In Spanish class yesterday, we learned some new colloquial expressions for drinking — too much.
Estar hasta atrás – to be in the back, to be completely drunk
Agarrar la jarra – to grab the pitcher – not completely drunk, but one who has drunk a lot
Estar en el agua – to be in the water – completely drunk
My favorite: Empinar el codo – literally this means to bend one’s elbow as in the movement of drinking
In the cafe where I can usually be found having coffee in the morning, the waiter, Juan, noticed me doing homework. At first, he was surprised that my homework would be about colloquial expressions related to drunkenness. What kind of a school am I going to?
Then, he added two more. He suggested that you can also Agarrar el piso – to grab the floor and estar como una cola de un avion – to be like the tail of a plane.
Our homework is to fill in the following sentence:
Despues de __________________ nos vamos ______________________ a ________________ unos _________________.
The choices for nos vamos (we are going) are:
a la cantina
a un bar
a la pulcata (a place where they make pulque, a fermented form of agave)
a un cafe
The verbs we have to choose from include: tomarnos, echarnos, and bebernos (all verbs of drinking).
So, when I invite you out to bend an elbow with me, you’ll know what I mean…