- Hair of the dog
Hair of the dog is a colloquial English expression predominantly used to refer to ingestion of
alcohol as treatment for ahangover . It is occasionally used with respect to dealing with the after effects of use of other recreational drugs. It is a shortened form of the expression “the hair of the dog that bit you.”
=Origin and derivation= The origin of the phrase is literal, and comes from an erroneous method of treatment of a rabid dog bite by placing hair from the dog in the bite wound. [ [http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=26229 Hair of the dog definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms ] ] The use of the phrase as a metaphor for a hangover treatment dates back to the time ofWilliam Shakespeare .Ebenezer Cobham Brewer writes in the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898): "In Scotland it is a popular belief that a few hairs of the dog that bit you applied to the wound will prevent evil consequences. Applied to drinks, it means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same wine next morning to soothe the nerves. 'If this dog do you bite, soon as out of your bed, take a hair of the tail in the morning.'" He also cites two apocryphal poems containing the phrase, one of which is attributed toAristophanes . It is possible that the phrase was used to justify an existing practice, and the idea of "Similia similibus curantur" ("like cures like") dates back at least to the time ofHippocrates .The phrase also exists in Hungarian, where the literal translation to English is "(You may cure) the dog's bite with its fur", but has evolved into a short two-word phrase ("kutyaharapást szőrével") that is used frequently in other contexts when one is trying to express that the solution to a problem is more of the problem. Among the Irish and Mexicans, the phrase 'The Cure' ("curarse la cruda", in Spanish) is often used instead of 'hair of the dog'. [ [http://www.geocities.com/stevenedw/drunkinirish.html Edwards, Steve (2004) " A nine-mile walk on an eight-mile road: Terms for various states of drunkenness in Irish-English"] ;] It is used, often sarcastically, in the question "Going for a Cure?"
In Polish, hair of the dog is called "a wedge" ("klin"), mirroring the concept of dislodging a stuck wedge with another one. This is also the case with most other Slavic family of languages' members, such as Slovene, Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian.
cientific background
A
hangover is due partly to poisoning by the toxic chemicals into which alcohol is converted by the body and the other components of the alcoholic drink, and partly to the body's reaction to withdrawal from alcohol. The symptoms of a hangover are similar to those of withdrawal, namely a throbbing headache, nausea, and maybe even vomiting. Thus consuming more alcohol ("hair of the dog") may help by blunting some of these symptoms, [http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic123.htm#7 "Delirium tremens:Medication" from eMedicine] "Ethanol is effective in blunting withdrawal symptoms, but it is no longer indicated because of associated electrolyte abnormalities, potential worsening of gastritis, hepatitis, and pancreatitis. Ethanol use may promote continued ethanol usage." ] but will only aggravate the symptoms once the liver breaks the alcohol down, because the body will have additional toxins to deal with. Some researchers have suggested that ethanol may help dilute other alcohols that cause many of the hangover symptoms, but no controlled studies were carried out. [Jones AW, Skagerberg S, L6winger H. (1987) "Occurrence of methanol in blood and breath after administration of ethanol: Alcoholic beverage congener or raised concentration of an endogenous metabolite?" "In" Bonte, Wolfgang (ed.) (1987) "Congener Alcohols and Their Medicolegal Significance" Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, pp 173-182, ISBN 91-86856-02-2] [Jones AW, Skaggerberg S, Yonekura A, Sato A. (1990) "Metabolic interaction between endogenous methanol and exogenous ethanol studied in human volunteers by analysis of breath" "Pharmacology & Toxicology" 65: pp. 48-53]Appearances in popular culture
* In the 2008 episode "
The Debarted " of "The Simpsons ", Bart gives his new friend Donny "blue vines" and says "Here's a little hair of the dog for tomorrow."* In the
Stanley Kubrick film "The Shining", a ghostly bartender asks what Jack Torrance will be drinking; he responds "Hair of the dog that bit me, Lloyd."*"Hair of the Dog" is the title track from Scottish rock band Nazareth's 1976 album of the same name.
*
The Ramones have a song about it in their album "Animal Boy ". The track is named "Hair of the dog".* The sixth track on
Senses Fail 's albumLife Is Not A Waiting Room is named "Hair of the Dog".*"Hair of the Dog" is german
thrash metal bandTankard 's 1989 compilation album.External links
* [http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2004-04-05/656.asp Farrell, Joelle (
April 5 ,2004 ) "Drinking free of a hangover: That "hair-of-the-dog"" "Columbia News Service" The Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, New York] ;
* [http://roy25booth.blogspot.com/2007/05/langley-marish-milton-and-hair-of-dog.html "Early Modern Whale: Langley Marish: Milton, and the hair of the dog"] a compilation of early uses of the expression "hair of the dog".
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