SOCIAL DRINKING and BINGE DRINKING...

Alcoholic drinks have always been a matter of hot debates among the peoples across the world. Here are a few drinking related words that might be of great daily use.

If a person is slightly drunk, you can say ‘he is tipsy’. You can also describe him by saying ‘he is tight’. One who drinks alcohol in very big quantities can be described with a funny idiom – ‘he drinks like a fish’. The term ‘social drinking’ is the act of drinking alcohol at a function etc without the intention of getting too much drunk. One who drinks alcohol only on such occasions can be called a ‘social drinker’.

In many societies, alcoholic drinks are served free at functions organized to celebrate a happy occasion like a wedding party. The temporary bar arranged at such places is called an ‘open bar’. At open bars, some people drink excessive quantities of alcohol with an intention of getting as intoxicated as possible and behave uncontrollably.This practice is widely known as ‘binge drinking’.

‘Booze’ is another popular term for alcoholic drinks. The word can be used either as a noun or as a verb e.g. 'A lot of booze [noun] was served at the party'. 'He spent the whole night out boozing [verb] with his friends'. The adjective form ‘boozy’ can be used to describe a person as in, ‘she is fed up with living with her ‘boozy’ husband’

'When India won the Cricket World Cup, a few of my friends painted the town red'. The idiom means they kept moving from bars to clubs to pubs and enjoyed themselves!

Last but not least, there is a good number of people who never drink alcoholic beverages. They are called teetotallers.

Now tell me. What kind of a drinker are you?

A. social drinker.

B. boozy.

C. teetotaler.

You may comment below.

DON'T GIVE EXAMS!

Sentences like ‘I will give my exam next week’, ‘When did you give your exam?’ etc have caused a lot of confusion among many non-native speakers of English.

When you say that you are 'giving’ an exam, it means that you are probably a teacher or examiner who is conducting the examination. And when you say that you are 'taking' an exam, you are going to be writing one; that is you are a student, candidate or examinee.

Unfortunately, in many parts of the world especially in south Asian countries like India (north in particular), Pakistan, Bangladesh etc this distinction is not always maintained. Due to MTI (mother tongue influence), the majority of people in these parts of the world translate their ideas word by word into English. Strange to say, a good number of speakers of English whose mother tongue is Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bangla, Haryanvi, etc use give in place of ‘take’ and take in place of ‘give’ while talking about an examination. This is ridiculous and totally opposite to Standard English!

So, if you are a candidate or student who has an exam next week, you should say, ‘I will take my exam next week’. This idea can also be conveyed in another way by saying, ‘I will sit my exam next week’ or ‘I will do my exam next week’. But do not say ‘I will take/write my exam next week’

On the other hand, if you are a teacher who is going to conduct your students’ exam next week, you must say, ‘I will give you an exam next week’, not ‘I will take your exam next week’.

And now, a tip for the confused users to remember this rule: imagine exam is an ice cream. Examiner is your mother. You mother is giving you the ice cream (examiner is giving you the exam) and you are taking the ice cream (hence, taking the exam)!