Another one of these 'what is this language' questions

[imluxionverdin]

To get citizenship in the UK you have to do a 'Like in the UK' test. There's a study guide that I think is official called "British Citizenship Test: Study Guide". Knowing English is a requirement to get citizenship, and the book is in English, of course

Comments

[laura_anne]

Definitely not Swahili. Somali would make a lot of sense, there's a lot of Somali speakers in the UK.

Do they seriously have binge drinking listed as an unfamilar term? I'm hoping it's a joke, but it could so easily be true...

A "British idiom", not an "unfamiliar concept"

[darth_spacey]

Binge drinking is far more of a national sport in Britain than in some other places ;-)

More importantly (and seriously), although the term is transparent if one knows the meaning of the word "binge", there are two problems:

1) One seems to rarely encounter "binge" without "drinking". It seems to me that it's a word that's hard to decipher unless the reader manages to glark it from context.

2) It's possible that English-speaking foreigners have a different term for the phenomenon, so they too would be unfamiliar with the usage.

Re: A "British idiom", not an "unfamiliar concept"

[laura_anne]

Yeah, to clarify, my incredulousness was more at binge drinking being so ubiquitous that it's necessary to include it in a primer on British life, rather than the concept being difficult to understand for non-natives.

Re: A "British idiom", not an "unfamiliar concept"

[gorkabear]

Spain has copied binge drinking. We have a word for that "Botellón" (big bottle).

Re: A "British idiom", not an "unfamiliar concept"

[malvino]

The botellón isn't the same as binge drinking, although to be fair the phrase binge drinking doesn't mean the same as it originally did either. They both used to be more specific than just drinking to excess (which is nothing new after all).

Re: A "British idiom", not an "unfamiliar concept"

[gorkabear]

The botellón used NOT to be the same. I've lived in England too (and Thursday nights in Manchester are something incredible), so I've seen teenagers doing the exact same thing: buy the cheapest alcohol available, drink it on a park or wherever they can until they can drink no more (binge).

Originally (I'm 34 and this appeared in the early 90s), the botellón was buying a bottle of liquor, a bottle of soda, ice and plastic cups and drink with friends outside bars, because bars are expensive. However, moderation in drinking has never and is not enforced by this practice, hence my immediate association with binge drinking in the UK.

To which, again, if we look at the exact terms, they might not be exactly the same, but I'm pretty sure that they're interchangeable right now (IMHO, of course!)

Re: A "British idiom", not an "unfamiliar concept"

[malvino]

Binge drinking didn't used to mean drinking until you can't drink any more, it was specifically staying sober all week, or month, then having your alcohol all at once. This is actually worse for you than getting regularly, even every day, as your body adapts somewhat to being abused regularly

[imluxionverdin]

Yes, 'binge drinking' is in the list, that wasn't a joke.