Susan Welsh (asker) Sep 4, 2015:

on "arithmetics" plural in English OK, Michael, I concede that the plural has been used in some specialized contexts (logic, in your case of "weak arithmetics") at some times in the history of the English language. It may be more common in UK English (which uses "maths," after all, which AE does not). But it is by no means common usage in AE, and would certainly not be used in marketing copy for beer! Some interesting charts of usage are here:
Google Ngram Viewer:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=arithmetics&ye... (try this for English, American English, and British English -- the results are quite different)
Corpus of Contemporary American English:
http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&q=15700253 (I think we should disregard the SPOKEN column, since what a CNN anchor says on TV does not necessarily reflect actual usage -- people make all sorts of blunders when they speak.)
To my ear, it makes sense only if you are talking about different types of arithmetic, as you would for different geometries (Euclidean, Riemannian, etc.).

Susan Welsh (asker) Sep 2, 2015:

@Misha You can't have THAT much nostalgia. You only got back from vacation yesterday! (Thanks for the suggestions.)

Michael Kapitonoff Sep 2, 2015:

Uh-huh, where you can drink your heart away! Ah, nostalgia...

Vladimir Zakharov Sep 2, 2015:

Or a freeloaders' paradise?

Michael Kapitonoff Sep 2, 2015:

Assuming Tatiana is right in her interpretation (and I don't see the reason why she couldn't be, just click on that link), there's still no way in hell you could simply translate and keep this arithmetic business in it. This is a good example of how you sometimes have to "transcreate" (however much I hate this word) because otherwise the message is going to be wasted on the audience and no beer will get sold:) There's plenty of native American cliches you could work into this. Consider this:

... where no one goes home empty-handed (They give you baseball hats and T-shirts blah blah).
... and boy, do they have a deal for you! Buy one Duff beer, get one free blah blah
... and the tap there never runs dry. Buy one Duff beer...

I am also itching to say "fun for the entire family" but that's bordering on deliberate subversion. That's just off the top of my head. Feel free to come up with your own. Just leave arithmetic alone.

JW Narins Sep 2, 2015:

The phrase might just mean "they have it all figured out," a well-calculated business, so to speak. (I see no reason to think it has anything to do with the drinking age and I'm not sure, Tatiana, that it makes much sense to think there's a "right" calculation of how many caps you get per drink bought.)

Vladimir Zakharov Sep 2, 2015:

And... Gotta love the T-ShOrts, too

Vladimir Zakharov Sep 2, 2015:

omg That's Russian copywriting for you...

Tatiana Grehan Sep 2, 2015:

I think I have figured this out (based on the example in my previous comment). "Correct arithmetic" refers to the fact that you buy a drink and get a free present - baseball caps, T-shirts (buy one get one free).

Tatiana Grehan Sep 2, 2015:

Susan, I am not convinced that "correct arithmetic" refers to the legal drinking age. For example, check out this link: https://vk.com/wall-50771994_9425 (ВОСКРЕСЕНЬЕ:
Традиционный GUINNESS DAY с правильной арифметикой. Берешь ОДИН GUINNESS, а ПОЛУЧАЕШЬ ДВА!). There are other links as well, were this phrase is used in the same meaning.

Vladimir Zakharov Sep 2, 2015:

Wow. This awkward moment when you can't understand your native language