Teetotalers

Oh, I love teetotaler. I'm also British and familiar with it. But I always put it down to colloquialism/slang usage. But I've been one for a few years now (waaaay too many teen years doing things I shouldn't have with alcohol).

I don't know if any other nationality is familiar with it. Curious to know if they do/don't though.

Edit: that's not saying it is slang usage btw, I'm going purely by how I've used it.

"Teetotaler" is used in North America also. I woulodn't call it slang. Dictionary.com gives this as the origig: "
Origin:
reduplicated variant of total, coined by R. Turner, of Preston, England, in 1833, in a speech advocating total abstinence from alcoholic drinks."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/teetotal

Then there was the Muslim I knew who claimed to have liver disease

Depends in what context you intend to use it.

Context is everything, and will your global audience be any the wiser because you used the word teetotaler instead of saying what you meant?

If you are talking about using it in medical writing, no, you shouldn't. It's not in current use.

Whether it's taken as mocking depends largely on where you live, and, quite honestly, the kind of people you hang out with. It's a very common word around here, and it is not said mockingly.

I self-identify as a teetotaler, and no one has ever used the word toward me in a mocking manner--though they might tease me for not drinking!

Personally, the word sounds old-timey and/or dorky, to me, and if I ever say it I'm going to say it kind of sarcastically. People who say "teetotaler" in seriousness to me sound kinda like people who say "hip" or "fussbudget" or "fiddlesticks." (In seriousness, again; I fully support the use of the word "fiddlesticks" when said with sarcasm/irony. Like if Satan said it.)

But, as others have said, it's going to vary...this is just how I personally think of the word's character.

I don't drink, never have, and have never been called a teetotaler, or referred to myself as such. I just say I'm a pregnant Mormon Sikh with liver disease.

buzhidao said:

Personally, the word sounds old-timey and/or dorky, to me, and if I ever say it I'm going to say it kind of sarcastically. People who say "teetotaler" in seriousness to me sound kinda like people who say "hip" or "fussbudget" or "fiddlesticks." (In seriousness, again; I fully support the use of the word "fiddlesticks" when said with sarcasm/irony. Like if Satan said it.)

But, as others have said, it's going to vary...this is just how I personally think of the word's character.

I don't drink, never have, and have never been called a teetotaler, or referred to myself as such. I just say I'm a pregnant Mormon Sikh with liver disease.

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Oh fiddlesticks, you silly teetotalers should either stop being teetotalers or accept the term as it is meant, as an indicator that you totally reject alcohol. There's nothing old-fashioned about being a fussbudgetty teetotalers.

What kind of word is teetotaler? An old-fashioned, informal, is it more British or American...is it used in spoken language?

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I think - although I may be wrong - that it is a British word which emerged from the Victorian era. Amazingly for Britain (!), there was an enormous problem with alcohol abuse, especially in the booming industrial cities of Oop North, where factory workers would often be paid in the pubs. Various groups started promoting abstinence (or, more commonly, restraint) and from this the Temperance movement was born. "Teetotal" is "T-total" (although I don't think it was ever spelled that way), with the "T" standing for "Temperance". For a while at least, teetotallers didn't eschew all alcohol, although it has now come to be associated with complete abstinence from the demon drink.

I know the US is often more socially conservative than the UK, so it remains possible that we imported the Temperance movement. We still have surviving Temperance Halls (although they are now used for other purposes) and I think we still have one genuine Temperance bar left in sunny Rawtenstall.

Teetotal isn't a perjorative term over here and it is still in common use.

Regards,

Peter

One explanation for the term is that early in the in the temperance movement, people were asked to sign pledges to be temperant with alcohol. Some merely pledged to use alcohol in moderation (in other words, to be temperant) while others pledged total abstinance from alcohol. It was later that the temperance movement became about total abstinance and banning of alcohol.

I don't know if it is actually correct or not, but that is one of the possible explanations out there. I do think teetotaller is a bit of an old fashioned word, people will be more likely to say that they don't drink rather than say they are a teetotaller. But it is a word that people understand.

in my part of the world it means someone who abstains and always has abstained from any type of alcoholic beverage; as opposed to someone who is "on the wagon" which means only abstaining for a period of time--s6

According to that PBS Prohibition series, a prohibitionist called for "Total abstinence. With a capital T, Total!" And the T, Total became teetotaler. (Then, maybe not, I was kinda drunk when I watched it...)

Might be worth a chuckle: Before reading this thread and subsequently looking up the word in the dictionary, I thought it was spelled "teatotaler." I knew it meant someone who doesn't drink alcohol, figured it was British in origin (I'm from the U.S.A.), and thought the word referred to a person who drinks tea instead of alcohol. It was a good guess, but go ahead and laugh at me if you wish--I do so regularly.

ArtsyAmy said:

Might be worth a chuckle: Before reading this thread and subsequently looking up the word in the dictionary, I thought it was spelled "teatotaler." I knew it meant someone who doesn't drink alcohol, figured it was British in origin (I'm from the U.S.A.), and thought the word referred to a person who drinks tea instead of alcohol. It was a good guess, but go ahead and laugh at me if you wish--I do so regularly.

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I won't laugh. I thought that that it meant that the words was from "tea" being the total of what they drank.

Snick said:

Oh fiddlesticks, you silly teetotalers should either stop being teetotalers or accept the term as it is meant, as an indicator that you totally reject alcohol. There's nothing old-fashioned about being a fussbudgetty teetotalers.

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Fiddle dee dee! Furshlugginer fustilarian!

(Are you drunk right now?)

I would also fully support the invention of a less dorky word for those who abstain from drinking. Like "bitchsnorter". Like ripsnorter, but you're a bitch 'cause you don't drink and are messing up everyone else's good time. I took on that role a lot during college, before I gave up and became a wandering hermit. (Although, I guess people might misinterpret that as "person who snorts lines of cocaine off of a bitch's abdomen" or "people who grind up bitches and snort them" but I think that might be half the fun.)

"Ascetic" would almost work in my case if I didn't eat so much goddamn cake. And had a religion. Or something.

I wouldn't use it in writing about health care topics for a primarily US audience. "People who abstain from alcohol" is unlikely to confuse anyone, whereas "teetotalers" may not be a familiar term to all readers.

buzhidao said:

Fiddle dee dee! Furshlugginer fustilarian!

(Are you drunk right now?)

I would also fully support the invention of a less dorky word for those who abstain from drinking. Like "bitchsnorter". Like ripsnorter, but you're a bitch 'cause you don't drink and are messing up everyone else's good time. I took on that role a lot during college, before I gave up and became a wandering hermit. (Although, I guess people might misinterpret that as "person who snorts lines of cocaine off of a bitch's abdomen" or "people who grind up bitches and snort them" but I think that might be half the fun.)

"Ascetic" would almost work in my case if I didn't eat so much goddamn cake. And had a religion. Or something.

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You know, there aren't many words for people who do not consume alcoholic beverages. When there aren't many words for something, that usually means that that thing is not common. You might use the term "nn-drinker", which is the opposite of "drinker".

nondrinker

IceCreamEmpress said:

I wouldn't use it in writing about health care topics for a primarily US audience. "People who abstain from alcohol" is unlikely to confuse anyone, whereas "teetotalers" may not be a familiar term to all readers.

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I think the term is known but has another feel to it. A teetotaler is often not only one who abstains from alcohol but has a fervor about it and thinks that others should abstain as well ... a prohibitionist.

I think nondrinker is likely the best word. We know that it means non-alcoholic drinker.

boron said:

What kind of word is teetotaler? An old-fashioned, informal, is it more British or American...is it used in spoken language?

I've seen it in academic texts...I tend to include synonyms in my "health facts" articles.

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It does have a bit of a hint of obsessive avoidance about it.

For instance, if someone said "I'm teetotal", I'd assume they never allowed alcohol to pass their lips at all (so no red wine in the casserole etc). If they said "I don't drink", I wouldn't assume they didn't use it as a cooking ingredient.

And I can't imagine a teen using it. All the teens I know who don't drink just say "I don't drink."