# I hate water (for drinking) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757 "2019-07-28T15:26:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/21 "2019-07-29T03:39:58Z")
_Oh, water cold we may pour at need Down a thirsty throat, and be glad indeed But better is beer, if drink we lack And water hot, poured down the back_ ---
**Author:** ![Dongyang2016](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@Dongyang2016](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dongyang2016)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/22 "2019-07-29T04:24:30Z")
I am not a big water drinker either and people have gotten on my ass for years for it. I will say lately I have been drinking several glasses of ice water, because it is wet and cold against the summer heat. The coldness outweighs the taste or lack thereof. In the winter I never drink water. Being overseas for several years and then returning home, it amazes me when go to convenience stores how BIG bottles of soda are. Basically pint sized bottle of drink for like $2.50. Just ridiculous to me. I don’t want that much soda. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/23 "2019-07-29T05:25:59Z")
Pills work better thane coffee, except maybe the Turkish stuff that dissolve spoons. Too much phosphoric acid in coke. RO (reverse osmosis) water is supposed to be $0.38 a gallon not 99. If you don’t like it, you can always add a touch of lime or lemon juice, no sweetener needed. Earl Grey tea is also good, as is Orange mint tea. If you are drinking exclusively RO, consider getting your own unit. It’ll get rid of iron and sulphur. Calcium carbonate is however, tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/24 "2019-07-29T05:39:02Z")
If you’re desperate for the sweet stuff, Kool-Aid with 1/3 the sugar, or Stevia, and a little NaCl/KCl is tasty. Recipes all over the web. Get the KCL concentration right, or you’ll kill yourself. Round here Kool-Aid usually goes on sale in July for 10 cents a pack. That gets you 3 quarts of gatorade at 8 cents a bottle. I make my 20X salt stock 17.7g KCl, 81g NaCl - 50 ml per quart final. Stevia is extremely soluble in 20% ethanol, so you can easily get sugar equivalents up to 1 tablespoon per drop. Buy steviosides online, pure, in bulk, or you are paying 50-100 times too much. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/25 "2019-07-29T09:44:10Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > [Here ya go](https://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20739512,00.html). That article is filled with non-sequiturs, confusion of cause and effect and misuse of statistics. For example, the assertion that artificial sweeteners lead to weight gain. The fact is, most artificial sweeteners are consumed by people who are already overweight and who continue to gain weight. It’s not the sweeteners that are causing the weight gain. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/26 "2019-07-29T10:47:47Z")
Remember guys “We’re all ugly bags of mostly water”. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/27 "2019-07-29T12:28:24Z")
I LOVE drinking plain old water, as long as it’s fridge cold. I have a britta filter at home for this purpose, and a water cooler at work, so this isn’t a problem. I can’t stand fizzy water - just don’t find it thirst quenching. I’ve invested in a chilly bottle so I always have ice cold water with me - I’ve stopped buying evil plastic water bottles. Thinking about it, water is the only non-alcoholic or non-caffeine-drenched thing I drink. Other than that, it’s coffee, red wine and the odd G&T. I don’t drink soda and avoid fruit juices (not worth the calories). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/28 "2019-07-29T12:35:14Z")
We have a water cooler and a carbonation unit. Ice cold polar water, sparkling or still as desired. I try to drink a glass of water for every beer I drink, which turns out to be a huge amount of water. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/29 "2019-07-29T14:33:39Z")
I love water, it quenches my thirst like no other drink. That said, I don’t like tap water with a chlorine taste, and I don’t like all bottled waters like Aquafina. Deer Park is my favorite bottled water, but good well water with some minerals is the best. I love cold water but over the years have acclimated to room temperature as well. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/30 "2019-07-29T15:10:13Z")
I love water so much, that my body right this minute is 60% water! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/31 "2019-07-29T15:10:51Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But now that we’re in Cafe Society, can I say I think it’s weird how many people say they hate drinking water because it doesn’t have any taste. That’s like saying you don’t like breathing pure, clean air because it doesn’t have any smell. Water isn’t wine: you’re not supposed to taste it, you’re supposed to gulp it down and quench your thirst. Breathing is automatic; drinking is something I have to think about. If I had to make a point 2 or 3 times a day to stick my head in a bag and inhale oxygen, I suspect I would enjoy it more if it were scented. As it is, I’m only going to drink a certain amount of liquid every day, why not make it something I actively enjoy, like an herbal tea or a cold brew coffee? ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/32 "2019-07-29T16:28:57Z")
I don’t drink “just plain water” either. Not a bit. However, I probably keep 7-11 in business singlehandedly with the amount of fountain Diet Coke Big Gulps I consume. And/or about a pitcher of iced tea a day. The iced tea is plain. No sugar; no sweeteners; no flavorings; not even lemon. How is that appreciably different than water? (Other than the caffeine!) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/33 "2019-07-29T16:49:34Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I LOVE drinking plain old water, as long as it’s fridge cold. I have a britta filter at home for this purpose, and a water cooler at work, so this isn’t a problem. I can’t stand fizzy water - just don’t find it thirst quenching. > > I’ve invested in a chilly bottle so I always have ice cold water with me - I’ve stopped buying evil plastic water bottles. > > Thinking about it, water is the only non-alcoholic or non-caffeine-drenched thing I drink. Other than that, it’s coffee, red wine and the odd G&T. I don’t drink soda and avoid fruit juices (not worth the calories). This is almost exactly me. For some reason, room temperature water makes me slightly nauseated. But nothing quenches my thirst like cold water. Sodas have an aftertaste and leave me thirstier than I was before. I do occasionally drink a San Pellegrino Blood Orange drink, but even one a week is more than the average. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/34 "2019-07-29T17:00:47Z")
I honestly thought I was alone in my loathe for drinking water. Nice to know I have compatriots. I force myself to drink water and hate every minute of it. Usually the force comes because I’m working out after work and I know I need the hydration. Other than that, I will never choose to drink water when anything with flavor is available. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/35 "2019-07-29T17:01:54Z")
I like water so much I won’t drink anything unless it contains at least a hint of it. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/36 "2019-07-29T17:04:14Z")
We have some of the best water in the nation right out of the tap. Mr. Salinqmind hated drinking water and lived on coffee and Diet Coke most of his life, but once I began putting water bottles of our tap water in the refrigerator - it was a revelation. He actually started drinking that on occasion because icy cold was so much better than room temperature. He sometimes dilutes his Diet Coke with Polar Orange Vanilla seltzer (Polar has countless ‘flavors’, no sugar, very mild. The Candy Cane they sell in winter tastes like club soda that was stirred briefly with a peppermint stick.) And of course Gatorade Zero. That said, isn’t drinking ice water on a hot day supposed to be dangerous? I’ve heard it can cause your esophagus to go into spasms, and other ills. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/37 "2019-07-29T17:37:41Z")
I love a cold glass of water on a hot day. Not just because it’s cold, but because it tastes good. Things were not ever thus. I remember when I was about, oh, 15 or so, (40 year ago) and my Dad had just taken a sip of water. He said, “ah, that’s good water”. It never occurred to me until that day that you could appreciate a glass of water for its _taste_. What a bizarre idea it seemed, given that water has no taste. Or at least I thought way back then. Now, rarely a drink of water goes by that I don’t say out loud, or to myself, “that’s good water.” The things you can learn from your Dad! ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/38 "2019-07-29T17:40:08Z")
Room temp tap water is by far the main thing I drink. Aside from that, I only drink juice (unsweetened) or beer. I run the tap water through a filter jug at home, if I can’t do that just letting it stand for a while is pretty good for getting rid of the nasty tap water taste. I wish that I’d been sensible enough to learn to love tap water decades before I did. At least I _was_ sensible enough to never take up coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/39 "2019-07-29T19:57:02Z")
Oh, and you don’t need to go completely sugar-free, either. When I drink tea (fairly frequently), it’s not sugar-free: I add about a teaspoon full of honey or sugar, because I like my tea to have some sweetness to it. But the same quantity of non-diet pop would run the equivalent of about 20 teaspoons of sugar. So by comparison with pop, my drink of choice has _almost_ no sugar. Everything in moderation. Sugar isn’t bad, unless you get too much of it. It’s really easy to get too much of it if you’re drinking pop. It’s much harder to get too much of it if you’re getting one spoonful per cup of tea. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757/40 "2019-07-29T20:50:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > This makes no sense to me. I mean, are you trying to avoid hyponatremia? If so, that’s pretty extreme. I dunno. Growing up, if we were thirsty, we went straight to the water fountain. Nothing quenches my thirst like water, or water with a little bit of salt and sugar in it if I’m severely parched. And by that, I mean severely parched. Back when I used to do thirteen mile runs as part of my workout, plain ol’ water was just fine to keep me going. For me it’s soda all the way. Water only when unavoidable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-water-for-drinking/837757.md?page=3)