Teetotalism
From Freepedia
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices or advocates teetotalism is a called a teetotaler or teetotaller.
People generally choose teetotalism for religious, health or societal reasons, or a combination of these reasons.
Origin of the word
One anecdote attributes the origin of the word to a meeting of the Preston Temperance Society in May 1832. This society was founded by Joseph Livesey, who was to become a leader of the Temperance movement and the author of The Pledge: "We agree to abstain from all liquors of an intoxicating quality whether ale, porter, wine or ardent spirits, except as medicine." The story attributes the word to Dickie Turner, a member of the society, who had a stammer, and in a speech said that nothing would do but "tee-tee-total abstinence".
A more likely explanation is that teetotal is simply a reduplication of total. In England in the 1830s, when the word first appeared, it was also used in other contexts as an emphasised form of total. The word could also be a fusion of the words tea, a common non-alcoholic beverage, and total, albeit with the spelling changed slightly.
Synonyms
Nephalism is a synonym for teetotalism.
