German · At the Bar
blau sein
BLOW zine · /blaʊ zaɪn/
To be drunk / sloshed
1/5 Grandma-safe
mild, playful; fine on daytime TV
Literally
"To be blue"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
In German, drunk isn't tipsy-pink, it's blue — a colour idiom stretching back to old dyeing practices (workers drank on the job while cloth soaked in urine-based blue vats, so the story goes). "Blau machen" separately means to skive off work. Mild, everyday, faintly quaint.
Heard in the wild
Der ist schon um vier blau gewesen.
He was already sloshed by four.
Where it lands
Germany — universal
Quick answers
- What does "blau sein" mean?
- In German, "blau sein" means "To be drunk / sloshed". Literally it's "To be blue". In German, drunk isn't tipsy-pink, it's blue — a colour idiom stretching back to old dyeing practices (workers drank on the job while cloth soaked in urine-based blue vats, so the story goes). "Blau machen" separately means to skive off work. Mild, everyday, faintly quaint.
- Is "blau sein" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
- How do you pronounce "blau sein"?
- Say it "BLOW zine" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: blaʊ zaɪn.
Related in German
Prost! PROHST Cheers! Auf ex! OWF EX Down it in one! / Bottoms up! besoffen buh-ZOFF-en Sloshed / plastered / hammered einen Kater haben INE-en KAH-ter HAH-ben To have a hangover voll wie eine Haubitze FOLL vee INE-uh how-BIT-suh Drunk as a lord / completely wasted Mist! MIST Crap! / Rats! — the family-friendly 'damn'
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