--- title: Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Drinking too much alcohol and taking drugs can harm people, and talking about it plainly can feel embarrassing. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/) / Soft words for hard things: drinking a… # Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs Lesson 30 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 22 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/0/) — Drinking too much alcohol and taking drugs can harm people, and talking about it plainly can feel embarrassing. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/1/) — So people use jokes and old slang for being drunk ("legless", "blotto", "squiffy") and cosy words for drinks ("a nightcap", "refreshments"). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/2/) — Officials use cool, careful words instead: addiction becomes "substance abuse" or "substance misuse", and illegal drugs become "recreational drugs". - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/3/) — A vivid example: "He's a social drinker" can be a gentle way of saying he drinks a lot, perhaps too much. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/4/) — Under the funny words there can be a real problem, so it helps to know exactly what they mean. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/5/) — "In his cups" is an old phrase meaning drunk. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/6/) — "Worse for wear" in Britain means drunk or badly hungover; a hangover is the headache and sick feeling the morning after drinking too much. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/8/) — "Refreshments" on an invitation can politely mean alcoholic drinks. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/9/) — A "nightcap" is an alcoholic drink before bed. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/11/) — "Hair of the dog" means an alcoholic drink taken to cure a hangover, which does not really work. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/12/) — "Feeling delicate" in Britain is a polite way to say hungover. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/13/) — "On the wagon" means not drinking alcohol. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/14/) — "Fell off the wagon" means started drinking again after stopping. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/16/) — A "social drinker" is someone who drinks regularly with others, sometimes too much. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/17/) — "Substance abuse" is the official phrase for addiction to drugs or alcohol; addiction means a person cannot stop taking something even though it harms them. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/18/) — "Substance misuse" is the British official phrase for harmful use of drugs or alcohol. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/19/) — "Recreational drugs" means illegal drugs taken for pleasure. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/20/) — "Party favours" is US slang for illegal drugs at a party, though it also means small party gifts. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/21/) — "Out of it" means very drunk or high on drugs (feeling strange and not in control because of a drug). - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/22/) — "Blotto" is old British slang for very drunk. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/23/) — "Legless" is British slang for so drunk one cannot stand. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/30-drinking-and-drugs/24/) — "Squiffy" is old British slang for slightly drunk. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: lying and honesty and drinking and drugs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: drinking and drugs and religion and fate](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/31-drinking-drugs-religion-fate/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)