.Naina says: “Thoroughly enjoyed it Sir and sincerely admire your grit and determination to brew the FC with the same consistency, strength, and flavour week on week. Wah! Coffee! SunPresso Brand!”
In 🔗 FC # 27 dated January 2021, I wrote about New Year Resolution. You may wish to read if you haven’t.
🍺🚫 On the Wagon
One of the resolutions that people make, not necessarily on New Year's Day, is to abstain from alcohol for certain periods of time for health or other reasons. If one resumes drinking, he is off the wagon.
The origin of the phrase is not very clear, and the specific reference to ‘wagon’ is equally unclear. But there are some explanations offered by different sources. It appears that condemned prisoners were given one last drink before they were herded onto a wagon to be taken to the gallows. Another version is about drunks being picked up in wagons by the salvation army and counselling them to stay sober. It is, however, unclear if actual wagons were involved.
It is said that during the turn of the 20th century, the phrase “on the wagon” came to be used in the US. Apparently, the original phrase was “on the water cart” indicative of a person drinking water and not alcohol. When wagons were used to carry water, the phrase changed to “on the water wagon’. Over the course of time, it got shortened to “on the wagon”.
The first reference in print to “water-cart” was found in Alice Caldwell Hegan's comic novel Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, published in 1901. It had this sentence:
“I wanted to git him some whisky, but hoe shuck his head. ‘I'm on the water-cart’."
Notice how ‘he’ was spelt as ‘hoe’ and ‘shook’ as ‘shuck’.
'Water-wagon' appeared in the 1904 edition of The Davenport Daily Leader, and the relevant portion reads thus:
"Peter Solle took a bad fall from the water wagon this morning. The water wagon was not that imaginary, a visionary affair that is sometimes applied to he who signs the pledge, but was the real thing, all there and big as life."
He was referring to a real water wagon and not ‘the wagon’ that people were on and off.
*from phrases.org.uk
The saloon was the place where people congregated to imbibe and when drinking became a large-scale die-hard habit, the Anti-Saloon League was founded in 1893, followed by the establishment of various temperance outfits such as the Abstinence Society. Men were encouraged to take a pledge to abstain.
One can be on the wagon for some time, and he is off the wagon when he resumes drinking.
People find a reason to be on the wagon, but then find an excuse to be off the wagon. A song written by Billie Joe Armstrong, co-founder and lead singer of the punk-rock band “Green” supports this point. The relevant lines read:
Well today, I say sweet things, tomorrow
I’ll be making excuses for my actions
Guess, my best excuse, I’m on the wagon again
Well, I got no real excuse, I’m on the wagon again.
If you want to listen to the song, please use this link: 🔗 On the Wagon MP3 Song Download | Shenanigans @ WynkMusic
This can be quite reminiscent of situations when people who are on the wagon get off the wagon, with the excuse being to celebrate a happy occasion or to drown one’s sorrow, as we have seen in many Hindi movies.
If someone says he is on the wagon, can he persuade others to jump onto the bandwagon? Perhaps not, as the expression bandwagon dates back to the times when a band used to perform sitting on a wagon to promote a circus that has come to town. Later, the idiom ‘jump on the bandwagon’ came to be used to describe people following a popular trend or a movement that would then gain the support of a larger group. Join the bandwagon is also used in a derogatory sense when politicians join a more successful and promising political party.
On the wagon has a different connotation when compared to teetotalism, which means total and perpetual abstinence from alcohol. People who have never taken a drop of liquor in their lives call themselves teetotallers. Compared to teetotalism, being on the wagon does not necessarily mean irrevocable abstinence.
Apparently, the word teetotaller originated in a speech given by a man named Turner who had a speech impediment. While addressing a meeting of the Temperance Society, he is said to have remarked that partial abstinence from alcohol would not do and with a stammer, he urged people to practice tee-tee-tee-total abstinence. Thus came into vogue the word teetotallers, attributable to total abstainers. Like we call someone who complains about things that are not important a fuss pot, teetotallers were often called “teapots” and if ever a teetotaller took to alcohol, he is said to have smashed the teapot!
It is a social myth that teapots are not invited to cocktail parties. It is left to the teapots whether to attend or not. Some teapots can become the life of the party sipping soda and some find the bunch of imbibers boisterous, monotonous, and repetitive. But in the name of socializing, they attend. Wikipedia has compiled a list of teetotallers from all walks of life. If interested, please look up 🔗 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teetotalism
All of us are familiar with the phrase ‘walk the talk’ which alludes to someone’s actions being consistent with the principles or beliefs he stands for. It also means putting words into action. If you relate it to an everyday phrase, it simply means ‘practice what you preach’.
But, are you familiar with the phrase ‘walk the chalk’? Well, it refers to the test that a police officer would resort to in the case of DUI viz. When they find a person driving under influence (whether it be alcohol or drugs). Making a person walk on a line, drawn on the ground in chalk, is to ascertain if someone is sober enough to walk along that line without wobbling.
Here’s a one-liner:
The last time I was this drunk, I had to take a bus home…
Which isn't really a big deal, but I've never driven a bus before.
Dear Readers, many of you may have enjoyed ushering in the new year. Let us hope 2023 turns out to be a good year for all of us. Take care! Ciao.
Nice
On the wagon I am optimistic. Off the wagon I am misty optically!