# 小酒



## yuechu

大家好,

I was reading an online encyclopedia article (wiki) today about 渥太华冰雪节 and saw the term "小酒" (sentence: "你可以在世界上最大的​里多运河（Rideau Canal）天然滑冰场上溜冰，还能喝*小酒*、看冰雕"). I could not find this term in my dictionary.. is 小酒 a type of alcohol?
Thanks/谢谢！​


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## xiaolijie

In the context, I think *小* means "*some/ a little*" (wine/beer). Otherwise, 小酒 may be as you guessed, a particular type of alcohol.


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## gemajiangjun

It's alcohol, but it's not a type of alcohol. It can be any type of alcohol. The author wants to say you can  enjoy a small amount of alcolol that will give you a relaxed mood. I think here 小 should be understood as few or not much.


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## Youngfun

I agree, although this usage is not common in Standard Chinese.


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your replies! I think 小 to mean "some/a little" in this way is more common in Cantonese than Mandarin, right?


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## gemajiangjun

I am not sure about that. I don't speak Cantonese. But in this context, I don't think 小酒 comes from Cantonese. To me, 小酒 is a bit old-fashioned and 喝小酒 sounds to me like it's for elderly men's relax and enjoy.


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## SuperXW

小酒 is not a type of alchohol. 喝小酒 simply discribe the experience of "drinking some wine and enjoying its taste".
You should imagine the man take a sip of wine and enjoy it, instead of finishing a whole pitcher brutally...
In spoken Chinese, sometimes 小 is added to the simple, relaxed and enjoyable activities. e.g. 遛个弯 -> 遛个小弯 (take a "little" walk)； 吹吹风 -> 吹吹小风 (enjoy some "little" wind)， etc.


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## YangMuye

I tried to search 小称 in wiki yesterday, but failed to find anything.
It seems that someone has renamed it to 指小(Diminutive).
As suggested above, adding 小 make the activity sound more casual and relaxed.

Although 小 is attached to the object 酒, the actual effective scope of it is the whole verb phrase “喝酒”.

It's very common in casual speech, but I'm not sure if it's considered standard or dialectal.


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## Youngfun

In our dialect, my mom likes to watch TV, while 喝酒儿（=小酒）
It makes me think about Martinis, Bayley's, etc.
While 喝酒 makes me think about wine, beer, or drinking super-alcoholics in big quantities till getting drunk.

Maybe an equivalent would be 品酒。

There's a question answered in Baidu Zhidao: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/335670099.html



> 你说的小酒，指什么，是指小酒版吗，如果是小酒版的话，就是容量比较少的酒，一般都是50ml，100ml左右的。这种酒版的话，洋酒比较多，像轩尼诗XO干邑小酒版50ML，马爹利蓝带干邑小酒版50ML，尊尼获加黑牌威士忌小酒版50ML，芝华士12年威士忌小酒版50ML等等，味道，质量和大瓶的（700ML）的都一样，但是因为容量小，所以价格也便宜很多。  对酒有兴趣的话，可以上  e久加久  去看看，里面酒的品种和知识都很丰富的


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## endlessnight2004

Youngfun said:


> In our dialect, my mom likes to watch TV, while 喝酒儿（=小酒）
> It makes me think about Martinis, Bayley's, etc.
> While 喝酒 makes me think about wine, beer, or drinking super-alcoholics in big quantities till getting drunk.
> 
> Maybe an equivalent would be 品酒。
> 
> There's a question answered in Baidu Zhidao: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/335670099.html



I don't think this answer is correct. In my view, “喝小酒” just means drink a (some) cup (s) of XX (can be any kind of alcohol). But when you say “喝喝小酒", you try to convey to the readers a sense of leisure. We would say someone who lives a life of leisure always ”喝喝小酒“,”听听小曲儿"。 When we are saying so, we are not referring to a specific type of alcohol or music. And also, when you have a drink with your friends, you can say “喝喝小酒”， but if your are with a senior relative or your boss, I don't think people will say ”喝小酒", that's “喝酒" indeed.


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## BODYholic

baosheng said:


> 大家好,
> 
> I was reading an online encyclopedia article (wiki) today about 渥太华冰雪节 and saw the term "小酒" (sentence: "你可以在世界上最大的​里多运河（Rideau Canal）天然滑冰场上溜冰，还能喝*小酒*、看冰雕"). I could not find this term in my dictionary.. is 小酒 a type of alcohol?
> Thanks/谢谢！​



It's just a softener.

The sentence works perfectly fine even without the softener, although it may sound a tad coarse especially so when spoken, say, by a young lady/person. Perhaps, that's because "喝*酒*" is traditionally perceived as predominately a man's thing.

"天然滑冰*场上*溜冰，还能喝*酒*、看冰雕"

"小酌" is another word that I can think of which has similar meaning as "喝*小酒*" but it is rather old-fashion. 

"天然滑冰*场上*溜冰，还能一边小酌,一边看冰雕"

Lastly, baosheng, as I am offering my views on this subject, I realized something strange (see text in red). "天然" it may be but do visitors perform all these tasks - "溜冰"+"喝*小酒"+"*看冰雕*"* on the 滑冰场 ... all at one go!

I also could not find your sentence in the given link. Any idea?


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## yuechu

Thanks, everyone, for your answers! Sorry to all of you who looked at the link. I just realized that it was not the correct link. Here is the correct one: 渥太华冰雪狂欢节 although the one I originally looked at was from "comefromchina"'s wiki and not hudong (I believe it may have been copied).

@BODYholic
Indeed, it may seem odd that one can do all those things on the ice! I don't think alcohol is actually served (it may be an error in the text), but there are drinks/snacks served (drinks: coffee, tea and apple cider). Also, the ice sculptures are usually at a different location. Perhaps they are on the ice at a certain time too though...
In any case, the skating is great if anyone is ever in Ottawa  Longest skating rink in the world


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## AquisM

baosheng said:


> Thank you all for your replies! I think 小 to mean "some/a little" in this way is more common in Cantonese than Mandarin, right?


Yes, you're right.


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## Kevin70s

I think Bodyholic has just offered the best possible explanation, but here's a simple and stupid way to understand the implication of 小: if a friend of you proposes to you to 喝点小酒 tonight , at least he is implying that:
1) there won't be boozing tonight
2) and perhaps you two will be having some pleasant conversation /catching up on old times over a few glass of wine (or rather, a few small cups of _Baijiu)_.


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