What does the term trashed mean to you?  Does it mean garbage to you?  The word trashed should be defined as a level of intoxication.  The word trashed is derived from the word trash.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word trash as �that which is broken, snapped, or lopped off anything in preparing it for use.�  The first known writings containing the term trash were in 1555 where it was spelled trasshe and was used to describe lumber scraps.  The sentence that the term was used in was �A carpenter�s yarde, wherein he dothe laye his tymber and Trasshe� (OED).  This sentence means that the place where a carpenter was doing work had lumber scraps laying in the yard.  The Oxford English Dictionary also says that the word trash originated in Norway, where it was spelled trask and meant lumber, trumpery, trash, baggage.  The Norwegian people probably used this term in a sentence by saying, �After the man built the house, there was trask laying on the ground.�  I think the Norwegian people used the word trash to describe scraps of lumber because they couldn�t do anything with these scraps.  Since these scraps of lumber were useless, they were trash.  In 1670, the word trash was related to scraps from trees.  By this point in time, trash was spelled the same way it is spelled today.  The sentence from the Oxford English Dictionary is  �The Woods..are so thick with Under-brush, old rotten Trees, and Leaves, and such Trash.�  In this sentence, the word trash refers to scraps from trees because the sentence mentions leaves, which are things that fall off of trees.  A person could see leaves and rotten trees as trash because they cover the woods, and a person could say that there is no need for them.  The term trash was still related to trees in 1867.  The term was used in a sentence that stated  �Bamboos and reeds, with trash of all kinds, were hurried along the muddy waters� (OED).  This sentence meant that the bamboos and reeds along with other types of trees were planted in the muddy water.  Here again, the term was related to trees.  It is interesting how one definition of the term trash was used for over 300 years.   Over the decades though, the definition of the word trash changed from trees to garbage.  �Rubbish is discarded trash, composed principally of all kinds of paper, wood, rags, mattresses, bedding, boxes,..tin cans,..bottles,..and the like� is a sentence from 1906 in the Oxford English Dictionary that contains the new meaning of the word trash.  This sentence gives an example of what trash is made of.  Anything that is thrown away is trash because people have no use for the object anymore is the meaning of this sentence.  People still use this meaning of trash today.  Shakespeare even used the term trash in a couple of his plays.  A line from Tempest states �Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash� (A Complete Concordance To Shakespeare).  In this sentence, the word trash means garbage.  Another way the word trash is used is in a derogatory way to describe someone who is poor.  The term is known as white trash.  When I think of this term, the stereotype that enters my mind is a Caucasian person who is on welfare, unintelligent, living in a southern state of the U.S.A in a mobile home, and watching NASCAR races and The Jerry Springer Show.  The Oxford English Dictionary has a sentence from 1833 that states �The slaves themselves entertain the very highest contempt for white servants, whom they designate as �poor white trash.��  This sentence may give a clue as to where the term white trash came from.  Since the slaves didn�t like the white servants, they made up a term that described the white servants in a way that the slaves felt about them.  The white servants didn�t make a lot of money, so the slaves deemed them poor.  A sentence from the Oxford English Dictionary from 1863 is �North Carolina was the paradise for of the �white trash.��  The meaning of this sentence is that there were a lot of poor Caucasian people living in the southern states, such as North Carolina.  The other stereotype that I think of  when I hear the term white trash is a Caucasian person having numerous kids, driving an old dilapidated pickup truck, and listening to country music.  Shakespeare also used the word trash to describe people.  In Othello, the term trash is used in a line that says �This poor trash of Venice, whom I trash For his quick hunting� (A Complete Concordance to Shakespeare).  The term trash is used in this sentence to describe people who are poor.  This is interesting because the word trash is till used today to describe people who are poor.  Trash has a different form other than a noun.  Trashy is the adjective form of the word trash.  Trashy means worthless or something related to garbage.  A sentence containing the word trashy is �Most right wing fundamentalists think that pornographers are trashy.�  The right wing fundamentalists think that pornography is garbage and is something that society does not need.

        The Scott, Foreman Advanced Dictionary gives two definitions of the word trashed.  The first definition of the word trashed is defined as �to criticize sharply.�  �The girls trashed her for wearing different clothes than them� is a sentence of how a person could use this definition of the word trashed.  Because the girl wore different clothes than the girls, the girls destroyed the other girl by criticizing and making fun of her is what this sentence means.  The second definition of the word trashed is a slang word meaning �to destroy as by vandalism or arson.�  One could use this word in a sentence by saying, �The teenagers trashed their teacher�s car on Halloween.�  The teenagers destroyed the vehicle of their teacher by acts of vandalism is the meaning of this sentence.  The two definitions of trashed are similar because one definition means to physically destroy an object and the other definition means to emotionally destroy a person.  Both of the definitions mean to destroy something.

        The way the word trashed is used nowadays is to describe someone who is very intoxicated usually from alcohol.  When someone is very drunk, one could say that that individual is trashed.   A sentence using this meaning of trashed is �Greg was so trashed at the party on Friday night.�  Since Greg was very intoxicated, he was deemed trashed.  I think that the way trashed is used now, came into our language by describing people when they are drunk because at this point of intoxication, they are deemed useless and effectively destroyed.  They are deemed useless because they cannot accomplish much in a drunken state.  People who are drunk are deemed destroyed because they have very little or no control of themselves.  The term wasted is very similar to the word trashed.  The word wasted also means for an individual to get very intoxicated from alcohol.  The word waste has basically the same meaning as the word trash.  The Scott, Foreman Advanced Dictionary defines waste as �useless or worthless material; stuff to be thrown away.� The word trash also means things to be thrown away.  The Oxford English Dictionary has a sentence from 1972 that states �Being under the influence is ..turned on, wasted.�  To be under the influence of alcohol, is what the term wasted means.  Another similar term to the word trashed is the word smashed.  The word smashed means to be intoxicated.  A sentence from 1968 in the Oxford English Dictionary that contains the word smashed states �The males rapidly acquired a taste for the stuff [sc. alcohol], bent on their elbows with great application, and soon became smashed.�  This sentence means that the males drunk a lot of alcohol and became intoxicated.  Trashed, wasted, and smashed all mean something that is useless, which is what happens to people when they are drunk.

        To give a more applicable idea of the word trashed, I interviewed my roommate Steve Kozick.  �On the night of August 28th, the residents of a quadrant at the University Courts were consuming alcoholic beverages.  Most of the residents were drinking beer.  Due to beer�s carbonation and extreme dilution, Steve chose to drink hard liquor instead.  So when Mr. X made his nightly alcohol run, Steve requested that Mr. X bring back an additional half a gallon of 100 proof vodka, on the intent of it lasting several nights.  Everybody was drinking beer while Steve was taking shots of vodka.  After a couple of shots, Steve decided to mix orange juice with the vodka.  After the second screwdriver, he noticed that he could no longer taste the vodka, but only the orange juice which surprised him greatly.  Steve poured himself another screwdriver.  After this, the next clear memory that he had was waking up in the hospital emergency room the next morning with an IV in each arm and a tube up his nose.  Steve still felt drunk for a couple of moments until he realized where he was, which sobered him up rather quickly.  The nurse informed him that he had drunk the entire half-gallon of vodka by himself.  The nurse also informed Steve that his blood alcohol level was high enough to kill most people.  It is safe to say that Steve had been trashed� (Steve Kozick).

        Many different types of people use the word trashed because of its familiarity.  Older people use the word trashed as something that is broken, worthless or destroyed, while teenagers use this word to describe someone when they are very drunk.  Due to the fact that these words are interpreted differently, confusion may occur if a teenager and an older person are having a conversation.  An example of a conversation, is as follow:

Teenager:  Hi Grandma!
Grandma:  Hi! How was the party last night?
Teenager:  It was awesome.  Some of my friends got trashed.
Grandma:  Trashed? How were they broken?
Teenager:  No.  My friends were really drunk.
Grandma:  Oh, I thought you said that they were trashed?
Teenager:  Nevermind.

        As evidence of this dialogue, there is a problem as far as miscommunication between the different age groups.  The tone of older people when they use the term trashed is in a little bit of disgust.  Older people have a tone of disgust because the term means garbage to them, and since garbage is dirty they have a negative image of the term in their mind.

        Teenagers� tones when they use the term trashed are more enthusiastic.  Teenagers� tones are enthusiastic because they are proud that they got drunk.  The reason that they are proud of this is because teenagers cannot legally drink alcohol, but they managed to accomplish this anyway.  This is why most teenagers brag to their friends about how trashed they got.

        The word trashed has changed a lot over the years.  The term still has different meanings to different types of people.  There is misinterpretation between generations because the meaning of the word trashed changed from the time when the older people grew up to the time when the teenagers grew up.  If the definition of the way that I describe trashed were added to dictionaries everywhere, it would end future confusion between the ages. Future confusion would be avoided because the older people would become familiar with the word trashed having the meaning when someone is drunk, because the meaning would be in the dictionary.

Mike Brossman