Timeline for "Sober as a judge" vs. "Drunk as a lord". Why judge? Why lord?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Jan 20, 2017 at 21:38 | answer | added | George | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 2, 2015 at 3:10 | vote | accept | ermanen | ||
| Apr 30, 2015 at 7:22 | answer | added | Sven Yargs | timeline score: 6 | |
| Apr 29, 2015 at 15:45 | history | edited | ermanen | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 1195 characters in body
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| Apr 29, 2015 at 15:34 | comment | added | ermanen | @TimLymington: That's hilarious :) | |
| Apr 28, 2015 at 21:52 | comment | added | Tim Lymington | Prisoner: "I was drunk as a judge." Court: "Surely you mean 'drunk as a lord'?" P: "Yes, my lord." | |
| Aug 16, 2014 at 6:35 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | Possibly, the metaphor sober as a judge is connected to the Gin Craze which became epidemic in the early 18th century ‘Most of the Murders and Robberies lately committed’, said the London Grand Jury (Anonymous, 1736a), ‘have been laid and concentrated at Gin Shops’ The phenonmena of alcohol induced crimes was not new but in London in the 1700s the numbers reached epic proportions. | |
| Aug 15, 2014 at 20:46 | answer | added | user66974 | timeline score: 1 | |
| Aug 15, 2014 at 20:35 | comment | added | Dan Bron | In short: judges are sober because they have a job to do. Lords are drunk because they don't. | |
| Aug 15, 2014 at 20:33 | comment | added | Dan Bron | I think the "sober" in "sober as a judge" derives from the other, non-alcohol-related senses of "serious, calm, gravid, patient" etc. These characteristics are all related to (now) more common sense of not-drunk, because when you're drunk you don't exhibit any of them. In other words: a judge could not do his job drunk. By contrast, when you think of a "Lord", you shouldn't be picturing a modern MP, you should be picturing a medieval princeling who had nothing but money and time in a world without movies or 2048. They were drunk a lot. | |
| Aug 15, 2014 at 20:27 | answer | added | Oldcat | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 15, 2014 at 20:19 | history | asked | ermanen | CC BY-SA 3.0 |