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Could someone that only speaks English (and is actively learning and using the local language) get by in small towns or villages in your country?
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I recommend linking an image, as it’s kinda hard to describe. Over here * the ones you see…
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There’s that many of them in the UK it’s honestly better I just [link a list of them](https://metro.co.uk/2017/02/02/britain-has-3000-ways-to-say-drunk-heres-100-of-them-6422469/). Granted though, I’ve only heard of about half of them on that list.
Instead of saying someone’s drunk (besoffen) we often say they are “full” (voll).
As for colorful phrases:
– Voll wie ‘ne Haubitze (as full as a howitzer)
– Sternhagelvoll (star-hale-full)
– (Völlig) zugelötet ((fully) welded shut)
(pretty sure there are more)
In Dutch we say:
-Zo zat als een (as drunk as a)
* kanon (canon)
* aap (monkey)
* patat (potato)
* Zwitser (Swiss) honestly I’ve never heard this one though
-One can also be:
* poepeloere(zat)
* strontbezopen
* straalbezopen
* ladderzat
* stomdronken
* pot(ten)toe
* canard
Edit:
* Stuk in zijn kloten/voeten/kraag hebben
* Naar de kloten zijn
Some explanation:
* Poepeloere (similar in form to turelure) is probably derived from the verb poepelen, a frequentative of poop that is formed sound-wise. Poepelen means ‘to make noise’ and the derived noun poepelarij or poepelderij means ‘to babble’. Someone who is drunk sometimes dares to talk nonsense. Oerepoepeloere is another reinforcement of poepeloere. The word is given in West Flanders, so we can assume that an h has been omitted at the beginning of the word and that oere therefore comes from hoer. Koekeloere is probably formed under the influence of poepeloere, because the word normally has quite different meanings, i.e. ‘to crow, to cackle’, ‘to peep, to stare’ or ‘to spend the time in passivity (= sitting to koekeloere)’.
[Source in Dutch](https://www.dialectloket.be/beeld/taalkaarten/zeer-dronken/)
Kännissä kuin käki = drunk like a cuckoo
I assume it’s because of the alliteration.
In Russian people can say
“Пьяный/бухой в хлам/говно” (drunk in garbage/shit, second is more colloquial) (PJAniy/buhOy v hlAm/govnO)
For example, if you drank too much where you can barely see, you can say “ребята, я в говно” (guys, I am shitfaced) (rebJAta, ja v govnO)
This is the first thing that comes to my mind
Not exactly what op asked for, but I love this so much I just can’t not share it.
In Russia some people say:
“He’s as sober as a piece of glass” which would be pronounced as [Trezvyj’ kak steklyshko];
While being drunk, some people slur and mess up words and sometimes people while trying to say “I’m as sober as a piece of glass” would say “I am as a piece of glass as I am sober” which would be pronounced as [Steklyj’ kak trezvyshko];
In Russian different parts of speech have different grammatical forms and what happens is that the person says the adjective “sober” as if it was a noun and the noun “piece of glass” as if it was an adjective:
* Трезвый как стёклышко -> [Trezvyj’ kak steklyshko];
* Стеклый как трезвышко -> [Steklyj’ kak trezvyshko].
It’s so dumb and I love it. Some people would specifically say this phrase to indicate that they are in fact very very drunk.
Im blind. Dont ask me why but in Spain being blind = drunk. Voy ciego or estoy ciego
Te has bebido hasta el agua de los floreros. “You have even drank the Warter from the flower pots.”
Rond comme un ballon
I’m surely missing some but mostly have zero inspiration just now
In French, a colloquial word for “drunk” is *rond*, which means literaly “round”.
So there is this old funny phrase: *rond comme une queue de pelle*, literaly “round as the end of spade” (because the end of the stick on a spade has traditionally a round shape).
Apart from that, there are phrases that refer to Poland and Poles… Sorry for all of you from Poland, it seems the French language considers Poles as the ultimate drinkers: s*aoul/rond comme un Polonais/comme toute la Pologne*, ie “as drunk as a Pole/as all of Poland”. Not sure if it is real, but it is often said this idiom goes back to Napoleon’s generals, who wanted to minimize the bravery of Polish soldiers by describing them as heavy drinkers.
Some come to mind:
Pijan kao guzica – drunk as an ass (bodypart)
Pijan kao smuk – drunk as a snake (Aesculapian snake to be exact)
Pijan kao majka – drunk as a mother.
Pijan kao stoka – drunk as cattle.
Pijan kao zemlja – drunk as Earth /ground
Some other animals can be used I guess..
Other expressions:
Zgažen – run-over
Ubijen – killed
Mrtav pijan – dead drunk
Na četveronožni pogon – 4-feet-drive
Nacvrcan – I don’t know how to translate, it is just another word for drunk.
When I was a child, I tried to explain to my Swedish family friends that I didn’t want any more food because “jag är full” and they laughed and laughed at me.
I don’t have anything else to contribute, I was just reminded of my past traumas.
No a rhyme, but someone drunk is carrying (not literally, inside themselves) a «turca» or a «kurda», literally a turkish female or a kurdish female something. Also «una bona merda», a good shit. Also drunk as a cossack («com un cossac»), but this is quite outdated.
We have an immense amount of colloquials for being drunk. Just off the top my head:
Beruset (intoxicated), fuld (full), stiv (stiff), vissen (withered), bedugget (dew or literally: “dewed”), stangbacardi (rod-Bacardi)
As for more colourful phrases some popular ones are:
​
Få så hatten passer (“Getting” until your hat fits)
Stiv som et bræt (Stiff as a board)
At drikke sig i hegnet (to drink until you end up in the fence)
Fuld som en høne (full as a hen)
​
I can’t really think of any rhyming phrases, but perhaps another Danish-speaker can help me out.
There’s not much of a culture around getting drunk in Italy, so there aren’t really any common expressions to describe it. I guess the most typical one would be “ubriaco fradicio” (“soaking drunk”).
The most common one is “drunk rotten” or “soaked drunk” but they don’t rhyme. We also have, for a drinking habit, “they drink like a sponge”
In Serbian we say :
Drunk as a cork (*Pijan kao čep*)
Girtas kaip bato aulas.
Engl. Drunk as a heel collar of a shoe.
Vas pedo como Alfredo (pedo being slang for drunk ven used as adjective after a verb, and also fart When used as a noun). “You go drunk as Alfredo”. Alfredo being Alfred
The ones we use in my corner of Spain and age range. Nothing that rhymes comes to mind, just colloquial slang.
Ir zorro (to go foxy), cocido (stewed), tostado (roasted/toasted), ir pedo (fart). Some are hard to translate literally as they mix unusual verb/nouns and I don’t think they make any sense (to go fart, but fart is noun) . Not as used, maybe among non-drinkers: estar piripi (tipsy).
Estar/ir (to be/to go) are interchangeable for any of those.
Longer expressions: zorro como un piojo (drunk as a louse), llevar una castaña (to carry a chestnut?), borracho como una cuba (drunk as a barrel).
Older expressions: llevar una trompa (to carry a trunk/horn?), cogorza.
I’m pretty sure I’m missing like 95% if you look for lists. But these you could actually heard from real people in my surroundings.
Among my youngsters “pedo” seems dominant: me voy a coger un pedo (I’m gonna catch a fart), menudo pedo lleva (what a fart he’s got), va pedo, ayer se pilló un buen pedo…
So, I just asked a couple of my friends and:
– “Opitý ako čík” – drunk like a weatherfish
– “Opitý pod obraz Boží” – Drunk under the picture of God
– “Zošrotovaný”/ “Opitý na šrot” – Scrapped / Scrap-drunk (in the way cars tend to be scrapped)
And, a much more obscure one: “Oči v prachu a nohy v šmyku” – Eyes in dust and legs in slide
Slovaks like their alcohol so there are many more, I’m sure.
Finally, my moment has come:
Ir /estar (un poco) Tinky Winky -> to be/feel (a bit) Tinky Winky -> to be/feel (a bit) tipsy. Or full on drunk, not gonna lie.
You can also replace Tinky Winky with whatever word you may find funny, but my favourite ones -most of them pretty popular- are:
>Teletubbie
>Oompa Loompa
>Lacasito (m’n’m-like sweet)
>Doblado (folded)
>Trifásico (triphasic)
>Cuajado (curdled)
>Cocido (boiled)
>Gormiti
>Ratón vacilón (sassy mouse)
>Piruleta (lollypop)
>Mecedora (rocking chair)
>Maradona (self explanatory)
>Curdó (drunk in Romaní)
Although the more classical ones would be:
>Pedo (fart, idk, we use it as drunk)
>Piripi (drunk, tipsy)
>Bolinga (drunk)
Other expressions:
>Ir más ciego que un piojo -> to be more blind than a louse
>Ir con la cara para atrás -> to be with the face turned backwards
>Ir más torcido que una alcayata -> to be more twisted than a spike (? the metal thing you use to hang something from a wall or ceiling)
>Darle la mano dos veces al mismo -> to shake hands twice to the same person
>Beberse hasta el agua de los floreros -> to drink even the water from the flower vases
>Ir más pedo que Alfredo -> to be drunker than Alfredo (it rhymes)
Can’t think of any more now, but if any fellow Spaniard wants to add something they are very welcomed.
In Czech
Ožralej jak jitrnica.
Drunken like sausage.
Nasátej jak houba.
Soaked like a sponge.
Je pod obraz
Is under a picture
Ožralej jak Dán.
Drunk like Dán (person from Denmark)
No rhyming but among the things we say are these
– having one in the crown
– having one in the tea
– having one in the cannon
– having one inside
– having one sat
– being “strulle” (pissed, UK usage)
This can be specified by adding “ordentlich” which literally translates to tidy or by the book but in this case is more along the lines of righteous. “I’m righteously loaded”, I know nobody would say that in English but that’s about the ring.
Svenskerfuld = Swede-drunk
Because Helsingør and Copenhagen are often full of Swedes drunk out of their minds.
pijan ko letva – drunk as a board
pijan ko guzica – drunk as a butt
CZE – Sometimes you can actually hear: drunk as a Dane ožralej/opilej jak dán/chlastá jako dán
otherwise the most common would be:
drunken pig or drunk as a pig (ozraly prase/ozralej jako prase)
drunk as a cattle (vožralej jako dobytek)
drunk as a mastiff (opilej jak doga)
he is drinking like a rainbow (pije jak duha)
or spilled/poured out like a vase (vylitej jak váza)
these are just some that came to my mind, not sure about the translations
Doesn’t rhyme but: girtas/girta kaip tapkė (drunk like a slipper)
Täis kui (drunk as):
Siga (Pig)
Templielevant (Elephant in a temple 🤷)
Tarakan/Prussakas (Cockroach)
Kännuämblik (I honestly don’t know what it means, something spider of a wood stump??)
Tina/Tinavile (Tin/Tin whistle)
Kaan (Leech)
I guess these are very old sayings from Estonian folklore. They are all very much in use nowadays as well.
I can only remember one rhyming word for being that drunk in Icelandic, and that one is more alliterative than full-on rhyming: *drullufullur.* The literal meaning is *mud-drunk*, but *drullu* is here being used as an amplifier, suggesting disgracefulness rather than actual mud, or perhaps referring to rolling in the mud like a pig.
Only a few terms for drunkenness do not include either *fullur* (the colloquial term for *drunk -* the basic meaning is *full*) or *drukkinn* (a more formal term), and those generally refer to the early stages of drunkenness, before the ‘drunk as a skunk’ stage is reached. Most of these refer to mood and probably began as euphemisms. *Góðglaður* (good and happy) is probably the most common, but I have been hearing it less and less.
Colloquial terms for being heavily drunk include: *á skallanum* (on his/her head), *dauðadrukkinn* (dead-drunk), *moldfullur* (soil-drunk – a more polite way of saying *drullufullur*), *svínfullur* (drunk as a pig), *pissfullur* (piss-drunk), *pöddufullur* (bug-drunk), *dauður* (dead, i.e. passed out).
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My favourite English phrase for *drunk* is “three sheets to the wind”. My thanks to Tom Waits for introducing that phrase to me.