American verb

December 13, 2005 6:30 PM

How can I say "to skull a beer" in American English? It means to drink a whole lot of beer in one gulp.
posted by dydecker to Writing & Language (55 answers total)

I'd say chug. But that may actually require you to drink the whole beer at once.
posted by oaf at 6:31 PM on December 13, 2005

Chug works, IMO.
posted by delmoi at 6:31 PM on December 13, 2005

"Pound" also works. Especially if you plan to pound not a beer, but a brewski.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:32 PM on December 13, 2005

Response by poster: Would people sit round saying "Chug! Chug! Chug!" to the drinker?
posted by dydecker at 6:33 PM on December 13, 2005

Absolutely. It is really common.
posted by Falconetti at 6:33 PM on December 13, 2005

Usually done while pounding the table with your fists.
posted by Falconetti at 6:34 PM on December 13, 2005

Response by poster: Thank you!
posted by dydecker at 6:34 PM on December 13, 2005

dydecker: That is exactly the idea.
posted by travosaurus at 6:35 PM on December 13, 2005

So I guess they say skull in toyko, where's you're located? Cuz I'd like to start using that instead of chug.
posted by puke & cry at 6:36 PM on December 13, 2005

Well the question has been answered, but I wonder: is 'skulling' the term in British English or some other language entirely? A little googling suggests the former, but it's hard to be sure about the latter.

Dydecker, your profile doesn't have a location, so care to elaborate?
posted by jedicus at 6:38 PM on December 13, 2005

man I always mess up that spelling. Sorry.
posted by puke & cry at 6:38 PM on December 13, 2005

We say "skull" in New Zealand as well. FYI.
posted by gaspode at 6:39 PM on December 13, 2005

That would be 'Shotgun' my friend. Stick a pen through the side, invert and crack open and suck. A college tradition.
posted by Mr T at 6:39 PM on December 13, 2005

Response by poster: "Skull" is NZ and Australian English I think. In Japanese you would say "Ikki! Ikki!"
posted by dydecker at 6:40 PM on December 13, 2005

I have heard "slam a beer" before too
posted by Infernarl at 6:44 PM on December 13, 2005

You could "kill" a beer, finishing it off.
posted by Korou at 6:47 PM on December 13, 2005

Skull?? Or is it scull? Or even skoll, as they say in Denmark?
posted by Onanist at 6:48 PM on December 13, 2005

Excellent
posted by puke & cry at 6:48 PM on December 13, 2005

Now, from my understanding "Chugging" a beer involves normal drinking (swallow after swallow) while shotgunning involves opening your esophagus and just pouring the beer into your stomach (which people can do!)
posted by delmoi at 6:49 PM on December 13, 2005

I had always thought "skull" was a corruption of "Skol", but the only online reference I can find is in an Aus slang dictionary which suggests just that the terms are interchangeable.

Ah... here's a reference on a google cache of an AOL member page. Can't get a much better reference than that....
posted by pompomtom at 6:51 PM on December 13, 2005

"Ikki Ikki"

Imagine if you chugged a beer in Japan while pretending scratch on a turntable while smoking some really fine weed. Ultimate terseness.
posted by Falconetti at 6:53 PM on December 13, 2005

I'd say pound is closer than chug.
posted by 31d1 at 6:53 PM on December 13, 2005

I think delmoi is actually correct, to shotgun a beer.
posted by puke & cry at 6:55 PM on December 13, 2005

Actually, I retract my chug comment. delmoi is correct, chugging is close, but shotgun is much better.
posted by Falconetti at 6:58 PM on December 13, 2005

You all are giving me that invisible feeling again.
posted by Mr T at 7:02 PM on December 13, 2005

Response by poster: Oops, that means I gave the wrong definition in my question. "Chug" is the word I'm looking for. "Skull" doesn't mean in one gulp it just means really, really fast.

I can't believe there is a word that literally means "drink a whole beer in one gulp". I have lived a sheltered life.
posted by dydecker at 7:04 PM on December 13, 2005

The commonest verb in British (or at least English) English would be "to neck". But also, especially if pounding on the table and chanting, the phrase might be "down it! down it! down it!". In NYC I mainly hear "pound" rather than "chug", but I run with a classier crowd than some.

To shotgun a beer is to employ a sudden release of pressure to squirt it down one's throat, as described by Mr T or with a beer bong.
posted by nowonmai at 7:04 PM on December 13, 2005

Dydecker, I whish I would be there to see your face when you meet a beer bong.
posted by Mr T at 7:06 PM on December 13, 2005

In New Jersey in the late 70's we'd call it "tossing" a beer. Of course, you wouldn't want to use that particular idiom in the UK or Australia.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:27 PM on December 13, 2005

I agree with "chug". How about "slam a beer", "down a beer", "pound a beer", or "quaff a beer"? That last one I haven't really heard much, I think I've just read it in books and such. British?
posted by zardoz at 7:44 PM on December 13, 2005

It was my impression that to shotgun a beer was exactly as Mr T described "Stick a pen through the side, invert and crack open and suck.", not just the act of drinking it in one gulp.
posted by nadawi at 7:45 PM on December 13, 2005

In rural western Canada in the 80s 'chug' and 'shotgun' were the same thing, neither of which relied on what I've learned to be 'shotgunning' as described elsewhere here. They just meant drinking it really fast.
posted by Kickstart70 at 7:49 PM on December 13, 2005

The best chug is the Viking Chug -- you can't bend at the elbow.
posted by fourstar at 7:52 PM on December 13, 2005

I believe the proper expression is "mainline an 80."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:58 PM on December 13, 2005

I like the link fourstar, but the guy in the white shirt is totally bending his elbow. I hope somebody called a foul on that.
posted by stovenator at 7:59 PM on December 13, 2005

Yes, shotgunning involves puncturing the bottom of the can to allow the beer to flow out very quickly.
posted by j.edwards at 8:08 PM on December 13, 2005

Quaffing, thanks to Terry Pratchett, now means an activity similar to any of the above but in which most of the beer ends up on the floor.
posted by nowonmai at 8:15 PM on December 13, 2005

I think it might just be 'to down' or 'to slam' a beer. Shotgunning is pretty specific. Does skull a beer sound really raunchy? It doesn't to me, but I'm North American. If I were to talk about drinking a beer really fast, I'd say down, slam, but if I were talking about frat boys I'd say chug.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 8:28 PM on December 13, 2005

For me (in Aus), to Skull the beer is to finish the beer without the glass leaving your lips and to put the empty container up-side-down on your head. May be accompanied by chanting!
The "down, down, down" I came across at Hash House Harriers events in Asia. Usually involved skulling but extra marks if you shotgunned (when they were using cans).
posted by dangerousdan at 8:39 PM on December 13, 2005

The new shotgun 2.0 has arrived. Order yours now!
Video here.
posted by sixpack at 8:57 PM on December 13, 2005

chug is short for chug-a-lug ... at least it was 20 years ago

a shotgun was when someone took the lit end of a joint in their mouth and forcibly blew it out into someone else's mouth

slamming would be done with a shot glass full of liquor ... and there was also some kind of drink where you put a shot glass of something in some beer and then slammed the table or counter to make it fizz and then drank it real fast ... that was called a slammer

i'm afraid my crowd got its big thrills from heavy drugs, though ... not good
posted by pyramid termite at 9:05 PM on December 13, 2005

In the vernacular I'm familiar with, "slam" connotes finishing the beer, whereas "chug" merely refers to drinking a lot very quickly (but not necessarily finishing).
posted by jjg at 9:11 PM on December 13, 2005

At Waikato University at one point there were drinking competitions known as "boat races" because of the sculling. I've always spelled it with a c. The usage in New Zealand goes at least as far back as the mid-80's.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:48 PM on December 13, 2005

Yep, that's what I'm talkin about:



Thx sixpack.
posted by Mr T at 10:02 PM on December 13, 2005

Quaff would be to drink relatively quickly, but it doesn't really have the same connotations as chug, neck or down. Quaffing is somehow more refined, from my understanding of the word.
posted by djgh at 10:49 PM on December 13, 2005

chuggin' a beer is drinking the remainder (or the whole thing without stopping). Also: slamming, pounding, killing ("kill that beer and let's go, that skank is totally looking at me"). If someone is pounding on the table screaming something repeatedly, it's most likely gonna be "chug" -- in fact, i've rarely heard someone say anything else.

"Pound" and "kill" are more commonly used when the beer is less than freshly poured (basically "finish that beer"). "Slam" you probably hear least often.

Shotgun, as i know it, is DEFINITELY a more specific act -- that which Mr. T describes. I have NEVER heard anyone using it to refer to "chugging" a beer.

location: west coast norcal boo ya.
posted by fishfucker at 11:38 PM on December 13, 2005

btw I should note that "chug" does not commonly mean one gulp, it means 'drinking the beer without putting it down'.

Shotgutting a beer is closer to drinking a beer without taking a gulp because those who attempt to pause usually get beers all over themselves and LOSE. LOSE!

disclaimer: i have never lived in a real frat (i spent four or five months living in a frat house that the city eventually condemned, however! TUBULAR, AS WE USED TO SAY BACK THEN*)

* ha ha no we probably said "fuck yeah".
posted by fishfucker at 11:41 PM on December 13, 2005

As an American living Down Under, I'd say that "chug" is definitely the closest equivalent. I'd also add that I'd spell it "scull." My mates here have told me some crazy stories about the Boat Races they had in Uni. (In return, I taught them to play Cups.)
posted by web-goddess at 11:59 PM on December 13, 2005

Response by poster: Googlefight: "scull a beer" 280 "skull a beer" 394
posted by dydecker at 1:20 AM on December 14, 2005

UK versions:
Neck it
Down it
Down in one

"Ah've spilt more ale darn me waistcoat than 'ee's supped t'night!"
posted by i_cola at 4:39 AM on December 14, 2005

Dydecker,

Chug is 100% acceptable. Shotgunning is cutting a hole in the bottom of the beer, opening the top, and drinking from the hole (see the picture). Pound also works.

(ask whether or not people say Cola, Pop, or coke).

Chug is the most frequent use I've seen.

Example:
There's a Bar at Penn State University called "The Phyrst" - Saturday nights, the "Phyrst Family" plays. (mostly irish drinking songs)

Before they go on, there are 7 (well, more now) tables of college students with pitchers of beer.

Somewhere in the night, "table wars" starts.
Example: Table 4 will chant
"We are Table, #4, #4, #4, we are table #4, where the hell is #5?"

At which point, if table #5 doesn't immediately respond in kind (and pick another table)...The entire bar shouts "Table 5 chug, Table 5 chug"
posted by filmgeek at 5:23 AM on December 14, 2005

Slam it ! as in he slammed it down.
posted by orlin at 6:09 AM on December 14, 2005

See also: beer bong.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:29 AM on December 14, 2005

Do any of you guys remember the Upright Citizens Brigade? (A sketch comedy show of high calibre...)

There was a recurring character on the show that was a macho/frat boy type who would constantly show up in situations and repeatedly say "You got to chug it!" Good stuff.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:35 AM on December 14, 2005

They should be chanting, "Chug, chug, chug!"
posted by event at 8:32 AM on December 14, 2005