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Sunday Classics: Whiffled – coined by P.G. Wodehouse

How to get drunk like gentlemen, who, as Plum fans know, aunts are not

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, commonly known as Plum, is known for his imaginative-bordering-on-ingenious use of language. Where existing words failed to really capture the essence of an action, Wodehouse was known to simply invent one. Thus, in his world, Bertie Wooster and other members of the Drones Club, are very likely to be whiffled on a Friday night. Not drunk, inebriated or even tipsy. No, that would be altogether too ordinary. 

In the 1927 book of stories, Meet Mr Mulliner, the rambling protagonist describes his Uncle William thusly – “Intoxicated? The word did not express it by a mile. He was oiled, boiled, fried, plastered, whiffled, sozzled, and blotto.”

Which one are you going to be? Or perhaps, like Gussie Fink-Nottle, you’d prefer to be “pie-eyed”. With Plum, you’ll never run out of metaphors or the make-believe.