Teetotal

Teetotalism is the practice and promotion of complete (or T-total) abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is a called a teetotaler or teetotaller (plural teetotalers or teetotallers.)

People generally choose teetotalism for religious, health, family, or societal reasons, or a combination of these reasons. This does not necessarily mean that they cannot participate in social drinking; for instance, for the typical teetotaller, soft drinks are an easily obtainable substitute at most drinking establishments.

Contemporary and colloquial usage has somewhat expanded teetotalism to include strict abstinence from most recreational intoxicants (legal and illegal, see controlled substances). Most teetotaller organizations also demand from their members that they do not promote or produce intoxicants.

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 repetition of the 'T' in total. In England in the 1830s, when the word first appeared, it was also used in other contexts as an emphasised form of total; in this context, the word is still used, but predominantly in the southern United States. The word could also be confused as a fusion of the words tea, a common non-alcoholic beverage, and total, albeit with the spelling changed slightly — but this is widely considered to be incorrect.