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Idiom: Three sheets to the wind
When you attempt to drown your sorrows in a bottle, you usually end up three sheets to the wind.
OK, this one will need to be explained.
First off, it comes from sailing ships.
Next, you need to understand that sails must be kept tight, especially during a storm.
If a sail is flapping around like a flag on a flagpole during a storm, it could cause the ship to tip over and sink.
Now, one loose sail is dangerous, two sails flapping around is very dangerous, and three sails flapping around during a storm is a complete disaster.
If a ship has two or three sails flapping around during a storm, then the captain must have lost control of the vessel.
What kind of captain loses control of his or her ship?
A drunk captain, of course.
That’s why we can describe a drunk person as being three sheets to the wind.
Just like a drunken captain with three sails flapping around during a storm, they have no control over what they are doing.
If you ever have a friend or loved one who is three sheets to the wind, please, please, please do not let them drive a vehicle or sail a boat, for that matter.
Make sure they are somewhere safe where they can sleep it off.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 6th-grade education (age 11).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 82.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.