Improve your social skills with Bar English!!!

Hi. James from EngVid. I've had a little to drink. Hold on. Sorry. James from EngVid.

I had a little to drink with my friend Mr. E. Today we're going to do "bar talk", and

why it's very important. You know what you're getting.

So let me tell you a little story, okay? I was sober when I started this video, and then,

well, Mr. E invited me out to a bar. He said, "It's on me." I'm not a rich man, but I'm

a smart man, so I said, "Sure, I'll go with you." So, you know, we go to the bar, and

he said, "You know what? It's cheaper to get a pitcher than it is to buy a glass of beer."

And I went, "That's great." So he goes up to the bartender, and he says, "Bartender

-- barkeep, he said, what's on tap? What's on tap?" "Well", the bartender said, "Well,

what can I get you? Bud? Blue? Ex? Amsterdam Light? Whatever." Mr. E -- pardon me. So Mr.

E said, "Sure, but I've got my own drink, and it's my own creation. It's two parts beer,

one part vodka, one part you don't need to know." Okay, so it doesn't matter. He brings

this back. I'm sitting at the table. I drink it. After two seconds, I'm moving around like

this about to fall because this drink was really potent, terribly potent. You can see

the worm goes here. I got intoxicated in about five seconds. The police had to be calles.

And you know what? The bartender said, "Hey, dude, you're cut off, and take the worm with

you." Long story. Now, this is "bar talk". Because in Canada

and many places across the world, we use a lot of the words I've given you, all this

vocabulary, to explain or express things. And today, I'm going to let you into our secret

world, so you can socialize and improve your English.

So let's go back to the beginning. What did I say? I said I was "sober". Well, if you

don't have any alcohol whatsoever, which is this, okay? You don't have any of this, you're

going to be "sober" -- no alcohol. I have no alcohol in my body.

Now, here's the good thing: When you go to a bar, you want somebody to say to you, "It's

on me". What that means is they are paying. Now, if you say these magical words, "it's

on me", you're paying. Please take this from your vocabulary. Otherwise, they're always

going to go, "Who's paying?" "It's on him." "Great. He's paying." Okay? So "sober" is

the first word -- no alcohol. So when you're driving, you should be sober, really. "It's

on me" -- somebody's paying money, right? Whoever says that, they're the one who's going

to pay. Now, here is a "mug". It's not a word I put

in for your little quiz at the end. Don't forget you have a quiz. But there's a mug

or a jug of -- a mug of beer. A pitcher is bigger. It's like a big thing. So it has two,

three or four glasses of beer. Because it has so much in one container, it's called

a pitcher, and it's cheaper. So you can go to a bar in Canada and go, "I want a pitcher

of beer", and they'll give it to you, and it will be cheaper than buying bottles. Remember

the bottle I showed you? Right? It would be two, three, four of these. Save money. Drink

more. "On tap": This is a -- well, it's because

it's different. "On tap" means it's not from a bottle; it comes from, like, a "tap" -- in

your house, where you wash your dishes. It comes from a keg. And a keg looks like this.

I'm a really horrible drawer, so forgive me, okay? Forgive me, for I am about to sin in

many ways. A keg looks like something like that, and it's on tap. So the beer comes out

of that. Yeah, I know. Listen, this is an expensive special effects department we have

here, okay? Imagine this, and your mug goes here. There's your pitcher, and they put the

beer in there. So it comes from a keg. So if you say, "What's on tap?" -- at every bar,

in Germany, and other places as well, in Japan, they have these taps, and they pour the beer.

You've seen them do that. They pour the beer from there -- not a bottle, which is more

expensive. So you go, "What's on tap, man? Give me some good Canadian stuff."

Next, the bartender will probably say -- if you're not talking about beer, which is the

first part, but you want other alcoholic drinks, he or she might say, "What can I get you?"

You think "get" is "go somewhere", and they're meaning, "Yes, I'm going to leave talking

to you, go behind, arrange or make a drink for you, and bring it back." And they usually

say, "What can I get you?" Yeah, you're slowing it down now, saying, "What did he say?" "What

can I get you?" "What can I get you?" That is, "May I help you? May I serve you?" Cool?

Okay, so we're moving from here. We've got something off of tap. The next part of the

story: Remember Mr. E gave me some kind of vodka, beer? I don't remember. My head still

hurts from the drink. Well, when somebody says "It's my own brew" or "my own creation",

it means this isn't normal -- a normal drink you can buy. I, at my own house, invented

or created it. I have a drink, and you're going to like this. So if you're watching

and you're under 18, go watch The Simpsons or something, okay? My drink is called a "Pink

Lemonade", okay? It is one part vodka, so that's one ounce vodka. Two San Pellegrino

-- you've got another part San Pellegrino. Then you get a blueberry smoothie, and you

mix it together. It looks like pink lemonade, and it is potent. There you go, "potent" -- "strong".

Because it tastes so nice like real lemonade, you drink it -- you don't even notice what's

happening. Why is this word important? "Potent" means "strong". So my own creation -- you

heard me say "parts". In alcohol, when people talk about what's in the drink -- you say,

"What's in it?" They'll go, "One part this, one part that, two parts this". And they're

telling you, "This is how much you should put of each one." So usually, an ounce of

each one equals a "part". So the bartender says to you, "In a Brown Cow, there're three

parts vodka, one part vermouth." Everybody now knows I don't drink because I don't know

what's in a Brown Cow. So don't make fun of me on YouTube. Anyway.

So they'll tell you what the parts are, how to make the drink. And they'll say, "My own

creation is this." Mine is the -- remember? That's right, Pink Lemonade, baby. I've got

another one. You're going to love it. So you can make it "potent". It means that it has

more alcohol than anything else, okay? So when you say "potent" -- more alcohol than

anything else. So "potent" drink. So let's go from here. If something's potent,

and you have many of them, you're going to have something called "intoxication". To be

"intoxicated" means - it comes from "toxicity" or "toxin". You have more alcohol than you

should in your body, and it's now becoming poisonous, or as we like to say, "drunk",

okay? If you're intoxicated, the word we use normally is "drunk". It means "I have had

too much alcohol in my body, and now I cannot think properly or clearly." "Intoxicated".

Now, do not drink and drive or be drunk while you're driving your car or intoxicated, because

the police will stop you. And if you're making too much noise while walking on the street

while intoxicated, they will arrest you as well. So remember this word. Potent drink

-- possible intoxication. Next -- where are we? If you are too intoxicated,

you will -- what? You will be "cut off". This -- what they mean by "cut off", in Canada

anyways, other places as well. In Canada specifically, it means "you have had too much alcohol, and

the place where you're staying does not want to be legally responsible for you." So they

will say, "You are cut off. No more alcohol because we will be responsible." They might

even say, "Give me your car keys so you cannot drive." Serious stuff, friends. Now, in other

places, if you cause trouble -- like, you get into fights or you talk to the girls like,

"Hey, baby. What's up?" -- they will cut you off real quick: "Cut off, and get out!"

Now, I've got one more thing I've got to tell you. These are -- excuse me. These are the

worst two words. When you're at the bars, you never want to hear this. It's called "last

call", or as Americans say, "last call". This means you have 15 minutes to drink your drink,

order, and get your butt out of the bar, and the good times are over, okay?

Well, I've got to go through this very quickly before we hit our last call for this video.

So there are ten things I want you to learn. Try and remember which are the ten things

because one's not on the board. But I said it. It was the last thing I said. See? There's

the hint. Listen. And you're going to go to the quiz and check it out to see if you remember.

Okay? First, you arrive sober when you go to a bar,

right? Okay. So you arrive sober. But if you're lucky, you have friends with money, they'll

buy it. The drinks will be on them. Anyone who says it's on them, that person's paying.

"Pitcher": College students, you guys are all studying because you're young, got no

money. Get pitchers; don't buy bottles. It's cheaper. Get drunk faster. I said it. Next:

"on tap". You ask them, "What's on tap?" They'll tell you the two, three, five, or six beers

that they have that's in a funny-looking thing called a "keg". This is called a "keg". Remind

me to talk about "kegger" when I was in university. You'll want to hear about that. Anyway. Next,

bartenders, especially in nice restaurants -- bars -- go, "What can I get you?" or "What

can I get you?" Okay? Practice that. All right? Next. If you have your own drink, you might

have -- you might make your own creation or your own brew. Some people actually make wine

at home and they'll say, "This is my own brew because I made it at home" or their own beer.

Welcome to Canada, eh? Okay? "Parts": When they say, "What parts?" What's in there? How

much liquid: alcohol, water, seasonings, flavours, whatever, right? Hops. How many "parts". Finally,

you drink too much, and especially if it's strong -- it's "potent". It'll be "potent".

You'll get intoxicated, or the common word is "drunk". See my worm? Drank, intoxicated,

fall down flat. Now, that's why we said here, "You've got to 'cut off' the worm", okay?

So I've done a quick review. I hope you remember all this. Go back to the story at the beginning.

See how much of the story you understand from the words, and -- oh, I'm sorry. It's last

call. I've got to get going. My beer is waiting for me, so last call for me, son. Oh, before

I go, www.engvid.com, where "eng" stands for "English" and "vid" stands for "video". That's

the commercial break. So go there: www.engvid.com. I'll see you. We have, like, seven other people,

I don't know. We're all going for a drink after this. Anyway. Take care. Got to get me some cold, frosty ones.