This may be true, but I was unaware of it. I would have said it was sly code for drunk, which originated in the satirical magazine Private Eye, but checking suggests its origin is older than that.
My British contribution: Elephant’s (as in, He’s proper elephant’s.…)
Explanation: (It’s rhyming slang, of course, without which this thread would be incomplete - shortened from Elephant’s Trunk.)
j
ETA: Damn, I should also have included Brahms (Brahms and Liszt)
I thought of two more in German, but I’m quite sure they are only in local use in my regional dialect of Westphalian:
dicke - “dick” means thick, fat or large, and this is definitely derived from that word, only with an added “e”
strunkelig - untranslatable, typical Westphalian word
ETA:
have another, pan-German term
die Lampen anhaben - to have the lights on
Snockered
I recently read hang dogged
as drunk.
Stymied (pronounced SHTY-meed)
Gooned
Dremeled - The point of inebriation where the world is spinning (and it’s rough!)
Half in the bag
In the bag
Pixelated
Hammered
Got an ass full
Fucked up
Stoned
Sauced
Tight
Blasted
Toasted
Lit up
Baked
Loaded
Plastered
Spirited
Sloshed
Those are all I could think of on my own. I’m sure if I Googled it there would be a bunch I forgot about.
My cat (whose name is Monkey) thought this was hilarious …
… I’m less amused at this one.