Did you know there are an estimated 300 to 3000 words in the English language that mean drunk!? With so many words for getting sloshed, it is interesting to think about where they come from and what they mean. When it comes to the word hammered, let’s see if we can nail it down.
What Hammered Really Means
There is a general consensus across the internet that being “hammered” is a little beyond being ordinarily drunk. Hammered, however, is not nearly as intense as “shit-faced”, as one Urban Dictionary definition puts it. If you get hammered, it often means you have drunk so much that it is likely you will have a hangover in the morning, but you haven’t necessarily lost all of your inhibitions. Interestingly, hammered is a term that is more often used when people refer to parties.
- So even though being hammered may mean you get drunker than drunk, it usually refers to a good night of drinking with a group of friends.
When We Started Using Hammered to Mean Drunk
The short answer to this is that we don’t actually have a record of when hammered came into English meaning “intoxicated”, but there is some speculation that it existed even back in the 1700s (more on that later). Several dictionaries that list the term as slang to mean “drunk” only date back to about the 90s, however, so while hammered may have existed hundreds of years ago, it is more likely it came into the language in the 70s or 80s, or at least it became more popular to mean drunk during this time.
Where Did Hammered Come From?
Because we can’t exactly pinpoint the time hammered came into the language to mean intentionally getting drunk, it is difficult to say how it originated, though there are some theories. Among them that laborers, who would work with tools all day, would come home and hit the sauce to put their work cares behind them.
- Hammered may be in reference to getting drunk after using a hammer all day, making its way into the language in the 1700s, as we stated above.
Another theory for the origins of hammered simply comes from the sensation a hangover provides after a night of overdrinking. The pounding in a person’s head or the ache in his or her body after a night of may have reference to the fact they were so drunk that hammers are responsible for their hangover, or they were totally hammered last night.
What We Can Do After You Were Hammered
Even though we may not know exactly when and where hammered started, we definitely know what it means for you in the morning. At Hangover Hospital, we can help you get rid of your hangover in an hour or less by providing you with nutrient-rich vitamin and hydration therapies, oxygen, and supplements that will knock out your symptoms and get you back on your feet. We can’t cure you from being hammered, but we can certainly take the pounding away. If you are hungover after a night of drinking in Key West, get relief by calling us. We come straight to you and get rid of your hangover no matter where you are. Nailed it!
- CALL NOW: 305.912.4911