‘I think I’ve had enough to drink’

Drinking is pretty much an all or nothing pursuit.

When someone says they want something to eat, without intimate knowledge of their tastebuds, metabolism and ethics, it would be impossible to guess the type of dish they are after.

It could be that they desire a meaty curry or maybe they hunger for a pasta salad. Perhaps it’s a ploughman’s lunch they’re after, in which case they’ll need to catch a ploughman with his back turned. Alternatively they might want a biscuit. The possibilities are endless.

However, when someone says they’re dying for a drink it can mean only one thing - they require alcohol.

Such is the prominence of booze in our culture that alcohol has muscled its way in on the very act of quenching thirst. “Are you going for a drink?” is a question that only the most naive could take to mean a fruit juice, milkshake or fizzy water.

I can’t speak for any other country than my own, but on these shores at least, drink, both as a verb and an adjective, is taken as read to mean alcohol.

When someone tells you they’ve stopped drinking, rather than fear for their hydration, it would be fair to assume their abstinence from drink solely applies to intoxicating liquor. The next step would be to speculate it’s a decision for the better in respect of their health or temperament.

Gossip of people having a ‘drink problem’ is commonplace. Interestingly you rarely hear someone described as having a ‘food problem’. Rather there’s a world of other insults to fit the bill.