science

Tired and emotional

Tired and emotional is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tired and emotional rather than just read about it. In short: The phrase "tired and emotional" is a chiefly British euphemism for alcohol intoxication. It was popularised by the British satirical magazine Private Eye in 1967 after being used in a spoof diplomatic memo to describe the state of Labour cabinet minister George Brown, but is now used as a stock phrase.

Key takeaways

Tired and emotional belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tired and emotional to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tired and emotional from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The phrase "tired and emotional" is a chiefly British euphemism for alcohol intoxication. It was popularised by the British satirical magazine Private Eye in 1967 after being used in a spoof diplomatic memo to describe the state of Labour cabinet minister George Brown, but is now used as a stock phrase. The restraints of parliamentary language mean it is unacceptable in the House of Commons to accuse an MP of being drunk, but one may use this or other euphemisms such as "not quite himself" and "overwrought". The Guardian describes the phrase as having joined "those that are part of every journalist's vocabulary". Because of this widespread interpretation, one source cautions professional British journalists against its use as, "even if the journalist meant it literally", it could be considered defamatory.

Origin In 1937, BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe had behaved so oddly on radio that he was suspended for a week; the BBC's official explanation was that he had been "tired and emotional", an excuse that was new at the time. According to legend, George Brown appeared on the BBC following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and a BBC presenter subsequently described him as "tired and emotional". In reality, Brown appeared on ITV, and although he was criticised for his apparent intoxication, no evidence of the phrase being broadcast has been found. It is also said to have its origin in a statement to the press by Brown's election agent, Edward Eldred, who made excuses for him after he had behaved badly in public by saying that he was "tired and emotional". The phrase became associated with Brown, who already had a reputation for alcohol abuse. The Sunday Times wrote that "George Brown drunk is a better man than Harold Wilson sober", and The Independent said "Brown became a bit of a figure of fun, and, thanks to Private Eye's favourite euphemism for his regular condition, he bequeathed the English language the expression 'tired and emotional'." The 1993 biography by journalist Peter Paterson, which included Brown's "fondness for the bottle", was titled Tired and Emotional: The Life of Lord George Brown.

Usage In 2002, Irish football analyst Eamon Dunphy appeared on RTÉ, the Republic of Ireland's state broadcaster, during its coverage of the 2002 World Cup, and was taken off-air during the programme and suspended. Dunphy subsequently apologised to viewers, saying, "I arrived for work tired and emotional, I think is the euphemism. And I was tired. I'd had a few drinks. I hadn't slept and I think wasn't fit to fulfil my contract." In 2004, Private Eye noted when The Sun newspaper, after an incident involving Prince Harry, then 20, attacking a member of the paparazzi following a night out at a London club quoted a "senior Clarence House source" as saying of Harry, "He'd been drinking and was tired and emotional." BBC foreign affairs correspondent John Simpson described the "erratic" Serbian politician Vuk Drašković as "tired and emotional" in a live news report from Belgrade broadcast on the UK evening news. He also used the term in relation to Drašković in a BBC news article entitled "Change in the air in Belgrade". The Wall Street Journal used the euphemism in September 2010 to describe the Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen after he was accused by Fine Gael politician Simon Coveney on Twitter of being "halfway between drunk and hung over" during an early morning radio interview.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tired and emotional

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tired and emotional claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tired and emotional before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tired and emotional ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tired and emotional

In research: Tired and emotional appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tired and emotional in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tired and emotional is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alcohol abuse in the United Kingdom, British English idioms, Drinking culture, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tired and emotional outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tired and emotional in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tired and emotional means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tired and emotional out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tired and emotional in simple terms?

Why does Tired and emotional matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tired and emotional?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tired and emotional.