Thermos or Stanley? What your water bottle says about you

So Ian McEwan hates water bottles . In what is probably one of the more hilariously worded public statements of the year, the 77-year-old author recently called the contemporary trend towards carrying a personal, refillable water bottle a “derangement”. While I’m not necessarily inclined to agree – I’d call myself pretty sympathetic to the causes of both personal hydration and environmental preservation – it is certainly true that what we might call Water Bottle Culture is all around us, with as many bottle options as there are types of person.

It follows, then, that perhaps our hydration vessel of choice might be more revealing than we think. What are you telling people when you crack out your bottle for a quick swig on the bus? Are you a trend-hopping Nalgene sipper? A brand-loyal