I popped into the middle of a conversation on the radio today. It was about the Dutch national football, about to play in the World Cup second round facing Mexico in Fortaleza. The conversation on the radio was about the heat (30+ C) and humidity (80%) at that location. These are tough conditions, but somehow they have a trick to minimize impact. It can freely be translated into "indrinking". What does "indrinking" mean in this context?

  • the ref is calling water breaks in some games - could it refer to that? Also sometimes "hurt" players who have rolled around clutching one of their legs (randomly chosen) are cured by getting a drink of water. Since everyone seems to fall to the ground hurt a lot, this technique could provide plenty of water. – Kate Gregory Jun 27 '14 at 22:56
  • @KateGregory No, it was especially refering to the preparation before the match. – Bernhard Jun 28 '14 at 6:07
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    "It can freely be translated into "indrinking"" - So that wasn't the word you actually heard? Did you try to look up the original word, be it via google or at least a dictionary? – Christian Rau Jun 28 '14 at 13:01
  • It was in Dutch, so there is no way to translate properly. The Dutch term "indrinken" is also used for teenagers drinking a lot of alcohol before a party. – Bernhard Jun 28 '14 at 15:08
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    Even if you drink liters and liters of water for days before they game, whatever you don't need then would be thrown away in the urine. To hold more water in the body, you would typically need to "fool" your body into holding onto more water, possibly by use of different salts. This is sort of the reverse process of water soluble "anti-hangover" tablets. – posdef Jun 30 '14 at 6:51

The term "pre-loading" may be closest to the idea expressed. This certainly applies if the same original Dutch word is used to describe drinking large amounts of alcohol before a party.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregaming - "Pregaming (also pre-drinking or pre-loading) is the process of getting drunk prior to going out socializing, typically done by college students and young adults in the United States and Europe, ..."
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/69157335/Alcohol-pre-loading-has-party-goers-arriving-at-bars-drunk - a discussion of the phenomenon and its health effects.


I would guess that by "indrinken" he meant to drink enough so you wouldnt dehydrate too hard by the harsh weather

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