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Samizdata word of the day

Veisalgia– the medical term for the common or garden hangover. I suspect that there has been a slight epidemic of veisalgia in the ranks of Samizdata’s contributors and editors lately. A useful word to know when filling out sick leave application forms for work.

18 comments to Samizdata word of the day

  • permanent expat

    Perhaps I’m affected! On today’s Google opening page their logo is written in Braille but, for the life of me, I can’t feel it.

  • permanent expat

    Just a thought…………..maybe I should print it out.

  • michael farris

    Don’t know if this passes muster scientifically, but I read once that a hangover is a mini version of withdrawal pains (among other things).
    That gave me more empathy for alcoholics and their problems in drying out than anything else I’ve ever read.

  • Verity

    permanent expat – Oh, is that what it is? Is it National Braille Day, or something? They didn’t have any decoration up for Christmas, but they’re celebrating the blind?

  • RAB

    I always liked the Billy Connolly joke about pointless signs.
    ” To the Blind School”
    “Who’s it for? do blind people leap out of their car, feel it up and go Ah it’s this way!”

  • permanent expat

    Verity: I think Google had some decorated logo over the Festive Season but it was perhaps too PC (surprize!) to be recognized as such.
    RAB: Check, should you wish, on my comment relating to your personal armoury. Cheers.

  • brian

    ‘Crapulent’ is another nice word for being hungover.

  • esbonio

    Reminds me of a student who left a note for a tutor excusing his absence on account of halitosis.

  • Johnathan Pearce

    I had a stinker the day after Boxing Day. My father gave me some good port. I must say I have probably overdone it too many times over the past year and want to get in super-fit shape this year. I did a check on how much booze I shifted over one weekend and it gave me a shock.

  • Colin

    If you are on the wagon and want to send your fine port to a good home, Johnathan, I’m more than happy to send you my address 😉

  • Killjoy

    What is it with hangovers? You can have one anyday of the year. What’s special?

  • Julian Taylor

    It’s Louis Braille’s birthday apparently.

    I love the origin of Veisalgia – defined as ‘uneasiness following debauchery’.

  • What is it with hangovers?

  • permanent expat

    The best remark I ever heared from someone suffering from a hangover (old but clean, I think) was: “Somebody’s been eating ashes with my mouth.”

  • In my experience, hangovers, motion sickness, migraines and acute altitude sickness all have very similar symptoms. I don’t know what this proves.

    However, I have been told by Russian astronomers who worked at a high altitude telescope somewhere in the Urals that they thought this was a good reason for excessive consumption of vodka just before going up – if they were going to feel that way anyway they might as well get some enjoyment first.

  • W. C. Fields on sobriety: “It must be terrible to wake up in the morning and know that that’s as good as you’re going to feel all day.”

    Another good word for a hangover: crapulence. It even sounds like how you feel.

    The Kingsley Amis thing about moving one’s eyeballs has been done to death; google and enjoy, if you haven’t read Lucky Jim.

  • The headache component results from vasodilation, so it is indeed similar to migraine. Vasoconstrictors such as caffeine are genuinely helpful.

    Stomach issues can be minimised by caution as to what you drink. My worst morning was after alternating peppermint schnappes and singapore slings, each chased with cheap beer. One of my toking buddies wanted to introduce us to a new drug he’d just discovered; alcohol.

    Another issue is dehydration. If you are drinking to get drunk, try vodka mixed with a sports electrolyte drink.

  • Vyvyan-“What’s a good thing for a hangover?”
    Mike-“Drinking heavily the night before.”
    Rick-“That will teach you to mix your drinks, Vyvyan!”
    Vyvyan-“I already know how to mix my drinks.”
    Mike-“Yeah, paint stripper and bleach. Lethal!”

    Dialogue from the disgraceful TV show “The Young Ones” that sprung to my mind today.