Where does the word teetotal come from?!


Question: Where does the word teetotal come from?
I am not, certainly not, a teetotaller, but i do not like to use words that i do not know the origin of, and this is one of those words. Thank you - i shall raise a glass to you all!!

Answers:

The "tee" refers to golf. The tee totaler needs to remain sober enough to add every ones golf scores together- so they refrain from drinking with the rest of the group.

Now, you know.



Etymology
The Drunkard's Progress: A lithograph by Nathaniel Currier supporting the temperance movement, January 1846.One anecdote attributes the origin of the word to a meeting of the Preston Temperance Society in 1832 or 1833. This society was founded by Joseph Livesey, who was to become a leader of the temperance movement and the author of The Pledge: "We agree to abstain from all liquors of an intoxicating quality whether ale, porter, wine or ardent spirits, except as medicine." The story attributes the word to Dicky Turner, a member of the society, who had a stammer, and in a speech said that nothing would do but "tee-tee-total abstinence".

An alternative explanation is that teetotal is simply a reduplication of the 'T' in total (T-total). It is said that as early as 1827 in some Temperance Societies signing a 'T' after one's name signified one's pledge for total abstinence.[2] In England in the 1830s, when the word first entered the lexicon, it was also used in other contexts as an emphasized form of total. In this context, the word is still used, predominantly in the southern United States.[citation needed]

Wikipedia



The word "tee" is spelt wrong is should be "tea" meaning someone who does not drink alcohol but will drink a cup of tea. So if asked if they would like a drink and replied they are "tea total" it states the obvious without going through all the details.

helping people from AA



You have spelled the word correctly. It is someone who practice abstinence from Alcohol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teetotalism



Total Temperence maybe?




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