Dry January be damned. After a couple of days respite, January 2021 has taken up very much where December 2020 left off. So, in the possibly misjudged spirit of drinking away the world outside of our door, let’s talk drinking and getting drunk. Brussels, just like the Inuit and their words for snow, or the Irish and their descriptions of rain, has an extensive vocabulary for the art of drinking. 

Inspired by Liam’s recent post at BeerFoodTravel about the lexicon of an obscure Norman-Flemish community in rural Ireland, i’ve brought together a list of words from Brussels dialect that describe beers, drinks measures, drunks, and getting drunk. 

Bruxellois, or Brussels, or Brusseleir, or Marols, is a fast-disappearing regional argot with its soul based in the inner city working class neighbourhood of the Marollen. It’s a language that reflects the cultural and linguistic shifts experienced by Brussels over the past 500 years. 

Brusseleir is originally a Brabantian-Dutch dialect and Flemish words abound, like maske (girl). There’s also a health dose of hispanic influence thanks to the centuries of Spanish Hapsburg rule, seen in a word like goulaf (gourmand, from the Spanish word gula, gluttony) and a large French influence due to the verfransing (Frenchification) imposed on the country by its Francophone elites immediately after independence in 1831. In putting together this list i was indebted to the Dictionnaire du Dialecte Bruxellois by Louis Quievreux, some of which you can discover here.

There are organisations that work to keep the language alive, and each year the non-profit Be.Brusseleir presents a “Brusseleirs van 't joêr” award to the best representative of the city. But it is a dying language, as native speakers either age out of the population or move outside Brussels in retirement. 

So whenever the world opens back up, and we’re allowed outside, don’t forget to drop into your local Stameneie for a quiet Beeke, and maybe stay and get a little bit Zat.

27 Brussels words for drinking and getting drunk

Beeke (noun): small beer

Boemele (verb): to get drunk regularly

Druuge leiver (noun): drunk, drinker (literally, dry liver)

Flotchesbee (noun): wartime beer, of very low ABV

Geneivelist (noun): a person who likes to drink jenever, a drunk

Halfke (noun): a half glass of beer, or a Half en Half - a drink composed of 1 part Faro and 1 part Lambic

Kousenband (noun): the space between the top of a beer and the edge of the glass, e.g. “don’t give me a kousenband.” (literally, garter)

Kwak (noun): a glass of liqueur 

Lappe (verb): to take a bad turn, e.g. op de lappe goên, to go on a drunken binge

Meeklapitte (noun): drunken woman

Pizewiss (noun): light beer

Pottezoeiper (noun): drinker, someone who drinks their pot (glass) empty

Scheut (noun): a glass containing approximately 100ml

Schnik (noun): alcohol

Stameneie (noun): estaminet, cafe

Strondzat (adjective): dead-drunk, literally shit-drunk

Teuttere (verb): to indulge in the pleasure of drinking beer

Teuttereir (noun): someone who enjoys drinking a good beer, see also teuttere

Tonneklinker (noun): a drunk (literally, a barrel-leaner)

Tracteire (verb): to stand a round

Wallebak (noun): drunk

Zat (adjective): drunk, see also: strondzat, zatlap, zattecul, zatterik)

Zatlap (noun): drunk

Zattecul (noun): drunk

Zatterik (noun): drunk

Zoeipe (verb): to drink, to get drunk

Zoeiper (noun): a drinker (see also: pottezoeiper, zoeipe)