Teetotal

Those who sign the abstinence pledge are entered with O. P. (old pledge) after their name. Those who pledge themselves to abstain wholly from alcoholic drinks have a T (total) after their name. Hence, T = total abstainer.

⁂ The tale about Dick Turner, a plasterer or fish-hawker at Preston, in Lancashire, who stammered forth, “Iʹll have nowt to do with the moderation botheration pledge; Iʹll be reet down t—total, that or nowt,” is not to be relied on.

It is said that Turner’s tombstone contains this inscription: “Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Richard Turner, author of the word Teetotal as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, who departed this life on the 27th day of October, 1846, aged 56 years.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.