2006-08-18 22:00:42 · 20 answers · asked by nonelessthanyou 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
It means you're really drunk.
2006-08-18 22:03:56 · answer #1 · answered by Ray 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Meaning
Drunk.
Origin
Our colleagues at CANOE, the Committee to Ascribe a Nautical Origin to Everything, have been hard at work and, to their great pleasure, they can add this phrase to their list. Three sheets to (or three sheets in the wind) the wind is indeed a nautical expression.
To understand this phrase we need to enter the arcane world of nautical terminolgy. Little is as it seems when onboard ship, so it's no big surprise that sheets aren't sails, as landlubbers might expect, but ropes.
If three sheets are loose and blowing about in the wind then the boat will lurch about like a drunken sailor.
The earliest printed citation is Pierce Egan, Real life in London 1821:
"Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind."
The earliest that specifically makes the nautical and drunken associations is Richard Dana Jr's
'Two years before the mast', 1840:
"He seldom went up to the town without coming down ‘three sheets in the wind’
2006-08-18 22:08:32 · answer #2 · answered by mr_martinez 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Three sheets to (or three sheets in the wind) the wind is a nautical expression.
To understand this phrase we need to enter the arcane world of nautical terminolgy. Sheets aren't sails, as landlubbers might expect, but ropes.
If three sheets are loose and blowing about in the wind then the boat will lurch about like a drunken sailor.
The earliest printed citation is Pierce Egan, Real life in London 1821:
"Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind."
The earliest that specifically makes the nautical and drunken associations is Richard Dana Jr's
'Two years before the mast', 1840:
"He seldom went up to the town without coming down ‘three sheets in the wind’."
2006-08-18 22:15:32 · answer #3 · answered by »»» seagull ««« 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means to be drunk, but it comes from sailing. Sheets are ropes that control the sails. If three sheets are to the wind (loose) the boat will just sort of wallow around (like a staggering drunk.)
2006-08-20 01:16:03 · answer #4 · answered by Bella 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Drunk, inebriiated, intoxicated...all mean the same as 3 sheets in the wind....
2006-08-19 18:06:17 · answer #5 · answered by prettycoolchick38 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the motion of blowing sheets is the same sensation of alchohol with the apparent "gravity gusts" and loss of balance. Not to be confused with Intoxicated, which originally meant to be shot with an arrow...
2006-08-19 15:18:17 · answer #6 · answered by Boliver Bumgut 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Drunk, Intoxicated, Hammered, Sloshed
2006-08-19 01:39:46 · answer #7 · answered by sarah 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sheets are rope in nautical terms. If you lose your ropes into the wind, you can't reach them.
2006-08-21 10:36:53 · answer #8 · answered by themoondancesaloon 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Drunk. Plastered. Lost your mind.
2006-08-19 13:00:30 · answer #9 · answered by Rhonda 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means that one has overindulged in alcoholic beverages...
drunk
2006-08-18 22:04:28 · answer #10 · answered by jh 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋