Alcohol isn’t exactly known for making your brain work better.  In fact, it is usually quite the opposite.  Unless it comes to speaking a foreign language.

Now, full disclosure:  you actually have to be able to SPEAK the language first.  You aren’t just going to wake up and suddenly drip French off your tongue.

However, a university in the Netherlands did an experiment with bilingual students.  The control group had no alcohol.  The other group had a moderate amount of booze, that brought their BAC up to about 0.04.  Each gave an argument in a foreign language for two minutes.  And two impartial — and non inebriated — judges gave everyone marks on their ability to speak.

The people who boozed it up WON.  That seems counter-intuitive, but the scientists figured it had to do with the one thing alcohol does right:  it gave the speakers confidence and wiped away any nerves that non-native speakers usually feel speaking a different language.

Alcohol:  the world’s greatest confidence booster.  It’s science.  — [eric]