How dry I am.
Posted by EAH on September 10, 2003
In Reply to: How dry I am. posted by ESC on September 09, 2003
: : What does the phrase "How dry I am" mean? I think "dry" means drunk, but what's the connection between being dry and inebriated?
: : I saw a guy in a movie from the fifties say, "Aw, let him drink himself dry." in reference to a guy drinking a lot at a bar.
: I seen the term "dry drunk" in a murder mystery or two. I think it means recovered or struggling alcoholics who get a kind of high from talking about drinking. But I'm not sure of the meaning. It wasn't explained.
: The only "how dry I am" that I know about comes from a children's song:
: HOW DRY I AM - "Adults usually offer the song 'How Dry I am' to comment on drinking, but for children 'dry' and 'wet' have connections to bathroom habits. Self-control and public behavior, a constant theme in American child-rearing, is the prevalent subject in the parody:
: How dry I am
: How wet I'll be
: If I don't find the bathroom key.
: I found the key
: But not the door
: It's too late now
: It's on the floor."
: From "American Children's Folklore: A Book of Rhymes, Games, Jokes, Stories, Secret Languages, Beliefs and Camp Legends for Parents, Grandparents, Teachers, Counselors and All Adults Who Were Once Children" by Simon J. Bronner (August House Inc., Little Rock, Ark., 1988).
: A variation: How dry I am/How wet I'll be/If I don't find/A place to p**.
"Dry" towns were places without saloons, where alcohol was forbidden.
if someone drinks all the alcohol available, the bottles are "dry".
Interestingly, the tune was originally a hymn.