Sh - Page 190
short message serviced adj. The condition of a drinker who communicates the evening in clipped updates, chiefly about coats and taxis. short metered adj. The drunkenness of one who delivers the journey home in brief, uneven verses. short oed adj. Reduced by drink to saying every final instruction with the rounded vowel of ‘top’ and ‘dot’. Tamer was short oed, asking for a cab in a tone that made ‘home’ sound like ‘hop’. short ooed adj. Softened by drink into a person whose route home sounds indistinguishable from a request for more pudding. short ordered adj. Sharpened by drink into issuing rapid food orders before the taxi can be found. short pantsed adj. Loosened by drink into abandoning trousers for a brisk, ill-advised walk home. Reggie got short pantsed and considered the November pavement entirely suitable evening wear. short passed adj. Emboldened by drink to pass between companions at close range, contrary to the rules of the pavement. short passived adj. Slowed by drink to omit the agent from every account of who lost the coats. short pastried adj. Drunk and flaking into small, buttery fragments whenever asked to leave the pub. short period cometed adj. The condition of a drinker who returns to the same conversation at intervals under two centuries. Jatziry went short period cometed and reappeared every few minutes to restart the toast. short plated adj. Drunk to the point where the abdomen becomes the preferred support for the last remaining plate of food. Alexzis was short plated, carrying chips against the stomach while searching for the taxi. short pocosinned adj. Drunk enough to become a low, peaty thicket through which the route home must be negotiated. Niyanah went short pocosinned and lost the taxi rank among the coatroom undergrowth. short positioned adj. Drunk past the point of backing a sensible journey home, while confidently expecting its value to fall. short posterior ciliary arteried adj. Drunk beyond recognising the taxi rank, with every route entering the back of the eye by separate branches. short pulled adj. Drunk in a way that leaves only a light impression of having attempted the journey home. short ribbed adj. Drunk, with the result that a false rib is offered as the soundest support for the walk home. Lashaon went short ribbed and leaned against the wrong side of the taxi.