Vino is Italian word for wine; vino is also used colloquially for basic and cheap wine but Wino is a word incorrectly and frequently used by some people for a wine lover.
I am affectionately referred to or addressed at times, as a wino by friends and well wishers who feel they are putting me thus, on a pedestal as a wine lover, connoisseur or aficionado. I generally smile it off or tell them emphatically that I am not one, if they are well known to me.
I was surprised to read an article in an Indian wine magazine once by a known Indian sommelier, incorrectly using word for wine lovers. I had the urge to comment but I let it pass.
I was anguished when I visited a website www.localwino.com which is a wine informal portal with a lot of useful information and I do access it occasionally for some info. I figured the guy who started the site must be an American and is entitled to twist the slang.
But I felt things going over the top when I received an email titled ‘Gifts for Winos’ written by a well-known American writer, Jennifer Rosen last week, referring to the wine lovers.
Now Chotzi, as Jennifer is fondly known in the wine circle, is not a bottle-by-night wine writer. She is a serious writer and an author with a light-hearted and humorous style of writing that won her the famous James Beard Award in 2005 and a couple of other recognitions in wine journalism since then. She is also a frequent contributor at localwineevents.com.
That’s when I decided to clarify for the discerning and certainly for those who view wine connoisseurs with some respect. Let me explain the terms:
Vino: Italian for wine (plural-vini), says Collins Gem Dictionary. Nothing complex about it. Simple, everyday used word in the English speaking world of wine too.
Drink Vino- Drink fine vino is my mantra for good and healthy living.
vino: is also the commonly used word for cheap wine that is available in bulk or from the wine lakes producing millions of litres of inexpensive and cheap quality wine. Jancis Robinson defines it as, ‘colloquially and unfairly, English for basic quaffing wine, or plonk’ in the Oxford Companion to Wine, 2007 edition.
Indian market is full of vino-especially the French and Indian kinds. Chateau Indage has even labelled their cheapest selling wine as Vino, under Rs.100 ($2.50) when the regular quaffable wines usually cost upwards of Rs.400
Wino on the other hand is a slang used for alcoholics one finds metaphorically in the gutter. Winos are human beings who drink excess amount of alcohol, usually cheap; or even too much of cheap wine. Naturally, the connotation is negative.
Let me illustrate with a few definitions from various online dictionaries:
Wino: is an ‘informal word for a person who drinks excessive amounts of cheap wine or other alcohol’ as defined by Oxford online dictionary.
Wino: is a slang term for someone consuming large amounts of alcohol in wine form,
according to Weber open dictionary. It also defines wino as a wine drinking alcoholic
Wino: Webster’s dictionary illustrates the use of the word in many other languages with different meanings like: alcoholic, bacchanal, boozer, boozy, drinker, drunkard, inebriate, tippler, winebag, habitual drinker, habitual drunkard, heavy drinker, lush, dissipated, intemperate, lush.
In no language does it remotely imply a wine- lover.
Incidentally, for any of the above uses, the words vino, vino and wino are pronounced as in bambino, casino, chino, cappuccino, latino and not like wine-o.
Wino: (informal) a destitute person who habitually drinks cheap wine , says Collins dictionary
Wino: slang for someone, especially a down-and-out, addicted to cheap wine; an alcoholic- reads Chambers dictionary.
Do I need to pursue any further?
Wino is a sharaabi
People mistakenly refer to wine as sharaab. I have spoken and written many times that wine is wine and liquor is sharaab. Of course there are no dictionaries that define the term only conceptions and misconceptions.
Wine is not sharaab. Hard liquor is- whisky, vodka and gin are (distilled alcohols, I believe). Of course, it is my rendition and may not hold in a court of law.
But everyone would agree that an alcoholic, especially the one who drinks cheap stuff or is addicted to it can be aptly labelled as a sharaabi, which does have a negative connotation- of an alcoholic.
Wino is not a wine lover or a connoisseur, but a mere sharaabi.
I rest my case.
You may drink Vino that your palate appreciates, you might even drink vino if you crave for it, but for Bacchus’ sake, don’t be a wino and don’t call any wine lover or a connoisseur a wino; you might offend him!
Subhash Arora
December 23, 2007
