Drunkenness

** Refers to the influence of other recreational drugs as well as alcohol, most frequently marijuana. Although they never played live originally, they have played together live twice since, once in 1998 and once in 2004. * Refers to slight drunkenness. Horn said he chose "The Buggles" for the band's name because, "It was the most disgusting name I could think of at that time.". The Qur'an, or book of Islam, declares that God prohibits the consumption of alcohol by humankind, because of harmful effects for the body, harmful effects for the consumer's life and family, social problems, and distraction from mindfulness of God. The band's sound was characterised by a deliberately synthetic quality, in keeping with the technological subject matter of their songs. Many religions discourage or prohibit alcohol consumption. They recorded two albums, the second of which was released after Horn and Downes had replaced Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman, respectively, in Yes.

This also works in the game of Nethack. The video for the song, directed by Russell Mulcahy was - quite appropriately - the first video aired on MTV North America. The Ancient Greeks believed that putting a piece of amethyst in the glass or in one's mouth while drinking prevented drunkenness, although this usage may be related to a play on words (Ancient Greek: "a-methyst" meaning "not intoxicated"). The novelty value of the song led to them being perceived as one-hit wonders, but its success was sufficient to launch both members of the band on successful careers. Drunkenness is generally felt to be a good thing by the drunk person, at least until it wears off and the associated hangover starts. The Buggles shot to fame with their first single released in late 1979. Arguably, such an attitude can be regarded as pathological, leading as it often does to alcoholism. The Buggles were a pop/rock band formed in 1977 consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, early on including Academy Award-winning film composer Hans Zimmer (who left after the success of Video Killed the Radio Star).

Many societies have cultural stereotypes associated with drunkenness - where the ability to drink vast quantities of alcohol is thought to be worthy of respect. Adventures In Modern Recording (1981). A person who is an alcoholic or habitually drunk is often referred to as a 'drunk', or, more traditionally, a 'drunkard'. The Age of Plastic (1980). Extreme over-indulgence can lead to alcohol poisoning and death due to respiratory depression. This is often a common symptom of the hangover.

When this wears off (usually taking until the following morning) the brain has adjusted to the spinning, and interprets not spinning as spinning in the opposite direction causing further disorientation. These 'fake' nerve impulse tells the brain that the body is rotating, causing disorientation and making the eyes spin round to compensate. However, when alcohol gets in to the bloodstream it distorts the shape of the cupola, causing it to keep pressing on to the hairs. This brushes against hairs in the ear, creating nerve impulses that travel through the vestibulocochlear nerve (Cranial nerve VIII) in to the brain.

Inside both of these is a flexible blob called a cupula, which moves when the body moves. Balance in the body is monitored principally by two systems: the semicircular canals, and the utricle and saccule pair. Although motor areas of the brain are usually heavily affected at this time, it is not directly the brain which is responsible here; alcohol has affected the organs responsible for balance (vestibular system), present in the ears. Often, after a lot of alcohol has been consumed, it is possible to get the sense that the room is spinning, a type of nystagmus referred to as positional alcohol nystagmus.

Severe drunkenness and diabetic coma can be mistaken for each other, with potentially serious medical consequences for diabetics. With less glucose metabolism, the cells work less efficiently and aren't able to process images properly. The occipital lobe, the part of the brain responsible for interpreting vision, has been found to become especially impaired, consuming 29 percent less glucose than it should. Alcohol seems to suppress the metabolism of glucose in the brain.

Blurred vision is another common symptom of drunkenness. As the GABA system is found in the hippocampus, which is thought to play a large role in memory formation, this is thought to be possible. It has been asserted that GABA signals interfere with the registration and consolidation stages of memory formation. GABA could also be responsible for the memory impairment that many people experience.

The GABA system is known to inhibit activity in the brain, and would cause other areas to slow down. Contributing to this effect is the activity which alcohol induces in the gamma-aminobutyric acid system (GABA). NMDA receptors start to become unresponsive, slowing thought in the areas of the brain they are responsible for. The effect alcohol has on the NMDA receptors, earlier responsible for pleasurable stimulation, turns from a blessing to a curse later in the evening if further alcohol is consumed.

Likewise, people consuming non-alcoholic beer or "shirley temple" mixed drinks have been observed exhibiting increasingly drunk-like behavior on a par with their alcohol drinking companions even though their own drinks contained no alcohol whatsoever. A scientific study found that people drinking in a social setting significantly and dramatically altered their behaviour immediately after the first sip of alcohol, well before the chemical itself could have filtered through to the nervous system. Behavioural changes associated with drunkenness are, to some degree, contextual. This causes reward systems in the brain to become more active, and combined with released inhibition can induce people to behave in an uncharacteristically loud and cheerful manner.

This is due to increased metabolism in areas of the brain associated with movement, such as the nigrostriatal pathway. A related effect, caused by even low levels of alcohol, is the tendency for people to become more animated in speech and movement. Areas of the brain responsible for planning and motor learning are dulled. A well-known side effect of alcohol is lowering inhibitions.

Heightened pulses are thought to correspond to higher levels of enjoyment. Alpha waves are observed (with the aid of EEGs) when the body is relaxed. Another one of alcohol's agreeable effects is body relaxation, possibly caused by heightened alpha brain waves surging across the brain. Stimulated areas include the cortex, hippocampus and nucleus accumbens, which are responsible for thinking and pleasure seeking.

Alcohol sensitises the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) system of the brain, making it more receptive to the neurotransmitter glutamate. Although alcohol is commonly thought of purely as a depressant, at low concentrations it can actually stimulate certain areas of the brain. An appropriate first aid response to an unconscious, drunken person is a manouever known as the recovery position. Death can also be caused by asphyxiation (choking) as a result of vomit blocking the trachea.

After excessive drinking, unconsciousness can occur and in extreme cases (when the concentration of alcohol in the bloodstream is over 0.5 percent) alcohol can even cause death. Alcohol has a biphasic effect on the body - its effects transform over an evening of drinking, from initial feelings of relaxation and cheerfulness to blurred vision and problems with coordination. This can contribute to the correspondingly dramatic effect seen when large amounts are taken. Cell membranes are highly permeable to alcohol, so once alcohol is in the bloodstream it can diffuse into nearly every tissue of the body.

This is because the presence of food in the stomach is able to slow the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, spreading its effect over a longer period of time. Drinking after eating a large meal is much less likely to induce drunkenness compared with drinking on an empty stomach. The amount consumed and the circumstances under which the alcohol was taken can play a large part in determining the extent of drunkenness. Alcohol is a potent drug and consequently it has a range of side effects, some pleasurable and some less so.

ethanol) to a sufficient degree to impair mental and motor functioning. Drunkenness, in its most common usage, is the state of being intoxicated with alcohol (i.e. zonked **. wiped out **.

wazzocked. wasted **. wankered. under the table.

under the influence. trollied. trashed **. totally awesome.

tired and emotional (used to describe politicians who make fools of themselves when drunk, see Private Eye). tipsy *. tiddly *. three sheets to/in the wind.

tanked up. tanked. swallied (Glasgow slang). stewed.

steaming. squiffed / squiffy. spiced. sozzled.

soused. smashed. sloshed. sloppy.

slammed. slaughtered. skunked (from "drunk as a skunk", note: different etymology of "cannabis-intoxicated" meaning, from "skunk", a type of marijuana) **. shnockered.

shit-faced. shit-canned. shikker (Yiddish). sauce monster.

rat-arsed / ratted. pounded. popped. plowed.

plastered. parcel forced. means "angry"; variants: "Pissed as a newt", "Pissed out of his/her skull", "Pissed to the eyeballs"...). pissed (generally not used in U.S., as pissed in the U.S.

pie-eyed. Perry-Egertsoned. out of it **. out of his/her head **.

one too many (to have had). one over the eight. off the path. newted (from "pissed as a newt").

mortal. merry *. mashed. maggoted.

locked. where it more normally means "wealthy") **. loaded (as slang, generally not used in U.K. liquored up.

legless. jacked **. inebriated. Ian Smith'd.

hurt. hosed (largely Canadian usage). hootered. honkeyed.

happy * **. hammered. half-cut. hairy uncle dan.

gunned. "he's so far gone!"). gone (e.g. gassed.

fucked/fucked up (not exclusively for drunkenness, of course) **. flaming. faded. discombobulated.

destroyed. crunked. caned **. buzzed *.

bombed. bollocksed. blootered. blotto.

blitzed **. blasted. bladdered. bevvyed.

beered up. battered. ball hair. arseholed.