In the game Heavy Rain, an evil doctor offers one of the heroes a glass of whiskey (with the intention of drugging her). She turns it down, saying “I’m not thirsty.”
When I heard this, I thought it was very odd. The reason being that, you don’t drink whiskey to quench thirst. I know that technically, you can be “thirsty” for any drink…I guess…I’m not sure, actually, but maybe you can. But regardless of that, it just seems like a very strange response.
If it was a glass of water, soda, lemonade or whatever, or maybe even beer, I wouldn’t think that the response was odd. But with whiskey - a small glass of whiskey - it does not seem proper.
Am I completely overthinking this? Or is there something to it?
Drinks are associated with thirst. So it’s not unthinkable that she’d think “Hmm, no I don’t want a drink” and just say “Sorry, I’m not thirsty” as a shortcut way of saying that.
It could also be she doesn’t like whiskey, but as with so many other things, “I don’t like xx” has been met with “Oh but you’ll like xy! Try it!” and “I’m not thirsty” is a way to just say no, without having to go into why you don’t like xx.
Drinks in general are. If someone offers you a glass of liquid without stating what it is, and you’re not thirsty, you’d say “thanks, but I’m not thirsty” even if it was straight vodka or something equally dehydrating. If someone says “would you like a drink” most times people will consider if they’re thirsty or not before answering. It’s not hard to imagine someone wouldn’t be thinking “Hmm, whiskey doesn’t quench thirst” they’re just thinking “Liquid offered, not thirsty - no thanks, I’m not thirsty”
Depends. If it’s a bottle of, say, Springbank 18, the only appropriate response is to ensure that whatever poison is being added does not alter the taste.
If someone asks “would you like a drink?”, I think it’s an apt response. But it just seems awkward to respond that same way to whiskey specifically. Maybe it’s just a bias of mine that a shot of whiskey is gonna burn like hell, and the last thing in the world I can imagine it ever doing is quenching one’s thirst.
I remember thinking it odd when I was reading a 19th century detective story (Doyle or Poe, probably) in which the protagonist was interviewing a group workmen who kept commenting on how thirsty they were. Of course, they didn’t want water or even beer–they wanted gin or whisky.
Neat alcohol, especially whiskies, just are not for quenching thirst; no one who has ever had whiskey would respond that way.
Furthermore, most people when offered anything to drink in a social situation don’t respond based on thirst; they respond based on social considerations - how long they are staying, for example.
The game has some other weird dialog quirks which I assume are a result of it being written and produced by French people. Numerous times in Heavy Rain, a dead body is referred to, by multiple characters, as having been “found on a deserted wasteland.” At one point, someone even yells, “imagine if you found your son’s body on a wasteland!” This is not a usage I have ever heard anyone use in my life.
Yeah, there are some dialogue quirks probably for the very reason you mentioned (non native English speakers). I know the wasteland thing is a translation/vocabulary issue.
Some, like the drink one you mentioned, could also be attributed to the character’s mental state. If I were really stressed out and in crisis situations, I might wave away a drink offer by saying, “I’m not thirsty” without thinking too much about the question.
In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Marion offered Nazi Von MeltyFace some drinks and he said he wasn’t thirsty. So obviously to say you’re not thirsty when it’s booze offered means you’re a Nazi.
Oddly enough one of the things I told my sons when they reached “drinking age” was that you never, ever drink alcoholic drinks to quench your thirst. That is what water, fruit juice and fizzy drinks are for. Pouring down mixed drinks on a hot day is a great way to make yourself ill or even dead.
So either of them may have answered, “No thanks, I’m thirsty.”
Does the character know or suspect that the drink isn’t safe? If she’s aware that the dude has an ulterior motive, refusing by saying, “I’m not thirsty,” could be a way of communicating that she’s aware that he’s not offering the drink out of friendship, by giving an equally false reason for refusing.
Otherwise, I’d chalk it up to translation weirdness.
It’s something I’d only say if I was trying to make a point. Assuming the speaker knows that whiskey’s not a thirst-quencher, I would curtly answer an offer with “I’m not thirsty” if they person offering was a creep, or trying to change a subject with a drink offer, or something. It’d be a little… sarcastic’s not the right word, but certainly pointed.
It’s meant to be a comical way to refuse a drink. People at the bar often remark on their thirst before ordering a drink. Of course no one is ordering a Jameson because they are attempting to quench their thirst; it’s just an expression. I can’t even count how many times I’ve been invited/have invited someone to drink with the question “You thirsty?”