Timeline for What do you call the act of drinking a whole bottle of, say, water in one go?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 21, 2018 at 6:30 | comment | added | Pharap | @JimMacKenzie It's more than just that. There's a lot of cultural differences that people tend to forget about. | |
| Aug 20, 2018 at 0:40 | comment | added | Will Crawford | I believe chug is onomatopoeia for the manner of drinking (I've also heard it used for the noise of motorboats, etc). The focus on the in one go in the question suggests the idiom down in one though. | |
| Aug 20, 2018 at 0:35 | comment | added | Will Crawford | Usually divided by a common language, IIRC. | |
| Aug 19, 2018 at 13:36 | comment | added | Jim MacKenzie | @Pharap America and the UK; two countries divided by a single language. | |
| Aug 19, 2018 at 6:09 | comment | added | Pharap | In Britain, using 'chug' would sound very unusual, you'd probably get funny looks and the people who are aware of this meaning of "chug" would assume that you'd been taught English by an American. | |
| Aug 18, 2018 at 0:09 | comment | added | Hot Licks | I'm 69 years old, from the US Midwest. It has always been "chug", if the intent is that the entire drink is downed in one go, without stopping to breathe. "Downing" simply implies drinking the beverage relatively swiftly, perhaps without stopping to talk or eat something between gulps. | |
| Aug 15, 2018 at 14:57 | comment | added | JMac | @JimMackenzie There’s usually an implication that it’s a full or near full drink in my experience. You’ll often see “downed the rest of his drink” used in contexts where there’s only a bit left to finish. | |
| Aug 15, 2018 at 13:07 | comment | added | Jim MacKenzie | One other note: where I live in Canada, downing a drink strongly implies finishing a drink, not necessarily drinking the entire drink that way. "Looking at the clock, he frowned, paused, downed his drink, grabbed his coat, and left." | |
| Aug 15, 2018 at 12:33 | comment | added | JMac | @JimMacKenzie I think that fits in with his point. Each big gulp when doing that is what I would consider the "chug". "Chugging" is the method of drinking using those big gulps. When people chant "chug" it's so that you keep chugging the beverage until you've "downed" the whole thing. "Downing" a beer implies that you've gotten the whole thing "down" (i.e. in your stomach); chugging is the preferred method to down a beer. That's how I've always related those terms based on context at least. "Chug" is the onomatopoeia for the gulping sound of each big bubble going through. | |
| Aug 14, 2018 at 16:42 | comment | added | Jim MacKenzie | @DarrenRinger It's the opposite to me. Chug has a stronger implication of drinking the entire beverage at once. In fact, in drinking games, it's common (here anyway) for a group to shout "Chug, chug" while someone is drinking a beer in a single deep gulp. | |
| Aug 14, 2018 at 16:31 | comment | added | Darren Ringer | As an American I think "downing" is still slightly more appropriate to convey drinking the entire bottle. "chugging" is the act of "drinking in large gulps without pausing", certainly, but to me it doesn't imply drinking the entire container at once, while "downing" does. The "without pausing" (of "chugging") is taken to mean many gulps are taken in rapid succession, but this can often happen two or three times before an entire drink is empty. Then again, nobody bothered to post "downing" as an answer and I think that may be due to that word needing more context to be clear. | |
| Aug 14, 2018 at 13:23 | history | edited | Jim MacKenzie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Adding that this is CanE and AmE
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| Aug 14, 2018 at 10:23 | comment | added | Spratty | @Smeato - that's a new one on me (SE England). The only novel use of the word I'm familiar with is stopping people on the street to solicit (usually quite forcefully) charitable donations by subscription (where "chugging" is a portmanteau of "Charity mugging"). I truly do live and learn. | |
| Aug 14, 2018 at 10:11 | comment | added | Smeato | To add to @stripybadger 's point, chugging also has a significantly different meaning in certain parts of the UK - related to masturbation.. | |
| Aug 14, 2018 at 9:16 | comment | added | stripybadger | Worth noting this is probably American English really - 'downing' is more common in British English. | |
| Aug 14, 2018 at 1:28 | history | edited | choster | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
add dictionary link
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| Aug 13, 2018 at 21:16 | vote | accept | P. H. | ||
| Aug 13, 2018 at 20:58 | history | answered | Jim MacKenzie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |