Word for Wednesday: Groggy 

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As we enter the last couple of weeks of the summer holidays, some of you will be practising getting back into your routines before school starts. After all you want to be ready to learn (or teach) – and not groggy – on that first morning back in the classroom. 

The word groggy is used to describe someone who is stunned, dazed, or unsteady usually from lack of sleep, illness, injury, or intoxication. Coined from grog and the suffix -y, and first used around 1770, groggy referred to someone in a state of drunkenness that caused them to stagger or stumble. Grog was rum diluted with water and rumoured to be named for Admiral Edward Vernon who ordered it to be served to his sailors. Allegedly the British admiral was nicknamed Old Grog because of the grogram cloak he wore. 

In 1832, the word was used to describe fighters who were shaking after suffering a blow in the ring. Today, groggy is no longer associated with just alcohol-related disorientation. 
 


21 Aug 2019
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