had a couple of sherbets

[lisajane83]

had a couple of sherbets? what's that mean

[Sozzie]

Had a couple of `drinks`.

[heathfield]

Sheer liquid refreshment!

[shammydodger]

It's generally the beginning of yet another Tarby "joke"!

[applebee]

i would think icecream....like sorbet???? i dunno...thats what we always called it as little kids

[shaneystar2]

Sherbet has been used in parts of both the UK and Australia as slang for an alcoholic drink, especially beer. This use is noted in a slang dictionary as early as 1890, and still appears in list of slang terms written today (especially lists of Australian slang). "We're heading to the pub for a few sherbets." - � pints of beer."

In the UK "Showbiz Sherbet" sometimes refers to cocaine, which is also consumed as a powder.

In the 1990s, "sherbet" or "sherbet dab" began to be used as Cockney rhyming slang for a "taxi cab". Its use in this sense is probably restricted to London. "It's raining, let's get a sherbet" - "� take a taxi."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbet

[SaxyJag]

I would go with the others - a couple of drinks, alcoholic, usually beer (the fizz, you see). Del Boy uses the phrase quite a lot.

[Peter Pedant]

and the root of sherbet is....Arabic

but obviously the meaning has changed a bit

shurba I think is a sweetened drink
the final a in sherba is a tay-marbuta so that when it is elided it turns into a t
and yousoon get sherbet

dont worry aboutthis - it looks like rubbish, however as they say, the linguistics of arabic is non intuitive to the western mind.....

[you asked, you asked - I woldnt have said anything but I definitely heard someone ask]

[Happyisseb]

Sherbet as slang for beer may come from the word’s original meaning, “a favorite cooling drink of the East, made of fruit-juices diluted with water, and variously sweetened and flavored,” or another meaning, “a powder made of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and flavourings, intended to be eaten alone or mixed with water to make a drink,” perhaps resembling a frothy beer. - See more at: http://blog.wordnik.com/drinks-week-beer#sthash.AMxTVnEt.dpuf