Bar and Pub Slang

Hey guys, I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking and welcome to this lesson on bar and pub slang.

Now if you have seen EngVid, you might notice that one of our other teachers, John, has

done a lesson on bar slang a little bit and party slang. Today I'm going to try to expand

that a little bit and give you even more expressions that you can use. Before I begin though, I

just want to give a small language warning. At the end of this lesson, I will teach you

two expressions that are a little strong. They use strong language, curse words, swear

words. So if you are watching this episode with your children, plug their ears.

Now the first expression here, if you go to a bar, if you go to a pub, you have never

been to this place, and you walk in and it smells, and it's dirty, and there's beer spilled

on the floor. But you go there because maybe the beers are really cheap, right? So it's

like one dollar for a beer. It's a great deal, but it's not a good place. The condition of

the bar is very poor. You can call this place a dive. Now, to dive, the verb to dive is

to go like this. Imagine you are a swimmer and you dive into the water. So if a place

is a dive, it's like a bomb just exploded there and it's a mess, okay?

Now another way to say that a bar is in poor condition, it's a very poor, ugly, dirty,

messy place, you can call it a hole or a hole in the ground. Now I'm assuming that most

of you understand the word hole, right? Like a hole in the wall, which is another expression

you can use. You can say it's a hole, a hole in the ground, or a hole in the wall. I'll

put that one up. Just thought of that one right now, hole in the wall. It's just a hole,

it's not anything special. So basically, if a place is a dive, a hole, a hole in the ground,

or a hole in the wall, it's a very dirty, messy bar, a dirty, messy bar or pub, dirty

place, okay?

Now next expression, can we start a tab? Now if you go to a bar and you know you will be

there for a few hours, you can go up to the bartender, to the bar, and ask if you can

start a tab. Another expression is, can we run a tab? So if you start a tab, this means

that you will not pay beer for beer for beer, what you will pay is at the end, sorry, when

you will pay is at the end for everything. So a tab is basically a bill, but it's going

to be one bill at the very end of the night. So usually if you buy a beer, you pay for

the beer immediately, right? But if you're there for a long time, you can say, can we

start a tab? Now again, a tab is I would like one beer, I would like another beer, and another

beer and another beer, and at the end of the night, we will pay. Now usually when you start

a tab at a place, at a bar, the bartender, the establishment will ask for something to

hold, right? So maybe your driver's license or something like this, so that you will not

run away without paying your bill. So a tab is basically a bill, right, that you pay at

the end of the night. Now this is the end of your stay there, and since I put brackets

there, I'll put them here too. Now next expression, don't worry, it's on me. Now if we go to a

bar, it's me, you, and two of our friends, and you sit down, and we order four drinks.

And I say, guys, don't worry, it's on me, I got paid today. If I say something is on

me, I will pay, okay? It's on me, I will pay. If you want to be very mean to your friends,

you can ask them, or you can say, it's like, this one is on you, right? Or again, if you

get a round of drinks, you can say, the first round is on me. And your friend might say,

okay, I will get the second round. The second round will be on me. So again, if you say,

it's on me, I got it, this means I will pay, okay?

And finally, these are different expressions to say drunk, okay? Different ways to say

the word drunk. So we have hammered, sloshed, wasted, plastered, wrecked. All of these are

just different ways of saying totally drunk, you drank too much at the bar or at the pub.

Now, so just as a review, guys, if a place is a dive, it's a dirty, messy, not a nice

place to be, right? Or it's a hole, or it's a hole in the ground, or it's a hole in the

wall, it's not a nice place. A tab is, again, a bill that you pay at the end. If I say,

don't worry, it's on me, I will pay. Now, this expression you can use at a restaurant

as well, not just a bar or a pub. Anywhere where you have to pay for someone or something,

you can say, don't worry, I got it, or don't worry, it's on me, you will pay. You can use

this at the movies with your girlfriend, or your boyfriend, or your husband, or your wife

as well, okay? And if you want to think of some other ways on how to say drunk, hammered,

like a hammer, hammered. Sloshed, just very, very wavy like the sea, like the water, okay?

Wasted, just finished. And plastered, wrecked, destroyed, finished, drunk, okay? Now, I mentioned

at the start of this video that I would use some stronger expressions, and I'm going to

give you two of them to talk about a dirty, messy bar, and a stronger way to say drunk.

So put the kids to sleep, okay? So instead of saying this place is a dive, you can also

say this place is a shithole, okay? So a toilet, basically, okay? It looks like a dirty, messy

toilet, a shithole. Finally, he got really hammered, sloshed, wasted, plastered, wrecked.

Another expression that uses this word here is shit-faced. Okay, so this one is a little

stronger. Again, the word shit means poop, okay? So it's like you get the image, okay?

I don't think I have to explain it much further.

Okay, guys, if you want to test your understanding of these expressions, again, if you're going

to a bar, if you're young, you like to party, you will probably need these in an English

environment. And if you want to test your understanding of them a little more, check

out the quiz on www.engvid.com. Until next time, take care and good luck, guys.