Where Does the Expression Hair of the Dog Come From
As far as hangover cures go, having some 'hair of the dog' appears to be one of the more reliable, at least in the short-term.
For those that have never experienced the practice, it is combating a hangover by getting right back on the booze and having a healthy swig of alcohol the morning after the night before.
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It is not always an option (hangovers after drinking on a school night can't really be fixed like this) but many will partake in some hair of the dog when it is available to them, and will invariably feel better as a result.
But where does the phrase come from?
The full phrase is actually 'hair of the dog that bit you' and goes back to an ancient belief that if you were bitten by a dog with rabies you should put one of the dog's hairs in the wound to help cure it.
There has never been any scientific evidence to suggest this theory has any basis in fact, but it was a something people were willing to try hundreds of years ago.
It has been transferred into the context of drinking as alcohol is represented as the dog that bites and you should take a little bit of it in a way to cure what it has done to you.
It is not known where the original belief came from, but the idea of the cause of the problem producing the cure goes back to the time of Hippocrates (460-370 BC) when the Latin phrase 'similia similibus curantur' was coined, meaning 'like cures like'.
References to the hair of the dog in terms of drinking date back to John Heywood's 'A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue'.
'I pray thee let me and my fellow have
'A hair of the dog that bit us last night –
'And bitten were we both to the brain aright.
'We saw each other drunk in the good ale glass.'
Randle Cotgrave's 'A dictionarie of the French and English tongues' in1611 also mentioned the drinking version: 'Our Ale-knights [habitual drinkers] often use this phrase, and say, Give us a haire of the dog that last bit us.'
So the phrase and the general advice has been around a long time but does it actually work?
Well, yes and no.
Undoubtedly having an alcoholic drink on a hangover makes you feel better, but only temporarily, it will help the symptoms of a hangover, but it will just delay the problem till later.
Alcohol numbs pain and senses, which will help deal with the unwelcome issues of a hangover, it also causes a blood sugar spike which will make you feel better.
However, a hangover is partly down to the crash in blood sugar levels after the spike, so you will still have to deal with that in the future.
Lauren Owen, a member of the Alcohol Hangover Research Group said: 'Alcohol acts on a number of chemicals in the brain to increase feelings of pleasure.
'Reduction of hangover symptoms by "hair of the dog" may also be due to the activity of alcohol on neurotransmitter systems.'
The NHS website says of the 'cure': '"Hair of the dog" – drinking more alcohol – does not help. Drinking in the morning is a risky habit, and you may simply be delaying the appearance of symptoms until the alcohol wears off again.
'If you've had a heavy drinking episode, hangover or not, doctors advise that you wait at least 48 hours before drinking any more alcohol to give your body time to recover.'
So if you want that quick fix, then grab a beer, but be ready for it to get a whole lot worse in the near future.
Where Does the Expression Hair of the Dog Come From
Source: https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/19/why-is-it-called-hair-of-the-dog-and-does-the-hangover-cure-work-7012575/
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