The phrase finder (UK): One over the eightMeaningThe final drink that renders someone drunk.OriginThis originated as UK military slang. The first reference to it in print is in Fraser and Gibbons' Soldier & Sailor Words, (1925):"One over the eight, one drink too many. Slightly intoxicated, the presumption being that an average 'moderate' man can safely drink eight glasses of beer."After a gallon of beer 'slightly intoxicated' seems a bit of an understatement. Beer was weaker in the 1920s than it is now, but even so.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson
19 April 2009
One over the eight
This phrase came up in conversation over dinner last night - the alcoholic beverage in question was a glass of dessert wine with the fetching name Naughty Sticky.
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