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open a keg of nails - have a (strong alcoholic) drink, especially with the purpose of getting drunk (and other similar variations around this central theme, which seems also now to extend to socialising over a drink for lively discussion) - the expression 'open a keg of nails' (according to Cassells) has been in use since the 1930s USA when it originally meant to get drunk on corn whiskey. The metaphor is based on opening a keg (vessel, bottle, barrel, flagon, etc) of drink whose contents are menacing (hence the allusion to nails). The allusion to nails, which obviously have hard sharp points, is similar to that used in the expression 'to spike' a drink, ie., to secretly add a strong spirit to another weaker drink, usually already in a glass or tumbler, with the aim of getting the victim drunk. As such the association between nails and the potent effects of strong and/or a lot of alcohol is a natural one for people to use and relate to.

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13y ago

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