Why Thai People Say Eat Beer

Eating your beer in Thai

Here is a fun quirk of Thai: you do not drink a beer, you eat one. To say drink beer, Thai people commonly say gin bia (กินเบียร์), using gin (กิน), the word for eat, with the loanword bia (เบียร์) for beer.

In casual speech gin covers both eating and drinking, so it happily pairs with drinks as well as food. There is a more literal word for drink, but for everyday chat gin is what you will hear.

It is a small thing that makes you sound natural rather than textbook. This short Thai reel explains why Thai people eat their beer so you can order and chat like a local in Phuket.