Estonian has colourful names for people who drink

Estonian has a wide range of words for people who enjoy alcohol, from neutral terms to strongly judgmental expressions, ERR language columnist Kristina Koppel writes.

In an earlier language column, Koppel examined verbs describing drinking alcohol, such as purjutama, trimpama and keelt kastma. This time, she looks at nouns used for people who drink more or less regularly.

Someone who enjoys alcohol can be called a joodik or alkohoolik, as well as a napsitaja or jota. The words can be used in sentences describing a staggering, mumbling drunk in the middle of a road or drinkers appearing in public during fine weather.

A person who particularly enjoys drinking vodka may be called a viinanina, literally a vodka nose, a viinakõri, or a viinapump, meaning a vodka pump. For hardened alcoholics, Estonian also uses mudajoodik and sopajoodik, literally mud drunkard and muck drunkard.

Someone who mainly drinks beetroot wine or other poor-quality alcohol can be called a peedivend, or beetroot-wine fellow. Other expressions include napsisõber and topsisõber, meaning a friend of drinks or cups, as well as kärakamees, a booze man, and joomakõri, a drinking throat.

Drinkers can also be compared with animals. The terms joomakaru, joomakoer and lakkekrants refer to people who enjoy drinking, with the first two meaning drinking bear and drinking dog. One example describes someone who does not want to give the impression of being a lakkekrants, but would like to drink beer while watching hockey.

Koppel concludes that Estonian is particularly creative in this area, offering colourful names ranging from mild to highly judgmental. She adds that people should consider whether such words are needed at all. Sometimes it is wiser to leave certain things unsaid, just as it can sometimes be wiser to leave a glass untouched.