“I take my paycheck to the bar because that’s better than drinking a loan”

American singer-songwriter Billy Joel‘s song “Piano Man” (1973) contains the lyric, “Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it’s better than drinking alone.” The term “drinking alone” is sometimes punned as “drinking a loan.”
 
“If you borrow a bottle of wine, are you drinking a loan?” was posted on the newsgroup comp.os.os2.misc on November 11, 1994, and on Twitter on November 19, 2009.
 
“If you have to borrow money for alcohol, you wind up drinking a loan” was posted on Twitter on July 30, 2011. “I take my paycheck to the bar because that’s better than drinking a loan” was posted on Reddit—Oneliners on April 29, 2018.
   
“The world does not owe you anything. You are not a loan” is another “a loan”/“alone” pun.
     
       
Google Groups: comp.os.os2.misc
NYT article had a mes
Dennis Powell
11/11/94
(...)
. MR/2 2.12 #9 . If you borrow a bottle of wine, are you drinking a loan?
 
Twitter
Steven Winterburn
@5tevenw
If you borrow a bottle of wine, are you drinking a loan?
4:18 AM - 19 Nov 2009
     
Twitter
Richard Windhorse
@rock_stones
rt @SexCigarsBooze When I drink alone I prefer to be by myself. ~George Thorogood (Are you sure he’s not saying “When I drink a loan…”?)
7:28 PM - 4 Mar 2010
 
Twitter
Richard Windhorse
@rock_stones
Replying to @SexCigarsBooze
@SexCigarsBooze I was joking about “drinking a loan”, something I’ve known alcoholics to do.  Thanks for the youtube version just the same.
11:22 PM - 4 Mar 2010
   
Twitter
Richard Windhorse
@rock_stones
rt @5tevenw
Jesus turned water into wine… I turned a whole student loan into beer once. (Now that’s what I call drinking a loan)
3:08 PM - 7 Mar 2010
   
Twitter
roothakers
@ruthakers
It’s not drinking a loan if the bank wouldn’t approve a cash advance and you were forced to write a check.
11:34 PM - 2 Apr 2011
     
Twitter
Naw Churpal
@NawChurpal
She said I was an alcoholic because I always drink a loan. She is so wrong. I have never borrowed money from anyone.
12:44 AM - 16 Jul 2011
 
Twitter
Jamie Capria
@MrFornicator
If you have to borrow money for alcohol, you wind up drinking a loan.
1:20 AM - 30 Jul 2011
   
Twitter
Blek Plethora.
@Buggz79
If you borrow a bottle of wine, are you drinking a loan?
3:11 PM - 23 Feb 2012
   
Twitter
Rabiddogg
@Rabiddogg
when that guy sings about “drinking a loan” does that mean he is going to give the beer back when he is done w/it?
4:03 PM - 27 Jul 2012
   
Twitter
𝚠𝚒𝚕 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚢
@wilshipley
I never let my friends pay for my drinks because I hate drinking a loan.
1:36 AM - 6 Jan 2013
 
Twitter
King of Partying
@mgbesq
“But it’s better than drinking a loan.” #BillyJoelCPA
1:05 PM - 18 Mar 2013
       
Twitter 
Dave
@gneicco
Borrowed $20 from my cousin and bought beer with it. Now I’m drinking a loan.
10:33 PM - 4 Oct 2014
   
Twitter
dan mentos
@DanMentos
“I drink a loan” I say as I head to the bar with my new home equity line debit card
6:12 PM - 20 Nov 2014
 
Twitter
Dan Thorn
@Dan_Thorn
Never understood that Billy Joel lyric. What’s wrong with drinking alone? Unless he meant drinking ‘a loan’. That would be interesting.
6:54 PM - 26 Feb 2017
   
Twitter
Kell’s Bells
@LanaKelRey
I don’t drink alone, but if you let me borrow $50, you can bet your ass I’ll drink a loan
8:43 PM - 8 Mar 2018
 
Reddit—Oneliners
I take my paycheck to the bar because that’s better than drinking a loan.
submitted April 29, 2018 by Bliggin