Timeline for Does "he squandered his car on drink" sound natural?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 25, 2019 at 2:16 | vote | accept | brilliant | ||
| Mar 22, 2019 at 19:16 | history | edited | Jesse | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 290 characters in body
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| Mar 22, 2019 at 19:12 | comment | added | Jesse | @EricNolan, as a couple of other people have pointed out, I was writing specifically about the use of "drink" as a mass noun without an article. I agree that using it as a verb to imply the consumption of alcohol is common, and so is using it as a singular noun with an article ("a drink"). | |
| Mar 22, 2019 at 16:43 | comment | added | chepner | "Squander" also implies repeated usage of a commodity. One might squander cars, but not a single car. | |
| Mar 22, 2019 at 15:39 | comment | added | Mixolydian | I think "drink" as a mass noun is almost always used with a negative connotation. See Jesse's first two example sentences. "A drink" and "drinks" do not have that connotation at all. | |
| Mar 22, 2019 at 15:37 | comment | added | Aethenosity | @EricNolan your first and third examples are verbs, and not as relevant. The second and fourth are grammatically different as well. "On drink" is different than "a few drinks" and "a drink" in my mind, but that is subjective. | |
| Mar 22, 2019 at 15:33 | comment | added | David Richerby | 'Strangely, using "drink" idiomatically to mean "alcohol" is almost always done in the context of wasting money, time, or opportunity' Strongly disagree. If you invite somebody to go for a drink, you mean an alcoholic drink. In any reasonable sitation, it would be perfectly fine for them to drink something non-alcoholic, but the implication is clearly alcohol. | |
| Mar 22, 2019 at 11:53 | comment | added | user68033 | For interest - while it might not be common to squander a car on drink; you definitely can squander it on tapas: youtube.com/watch?v=L27Z7u0PHfo | |
| Mar 22, 2019 at 9:41 | comment | added | Eric Nolan | As an aside, I can think of plenty of examples where 'drink' is used in a non-negative way to mean alcohol. "I was out drinking last night". "We had a few drinks then went home". "Eat, drink and be merry". "I have a drink every now and again". You may argue that this doesn't necessarily mean alchohol but in my experience those phrases are almost always used that way. | |
| Mar 22, 2019 at 5:32 | comment | added | jamesqf | A better phrasing would be "He sold his car, and squandered the money on drink". | |
| Mar 21, 2019 at 22:51 | comment | added | chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic- | "Squander a car" doesn't make sense here, but it might if someone were prone to drag racing. | |
| Mar 21, 2019 at 20:41 | history | answered | Jesse | CC BY-SA 4.0 |