One of our students at English in Action asked why her friend laughed when she said she was going to start drinking at noon & would meet her a few hours later. We finally figured out that to say "let's go drinking" or "to start drinking" means that the drinking is the point. By contrast, to suggest "let's meet for a drink" is suggesting a meet up, with alcohol incidental - it's the getting together that's the point. The Russian repeated my "let's have a drink" as "let's get together for a few drinks." His idea of a drink was to have a few of them. He didn't even hear himself editing it. Russian drinking culture.
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