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From: jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: The magic number nine. (and 3 sheets to the wind)
Message-ID: <356@rtech.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 8-May-85 02:33:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: rtech.356
Posted: Wed May  8 02:33:08 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 12-May-85 02:13:47 EDT
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Organization: Relational Technology, Berkeley CA
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> > Seems to me that I have seen "3 points drunk" for "3/4 drunk" or some such
> > phrase somewhere in British writing, but I can't remember for sure.
> > 
> > Mark Brader
> 
> 	The expression I heard of a similar nature was "Three sheets to the
>     wind."  Can any sailing/ocean-going enthusiast explain this?

I'm no sailor, but I have a reference that answers this question.  "A Hog On
Ice & Other Curious Expressions" by Charles Earle Funk (Harper & Row, 1948)
is a book devoted to the etymology of expressions in English.  Mr. Funk has
this to say about "three sheets to the wind":

	"This means, of course, pretty drunk, reeling from too much indulgence
in strong drink, somewhat more tipsy than 'half-seas over.'  Like many other
common expressions, the phrase dates back to the times when ocean navigation
was entirely by sail.  But in nautical use, a sheet is not a sail, as landsmen
are accustomed to suppose, but the rope or chain attached to the lower corner
of a sail by which the angle of the sail is controlled.  In a strong wind the
sheet may be loosened, and is then said to be 'in the wind,' flapping and
fluttering without restraint.  If all three sheets are loose, as in a gale,
the vessel staggers and reels very much like a drunken person."
-- 
Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.)
aka Swazoo Koolak

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