Final Word from Friday, February 4, 2011
Divokej Bill wrote one of the best drinking songs ever, but Goran Bregovic, Gogol Bordello and Brad Paisely are no slackers either. Shane MacGowan of the Pogues is perhaps the best at writing from the heart (or liver, as the case may be) about his love for liquor, having once said he hadn't been sober since he was 14. Jamie Foxx has a great song title - "Blame it (on the alcohol)" - but the song itself is pigswill. After yesterday's decision by a Czech parliamentary committee to fine MP David Rath for accusing Miroslav Kalousek of drunkenness on the chamber floor, Kalousek's critics will have to start singing different tunes. No more jokes about Kalousek and his good friends Jan Becher, Jack Daniels and José Cuervo. No more talk about how he lost his pride and it's lying there underneath the bottle. No sir, Kalousek has it in black & white from his doctor. He can't drink anymore because he has the rich man's disease. So if the hands are ever shaking, or if the synapses are ever firing a little too fast, blame it on ... the gout.
Glossary of difficult words
gout - a disease in which defective metabolism of uric acid causes arthritis; often strongly associated with consumption of alcohol; known historically as the rich man’s disease, in part because of the association with alcohol;
slacker - a person who avoids work or effort;
pigswill - weak, inferior liquor; anything of inferior quality; kitchen refuse and scraps of waste food mixed with water for feeding to pigs;
synapse - a junction between two nerve cells.