Wandering Through Chapter 3 - More About Alcoholism
Pages 32 - 33

jitters

"It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition." ¹
Big Book - More About Alcoholism - page 32

In this sentence the word jitters functions as a plural noun. ²

Jitters is slang for feeling very nervous, anxious, or shaky. This sentence uses it to describe symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. The word first appeared in American English around 1925, and may have come from the dialect word "chitter," which means to tremble or shiver. Today, people also use it to describe the shaky feeling you get from too much caffeine.

The word jitters does not appear in the 1930 edition of Webster's Dictionary.

carpet slippers and a bottle

"Out came his carpet slippers and a bottle." ¹
Big Book - More About Alcoholism - page 32

In this chapter, Bill examines thought patterns in alcoholics that lead to relapse despite good intentions. He illustrates his points with case studies: Carpet Slippers Guy (page 32), Jim the car salesman (page 35), the Jay-Walker (page 37), and Fred the accountant (page 39).

In this example, Bill tells the story of "Mr. Carpet Slippers Guy," a retired businessman. He started drinking early in life, then stayed sober for 25 years. At 55, he retired; out came his carpet slippers and the bottles. Thinking that he was no longer an alcoholic, he thinks he can drink like a normal person. The story demonstrates that even after years of sobriety, an alcoholic who returns to drinking will lose control, and that willpower alone is insufficient to maintain recovery.

Footnotes for page 30

¹Quotes from the Big Book on listed on this page are from the public domain version, in the United States, of the 2^nd edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. Accessible at 12step.org

²Sentence diagramming, to determine the word usage within the sentence, was performed by CoreNLP at corenlp.run.

³Definitions used are from the Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language 1930 Edition. Access to this dictionary online is at Hathitrust.org

⁴Wiktionary entry for jaywalking.

⁵from the Farlex Dictionary of Idioms

⁶"The Book That Started it All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous" A Different Slant, from page 143.