Judging by the comments here, you aren't the only one who took it literally.

I'd never heard the advice before, but I'm pretty sure I'd have thought they were being literal, unless they also expanded upon the statement in a way that let me know it was a metaphor, not a literal statement.

Scanning the rest of the thread, I can see examples of other folks who took it literally.

There may be multiple effects, here: one, that there will always be people who like to drink and will latch on to any idiom that gives them a social excuse to do so. My ex, whose undergraduate degree was journalism, used to say this phrase in a HHOS (ha-ha, only serious) manner. In retrospect, she just liked drinking.

Another effect that comes to mind is that there will always be some small percentage of people who – for whatever reason – do not understand metaphors or jokes or subtext.

Finally, this phrase in particular seems likely to propagate on its own without being attached to the underlying wisdom that was originally intended.