# Hangover



## abenr

Hello!

Is there no single Italian word for *hangover*? The closest I can find to express the concept is *soffrire i postumi della spornia* or _*in stato di confusione dopo una spornia. Spornia *is new to me._ What, please, is the difference between *spornia* and *ubriaco*, a word I'm familiar with.

Thanks for your help.

Abenr


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## combustion

abenr said:
			
		

> Hello!
> 
> Is there no single Italian word for *hangover*? The closest I can find to express the concept is *soffrire i postumi della sbornia* or _*in stato di confusione dopo una sbornia. Sbornia *is new to me._ What, please, is the difference between *sbornia* and *ubriaco*, a word I'm familiar with.
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> Abenr


Prendere una sbornia = get drunk 
Ubriaco = drunk

I hope it is clear...
comb...


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## lsp

Abenr, did you try the Search function for "hangover"? It's been discussed here many times. If you still have questions after that, by all means... 

p.s. s*b*ornia (that should help)


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## abenr

combustion said:
			
		

> Prendere una sbornia = get drunk
> Ubriaco = drunk
> 
> I hope it is clear...
> comb...


 
Thank you.

That clears up my question about sbornia -- excuse my misspelling as spornia -- but is there no single word for hangover?

Abenr


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## abenr

lsp said:
			
		

> Abenr, did you try the Search function for "hangover"? It's been discussed here many times. If you still have questions after that, by all means...
> 
> p.s. s*b*ornia (that should help)


 
First, thank you for correcting my *spornia*. 

I did indeed try the search function, but came up with no single word for hangover. Is there one? Neither did I see previous discussions cited.

Abenr


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## lsp

abenr said:
			
		

> First, thank you for correcting my *spornia*.
> 
> I did indeed try the search function, but came up with no single word for hangover. Is there one? Neither did I see previous discussions cited.
> 
> Abenr


If you search only the Italian English forum for the word hangover (posts, not titles) you will get 55 results.


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## Silvia

abenr said:
			
		

> Is there no single Italian word for *hangover*?


 Yes, there is: postumi. All the rest following postumi is just there to specify what kind of hangover you are having, just like in English. In fact, although you use "hangover" on its own colloquially, I think it's incorrect, as this could correspond to aftereffects from the use of drugs, alcohol etc.


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## GavinW

Silvia said:
			
		

> Yes, there is: postumi. All the rest following postumi is just there to specify what kind of hangover you are having, just like in English. In fact, although you use "hangover" on its own colloquially, I think it's incorrect, as this could correspond to aftereffects from the use of drugs, alcohol etc.


 
Actually I think I'm right in saying that a hangover is only after alcohol, no other kind of drug.


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## Silvia

Not according to dictionaries 

So now I'm curious to know what the other native English speakers think.


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## GavinW

Silvia said:
			
		

> Not according to dictionaries
> 
> So now I'm curious to know what the other native English speakers think.


 
I'm curious to know which dictionaries gave you this impression... Mine simply confirm my claim.

But Collins English reminded me of another sense, which may be confusing the issue: "a person or thing left over from or influenced by a past age", a sense illustrated in one popular EFL dictionary with "a hangover from the past".

Silvia, can you tell me more? At this point I have a sort of professional interest, let's say...

(Amusingly, I found the following example sentence, in the same EFL dictionary, for this second sense: "The licensing laws are a hangover from wartime" [licensing laws refer to the opening times of pubs and off licence shops]. This appears to be a classic case of interference (between the contexts of two separate senses) in the addled brain of the poor lexicographer who had to hack out this one!)


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## Silvia

Just a couple of examples:

WordNet Search

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

By the way, I looked up Il Ragazzini/Zanichelli bilingual dictionary (third edition), and - among other translations - it suggests "doposbronza". So, in any case, we do have one word for that


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## GavinW

Silvia said:
			
		

> Just a couple of examples:
> 
> WordNet Search
> 
> Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
> 
> By the way, I looked up Il Ragazzini/Zanichelli bilingual dictionary (third edition), and - among other translations - it suggests "doposbronza". So, in any case, we do have one word for that


 
Thanks for that, Silvia. It's helped me to clear up sthg in my own mind. Basically, I still think a hangover _par excellence_ is only after alcohol. Cf usage:

-- a hangover (tout court) = only after alcohol

-- a hangover from too many cigarettes/barbiturates = specifies drug (you can even "invent" "a hangover from sitting up late at night watching too much television")

-- a speed/barbiturate etc hangover = specifies drug

Others may disagree, but for me the distinction (ie usage) holds. If you _only_ say the word "hangover", people will understand it's alcohol. The dictionary entries don't show this usage. 

But I'm always happy to be corrected!


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## TimLA

Silvia said:
			
		

> Not according to dictionaries
> 
> So now I'm curious to know what the other native English speakers think.


 
Silvia,
I'd like to support you here. Yes, classically the noun "hangover" or the adjective "hungover" is used to describe the post-inebriated state consisting of headache, nausea, fatigue, hypersensitivity to sound, etc. (not that I've ever experienced it, but my friends tell me...).

In AE, it is also used to describe any post-intoxicated state from almost any substance (sleeping pills and other legal drugs, or even illegal drugs). But I cannot say anything about BE in that regard (I'm sure they have very imaginative words ).

But further, hangover really means "hang...over" (something in which the effect is prolonged beyond the immediate effects), so the word is used to describe non-drug effects mentioned above. For example, one might be "hungover" from a bad encounter with a friend or colleague, or get a "hangover". I might use the word "hangover" to describe how I feel after the flight between LA and Rome. AE is VERY flexible.
Tim

edit: verb to adjective


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## GavinW

TimLA said:
			
		

> Silvia,
> I'd like to support you here. Yes, classically the noun "hangover" or the verb "hungover" is used to describe the post-inebriated state consisting of headache, nausea, fatigue, hypersensitivity to sound, etc. (not that I've ever experienced it, but my friends tell me...).
> 
> In AE, it is also used to describe any post-intoxicated state from almost any substance (sleeping pills and other legal drugs, or even illegal drugs). But I cannot say anything about BE in that regard (I'm sure they have very imaginative words ).
> 
> But further, hangover really means "hang...over" (something in which the effect is prolonged beyond the immediate effects), so the word is used to describe non-drug effects mentioned above. For example, one might be "hungover" from a bad encounter with a friend or colleague, or get a "hangover". I might use the word "hangover" to describe how I feel after the flight between LA and Rome. AE is VERY flexible.
> Tim


 
Ah... thanks Tim: I was beginning to sweat there. I did come close to deciding it was another BrE/USE mismatch/split (having seen Silvia's dictionary sources), and am now convinced of this.


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## Silvia

GavinW said:
			
		

> a hangover _par excellence_ is only after alcohol.


 Therefore, we're saying the same thing 

Probably due to a need of brevity/concision added up to the fact that alcohol is more common than "other drugs" (not that I consider it a drug, but you get the sense), people started using the word to mean just that.

Thank you, Tim, for your exhaustive explanation and for supporting my point.

P.S.: parlando di flessibilità... gli italiani ne sanno qualche cosa


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## Hillbilly

Regarding English usage of "hangover:"

I think that if you asked the average American "what is a hangover," the answer you would get would have to do with the after effects of alcohol.  That is what first comes to mind.  But we actually use the term much more broadly.


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## Silvia

I agree, Hillbilly, but I also heard it used jokingly about other things.


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## ElaineG

> In fact, although you use "hangover" on its own colloquially, I think it's incorrect, as this could correspond to aftereffects from the use of drugs, alcohol etc.


 
It's not "incorrect" to use "hangover" on its own.  Regardless of what any dictionary will tell you, "hangover" on its own means an alcohol hangover.  Then you can add anything you like to "hangover" to qualify the type of hangover you are suffering.  You can have a "food" hangover, even.


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## quattromori

buonasera

scusate se intervengo in italiano, ma il mio inglese è ancora di livello molto scarso.
Se puo' servire, penso che la traduzione di 'hangover' possa essere 'spranghetta', anche se è poco usato e un po' letterale


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## ElaineG

quattromori said:
			
		

> buonasera
> 
> scusate se intervengo in italiano, ma il mio inglese è ancora di livello molto scarso.
> Se puo' servire, penso che la traduzione di 'hangover' possa essere 'spranghetta', anche se è poco usato e un po' letterale


 
Ciao quattromori,

Non precoccuparti.  Gli interventi in italiano sono benvenuti qui.  Puoi scegliere italiano o inglese come vuoi.   Non c'è bisogno di scusarti!

Elaine
Moderatrice


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## Shakazulu

quattromori said:
			
		

> Se puo' servire, penso che la traduzione di 'hangover' possa essere 'spranghetta', anche se è poco usato e un po' letterale



Scusatemi! In my dictionary, 'spranghetta' means "window catch". 
The problem is that Italians don't have "hangovers"! It is only the semi-civilised Anglo-Saxons, Irish and Poles who have them, so there is really no equivalent in Italian!  
I think this may be a cultural issue?


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## quattromori

Shakazulu said:
			
		

> Scusatemi! In my dictionary, 'spranghetta' means "window catch".
> The problem is that Italians don't have "hangovers"! It is only the semi-civilised Anglo-Saxons, Irish and Poles who have them, so there is really no equivalent in Italian!
> I think this may be a cultural issue?


 
Nella traduzione di Shakazulu, spranghetta è il diminutivo di spranga, attrezzo che serve effettivamente a chiudere certi tipi di porte e finestre, che diventano sprangate.

Nel caso di hangover, 'spranghetta' è una parola che si usa raramente, ma che forse ha qualche attinenza con spranga (ci si sente come colpiti da una spranga)


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## Silvia

I've never heard the term _spranghetta_ for _hangover._


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## quattromori

Silvia said:
			
		

> I've never heard the term _spranghetta_ for _hangover._


 
In fact, it's rare. I've found a quotation in 'I Promessi Sposi' chapter XV :

... E, tra la sorpresa, e il non esser desto bene, e la *spranghetta* di quel vino che sapete, rimase un momento come incantato...

Mondadori Oscar 55 capitolo 15 pagina 265

It's a novel of the XIX century, a little old-fashioned...


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## Elisa68

Non l'avevo mai sentito nemmeno io.

Devoto-Oli:
_Spranghetta_: 2. fig. (fam.) Mal di testa dovuto ad un abuso nel bere.

Complimenti Quattromori! E non è neanche tanto letterario vista l'indicazione di fam.=familiare del dizionario.


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## Alxmrphi

Isn't "ho i postumi" correct?
I know I meant to say drunk instead of hangover, it does mean hangover doesn't it...

and I am really reeling from it this morning, my head is going to fall off.


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## Necsus

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> Isn't "ho i postumi" correct?
> I know I meant to say drunk instead of hangover, it does mean hangover doesn't it...


Yes, it's correct. You just should specify postumi of what, because it means simply 'consequences; aftermath', not necessary of a drunkenness...  
Actually 'hangover' means 'postumi di una sbornia'.


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## Alxmrphi

Ah, Saoul told me different, grazie!


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## Necsus

You two had a booze-up together, yesterday, uh? And I bet he are is still sleeping now...


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## lsp

Necsus said:


> You two had a booze-up together, yesterday, uh? And I bet he are is still sleeping now...


Typo (o postumi di ... qualcosa )


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## Necsus

Thank you, Lsp! Diciamo i postumi di qualcosa...


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## Headword

I would say hangover almost always implies alcohol - and saying something like "ecstasy hangover" just sounds artificial to me. For drugs I would use the word "comedown". 

E.g. "He had done 7 pills in one night and was on a comedown for days... "

I don't know if this is just a British usage or if Americans say it too?


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## london calling

Headword said:


> I would say hangover almost always implies alcohol - and saying something like "ecstasy hangover" just sounds artificial to me. For drugs I would use the word "comedown".


_Ectasy hangover_ doesn't work, I agree! To me you get a hangover after drinking too much ("the morning after the night before").

By the way, do you remember Diana Ross's "Love Hangover"?:

_I got the biggest hangover (I don't wanna get over)..._

Another figurative use of the word...


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## sunshinesally

*hangover* is used for alcohol
"*come down*" is used for drugs as in to have/be on a comedown
colloquially speaking!!


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## godot1977

Hi there, guys

I'm new to the forum and am totally in love with the spirit of this community already!

I wanted to ask about the idiom 'to have a hangover' and whether there's a less clunky and more everyday, colloquial way of saying 'soffrire i postumi della sbornia'.  Does anyone use, or has anyone heard of, something different?

Grazie mille!

x


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## Peppethelondoner

Hello and welcome to the forum, Godot1977


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## TheCouch86_86

I wouldn't say so. Maybe you could just use 'avere' instead of 'soffrire' and that definitely makes it somehow more colloquial. But it's good to use it... 

Alex


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## Elverdugo

Esiste un'altra parola per "hangover"?
*i postumi della sbronza (sbornia)?*


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## arthurlee

london calling said:


> By the way, do you remember Diana Ross's "Love Hangover"?:
> 
> _I got the biggest hangover (I don't wanna get over)..._
> 
> Another figurative use of the word...


Hi everybody, I just came upon this interesting thread and wondered which of the followings could be a proper translation for "love hangover":
- _strascico d'amore_?
- _postumi dell'innamoramento_?
- _delusione amorosa_?
- _dopo l'amore tanto dolore_? (just the joking bard inside me )
Thanks for your suggestions.


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## elena73

sofferenze d'amore
depressione da fine di un rapporto (importante)
Oppure detto fra amici ''Lucia l'ha mollato... mmmmhhh Mario si è preso una botta clamorosa'' (oppure, ma credo sia un'espressione dialettale ''prendersi una tranvata clamorosa'', riferendosi al concetto di un tram che ti passa sopra e ti lascia a terra, in stato di totale incoscienza)


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## arthurlee

Ciao, anch'io avevo pensato soprattutto a dolore, sofferenza e depressione... però mi era appunto sorto il dubbio che in realtà l'espressione indichi più che altro la delusione che la fine di un amore comporta. Mi spiego meglio:

- prima accezione: "love hangover" = batosta/botta/depressione/sofferenza perché è finito l'amore (soprattutto: perché si è stati mollati ); in questa accezione dunque prevale un senso di negatività per la perdita dell'amore.

- seconda accezione: "love hangover" = postumi dell'amore/fase post-innamoramento, cioè momento in cui ci rendiamo conto che l'oggetto del nostro amore era in realtà un totale idiota e dunque siamo felici di essercene liberati; accezione dunque più positiva, che veicola quasi l'idea di risveglio/catarsi/epifania. Insomma, quella lucidità di giudizio che quando eravamo innamorati ci mancava 

Ecco, vorrei proprio che qualche "nativo inglese" mi togliesse il dubbio...


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## elena73

Senti io personalmente (in attesa del parere di chi 'sa') ci leggo un parallelo allo stato post-sbornia (l'hangover appunto), quindi: prostrazione totale e incapacità di rimanere lucidi.


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## MStraf

Beh, il testo della canzone (Love Hungover)  mi sembra chiaro: lei sta dicendo che sta provando tanto amore da averne un eccesso, ma e' cosi' felice che anche se esistesse un rimedio lo rifiuterebbe. "Hangover" e' la sensazione (non sempre spiacevole, a volte e' solo un mal di testa) dopo un qualche "eccesso" (tipicamente di alcol) In questo caso l'eccesso e' stato di "amore", e la canzone rimane ambigua se "love" si riferisce solo al sentimento dell'amore ma anche all'amore "fisico" (la stessa Diana Ross fu titubante nell'accettare a cantarla, a quei tempi) Non posso pubblicare il testo della canzone, ma lo trovate facilmente in rete, per esempio qui:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/diana+ross/love+hangover_20040079.html

Io lo tradurrei letteralmente "Ubriaca d'amore" anche se in italiano in questo caso la parola "ubriaca" e' un po' troppo forte, perche' come dice giustamente london_calling in quella canzone "hangover" e' usato figurativamente (sbornia?)


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## Necsus

Un termine alternativo a _ubriaco_, spesso associato all'amore, è _ebbro_.


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## MStraf

Necsus said:


> Un termine alternativo a _ubriaco_, spesso associato all'amore, è _ebbro_.


Ecco la parola che cercavo... grazie!
I _love _this forum...


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## arthurlee

Mm... devo dire che non sono convinto. Per quanto "_ebbro d'amore_" sia una bella espressione, credo che in generale (al di là della canzone di Diana Ross) "_love hangover_" significhi altro. Da una ricerca più approfondita:

1. "trascinamento, strascico di un amore [ormai affievolito]"? (Oxford Paravia: (legacy) *strascico* m. , *conseguenza*)
2. "stato di depressione/sofferenza dovuto alla fine dell'amore"? (Garzanti: hangover = *stato di confusione e malessere*);
3. "amore ormai finito"? (Hoepli: *a hangover from the past* = una reliquia del passato);
4. "residuato d'amore"? (Collins: sth left over,*residuato*)

Qualche madrelingua inglese conferma/smentisce?


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## Luca97

Ebbro d'amore has a positive meaning, whilst love hangover does not necessarily. 

In italiano Ebbro d'amore, inoltre, si riferisce ad un amore in corso, mentre love hangover si riferisce ai "postumi" di un amore finito (male), anche se come scritto qua sopra puó essere usato in altri contesti.


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