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To take vs. to eat pills

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WRONG: I had a hangover so I ate some pills.
RIGHT: I had a hangover so I took some pills.

If you have a hangover – the feeling of illness after drinking too much the night before – some Czechs say the best thing to do is to drink more alcohol. For most of us, the thought of more alcohol is what might actually make us vomit! So instead we choose the other route – pills.

But – in English we don’t eat pills. We take them. The thought of eating pills sounds a bit strange to us, as if someone should say „Dobrou chuť“ before you have them. You can say ‘swallow pills’ but this is more often linked to people who take lots of pills to try and kill themselves. It is so much safer to just use the word ‘take’.

A: What’s the best thing to take for stress?
B: A holiday! But second best is to take some ibuprofen.

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