No, I would not opt to hang out in a non-alcoholic bar. Not that I need to be drinking all the time, but as I commented on the tweet, why would they call it a bar?
I'm meeting a friend later "for drinks". That implies alcohol. Now, English is a tricky language, as I well know. If English is not your first language, good for you! Kudos for learning such a difficult language! Idioms are tricky in any language.
Since I can't offer an English Idiom lesson via Twitter, I'm doing it here. For all the non-native English speakers...
That statement: "Hey, let's get together for drinks tomorrow!" might make you think you are agreeing to going out to swallow some liquids and not eat. It is important to know what you are agreeing to before you agree to it. If you have been invited out "for drinks"...
- Alcohol will be involved.
- You will not have to drink alcohol, but the person who invited you probably will, since they chose the place.
- If you have a problem with being around alcohol, the time to speak up is when you are invited. If you wait until you get there, you may feel awkward suggesting a change of venue.
That's not the only one. If we say "Let's have coffee tomorrow," we are not requiring the drinking of coffee. People in China prefer tea, yet Starbucks has a booming business (in Beijing, at least). If you are invited out "for coffee", a non-native English speaker should note...
- Coffee will be involved.
- You will not have to drink coffee, but the person who invited you probably will, since they chose the place. Most coffee shops in the western world also serve tea, cocoa, juice, etc.
- If you don't like the smell of coffee, speak up when you are invited. That way you won't feel awkward asking for a change of venue upon arrival, or your friend can choose a place with outside, non-coffee-smelling seating.
These are basic assumptions that English speakers understand.
Likewise, if a friend tells me she wants to go out to "a bar", my assumption is that I will have the option to drink an alcoholic beverage. If we got there and it was non-alcoholic, my expectations would be disappointed. Naturally, I wouldn't abandon my friend, but I would feel that I had been brought there under subterfuge.
If that friend had invited me to "a non-alcoholic bar" I wouldn't straight up say no, but I would definitely have follow-up questions. Why that particular bar? What is the draw? Do they have phenomenal music? Food? I mean, I don't know too many people who have been through AA, but if it wasn't a friend I knew to be alcoholic, I would be surprised and probably push for a place I could get something stronger.
That is the understood purpose of a bar.
Why would anyone label their business for what it does NOT have?
"Hi, we're a non-shellfish seafood restaurant."
"Welcome to my non-dairy ice-cream shop."
You have just deliberately divided your clientele. I get why people would choose to go to the "non-X" locations,
but why not offer the "X" as well as the non-X? No bar that I know of requires a patron to drink alcohol.
I mean, I get it. I really do. A recovering alcoholic may like the vibe of a bar but not want the temptation. However, that is your only clientele if you advertise that way. I'm not saying not to offer it, but maybe you need another, non "non-alcoholic" bar to bring in the big dinero, no?
As an English-speaking person, doesn't "bar" offer certain expectations? What would you do?
ttps://twitter.com/MacCocktail/status/1088101648281546753MacCocktail
Yes, "bar" definitely offers certain expectations--specifically that it's a place that serves alcohol. It may be further divided between "upscale"--a place where your bartender will spend twenty minutes concocting a mixture of fair trade lychee pulp, twenty-year old gin, and the tears of miniature ponies--and a "dive", a place that mainly serves Pabst to grizzled curmudgeons whose voices make miniature ponies cry.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the alcohol-free bar is intended for people who think the U.S. should return to Prohibition because they're not satisfied with being non-drinkers and think no one should drink.
In my experience, though, such people have a strong tendency to alienate everyone so no one wants to hang out with them anywhere, making the alcohol-free bar a doomed idea.
Ha! I love it. Those poor miniature ponies.
DeleteTo me, a bar is the long skinny serving counter. You're right that there is an alcohol-based implication to the word, but I don't find it so exclusive that the use of it for something specifically alcohol free bothers me. I go to coffee bars, if I ate raw fish, I'd go to sushi bars, so why not an alcohol-free bar? To me, it's a non-issue.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, suspect that I'm in the minority on that.
That's true, but Sushi bar, Raw bar, Salad bar, Juice bar are all defining what they DO serve. "Alcohol-free" bar is defining itself by what it doesn't serve. If nothing else, it's weak marketing to advertise that something is missing. That's all.
DeleteIt's an odd thing, to be sure. As someone who doesn't drink or like coffee, I can't say I'm invited to either very often (or at all). So, I don't really have an opinion.
ReplyDeleteI don't really care, to be honest, it just seems counter-intuitive to me.
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