Looking for a word

[NRSASD]

If someone who can eat anything they like is said to be (or have) a hollow leg, and if someone who refuses to drink alcoholic beverages is a teetotaler, what do you call someone who can drink anything they like and only be minimally effected? I know there's a word for it, but I haven't been able to figure it out for the past 2 days.

As always, thanks for any and all help!

[Serpentine]

I think heavyweight, as opposed to a lightweight (who gets drunk very fast on not much)?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by NRSASD
…what do you call someone who can drink anything they like and only be minimally effected?

Legolas. :smallbiggrin:

[Keltest]

A Liar, probably. Some people can hold their drink better than others, for a variety of reasons, but theyre still going to be affected, by a hangover if nothing else.

[danzibr]

I think heavyweight, as opposed to a lightweight (who gets drunk very fast on not much)?
This is what I've heard.

In Japanese they call such a person a colander, which I find appropriate and hilarious. Just passes right through them!

[Aedilred]

Hollow-legs.

[Razade]

A Liar, probably. Some people can hold their drink better than others, for a variety of reasons, but theyre still going to be affected, by a hangover if nothing else.

Yeah, neither of this true. Body weight, how much you've eaten and drank during the day all factor how much alcohol it takes to start showing the effects. Also, not everyone gets hangovers and not everyone gets them as bad. Body chemistry is a funny thing after all. Drinking water alongside drinking alcohol also helps avoid a hangover.

[Fri]

Yeah, neither of this true. Body weight, how much you've eaten and drank during the day all factor how much alcohol it takes to start showing the effects. Also, not everyone gets hangovers and not everyone gets them as bad. Body chemistry is a funny thing after all. Drinking water alongside drinking alcohol also helps avoid a hangover.

IIRC eating or drinking water while drinking alcohol also slow absorption of alcohol or something in that line? So there's a difference between two people who drink two glass of beer in two hours, where one drink two glasses of beer straight, then another glass of beer, while the other person drink one glass of beer slowly in the time of one hour in between eating something.

Also genetic can do funny thing as well. People of Asian descent can have the alcohol flush, for example where their skin got red flush quickly after drinking alcohol because their body turn alcohol into acetadelhyde quickly. Not sure if that makes people drunk easier or faster, just example how genetic can do weird things with alcohol.

[GloatingSwine]

Alcoholic?

Northern?

[Red Fel]

Hollow-legs.

This. I've heard the term applied to drinking, and not eating as the OP suggests. In my lexicon, "he has a hollow leg" means "he drinks like it's nothing."

Another phrase I've heard is "drinks like a fish," which, while also applying to non-alcoholic drinks (or water), is frequently applied to alcohol. But that doesn't necessarily mean unaffected by drink.

If in doubt, though, heavyweight works.

[BWR]

Oxford alumnus? (my sister quipped that you should be given a gift certificate for a new liver upon being accepted at Oxford)

[Red Fel]

Oxford alumnus? (my sister quipped that you should be given a gift certificate for a new liver upon being accepted at Oxford)

Hey, that one reminds me. Something something cast-iron liver something?

[ngilop]

Yeah, neither of this true. Body weight, how much you've eaten and drank during the day all factor how much alcohol it takes to start showing the effects. Also, not everyone gets hangovers and not everyone gets them as bad. Body chemistry is a funny thing after all. Drinking water alongside drinking alcohol also helps avoid a hangover.

something tells me that this is not true either.

else you are saying that somebody out there in the world is totally able to drink like thousands of gallons of moonshine and come out having no effect at all from intoxication
{scrubbed} One cannot just endlessly drink alcoholic beverages and not have any detrimental effects.

[Ebon_Drake]

This. I've heard the term applied to drinking, and not eating as the OP suggests. In my lexicon, "he has a hollow leg" means "he drinks like it's nothing."

Another phrase I've heard is "drinks like a fish," which, while also applying to non-alcoholic drinks (or water), is frequently applied to alcohol. But that doesn't necessarily mean unaffected by drink.

If in doubt, though, heavyweight works.

I've only heard hollow legs in reference to eating, specifically someone who's skinny but can eat a lot - i.e. that's where they can pack the food in. I guess it could be a regional variation?


Hey, that one reminds me. Something something cast-iron liver something?

I can't think I've heard of that, but cast-iron stomach means someone who can eat gnarly food without it affecting them and I think I've heard that used for heavy drinking too. "Having a cast-iron liver" makes sense as something along those lines.

[Aedilred]

I've only heard hollow legs in reference to eating, specifically someone who's skinny but can eat a lot - i.e. that's where they can pack the food in. I guess it could be a regional variation?

I've only heard it in relation to drinking, to be honest.

[Knaight]

A Liar, probably. Some people can hold their drink better than others, for a variety of reasons, but theyre still going to be affected, by a hangover if nothing else.

Straight up immunity doesn't exist, but people who can shrug off a lot before visible effects come up* absolutely exist. Some of it is size, some of it is habits (e.g. tending to drink on a full stomach, alternating with water), and a lot of it quirks of biochemistry regarding variable concentrations of various enzymes.

*Assuming they don't do something stupid to make them more noticeable, e.g. drive.

[Fri]

something tells me that this is not true either.

else you are saying that somebody out there in the world is totally able to drink like thousands of gallons of moonshine and come out having no effect at all from intoxication
{scrubbed} One cannot just endlessly drink alcoholic beverages and not have any detrimental effects.

minimally affected =/= not have any detrimental effect. It's just similar to how some people can eat more than other people, like what the OP mention. Also, before more people complain, "minimally affected" here is just english figure of speech. Or are people also lying when they say they can eat more food than other people without feeling bloated or full, as in the equivalent thing mentioned in the OP?

[Razade]

something tells me that this is not true either.

Well, when you're arguing against something I never said you're probably right.


else you are saying that somebody out there in the world is totally able to drink like thousands of gallons of moonshine and come out having no effect at all from intoxication
{scrubbed} One cannot just endlessly drink alcoholic beverages and not have any detrimental effects.

I'm not saying that. You're saying I'm saying that. Which I'm not. That's probably where the problem is.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

A braggard and a drunk.

[NRSASD]

Hmmm... After a bit of research, I think heavyweight or hollow leg are the closest words to what I'm looking for, but I coulda sworn there's a more precise word. Turns out hollow leg means you can eat copious amounts of food or drink tons of alcohol and not be affected. Drinking like a fish or holding one's liquor are both good phrases, but I thought there was one word that sums that up. Ah well. Thanks to everyone who's helped out so far!

I love that movie :smallbiggrin:

[Themrys]

German has a word for it: trinkfest.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Chalk me up as another who's only ever heard hollow legs in relation to alcohol.

It's funny how we have dozens of synonyms for lightweight but hardly any opposites. The best (and only) ones I can think of are X has a liver of steel and X can hold their drink - neither of which are adjectives.

[ChapelCanaan]

Sot? Bulletproof liver? Professional drinker?

[Dorath]

It's more or less obsolete now, but they used to be called lushes.

[Nifft]

It's more or less obsolete now, but they used to be called lushes.

A lush was someone who drank heavily and often -- a drunkard, in slightly more modern vocabulary -- but "lush" says absolutely nothing about the capacity to not appear sloshed.