Alcohol in Amerika

Off Topic
1

I started to type a reply in X’s Amerika thread, but I realized it was getting very long and was going in a different direction to take on a life of its own. Thus, in order to avoid completely hijacking the thread, I started a new one.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
If that is the case, why do countries without such strict regulations and age requirements for alcohol survive without so much death surrounding the use? Youth rebel. We all did. If it weren’t so taboo to discuss issues without constantly talking about “the children”, and if policies reflected this, there would be less to rebel against. Wouldn’t that decrease the allure?[/quote]

I agree with the notion that American society would be better served by lowering the legal drinking age. I can’t say for sure whether their fatality numbers are any different, but I did have a chance this past summer to experience first-hand how youth in a country with a lower legal drinking age tend to behave themselves. In many of the pubs I went to, there were people much younger than me just having a few pints with their friends and taking it easy. In some of the pubs (ones that were family owned, I presume) there were even some very young people pulling my pints for me. I’m talking maybe 15 or 16 years old. And these “kids” acted more “adult” than many people I know in their late 20’s-early 30’s and beyond. Never once did I see anybody getting out of hand or “rowdy drunk”, as some might say.

At one pub, I struck up a conversation with a bartender who was around my age (late 20’s), born and raised in Ireland. Interestingly, he had lived in New York City for six months to help open and manage a bar there. I voiced to him my observations and opinions about the difference between drinking in America and Ireland and he put it to me about as well as I ever could have myself (paraphrased): “In America everyone’s drinking to get drunk; In Ireland, people drink to enjoy their drink and the company of others.” I know this is a blanket statement and there are many people here in America (even people on this site) who fit his description of Ireland better than that of America. I’d have to say on the whole, however, he about hit the nail on the head.

My dad (who I went on the trip with) and I had many discussions about both the drinking culture and the overall health of the people we encountered. Aside from the seemingly more responsible drinking, we also noticed that people in Ireland as a whole look much healthier than Americans when it comes to size and weight. I can count on one hand how many people I saw that were overweight or obese. “In shape” may be another story, but as far as weight goes they looked much better.

These are just some of my thoughts and ideas from my discussions with my dad, Oliver (the bartender), and my own observations:

(1) A lot of young American drinkers these days are all about doing shots. I don’t know that I can recall ever seeing one person doing a shot in Ireland (I’m not saying that they don’t do them, just that I think it’s rare).

(2) People in Ireland drink slooooow. In some instances I would see people nursing their pints for as long as 30-45 minutes.

(3) I think I only saw two or three McDonald’s restaurants the entire time I was in the country (we circled the entire southern half of the island), and beyond that maybe a Burger King. Fast food is rare there.

(4) Pubs are restaurants there. Restaurants are pubs. You don’t have your Applebee’s, O’Charley’s, Logan’s, etc. chain restaurants there. As such, most pubs stop serving food at 9 or 9:30pm and the music begins. I only encountered one pub that served food until later, and even then it was only until 10:30pm.

(5) I saw no late-night/after-hours clubs in Ireland that are open until 4, 5, even 6 in the morning like you see some places here. People go to the pub, have some pints, and go home. I think the latest I can recall any pub being open was 1am. Most were done by 11pm or 12am.

(6) I did not see a single 24-hour food establishment in Ireland.

I will say that the only “big city” I visited while there was Dublin, so my observations may be skewed. We tried to stick mostly to backroads and small towns (although all roads in Ireland seem like back roads compared to here; no offense meant to any of our Irish members, it made for some interesting driving experiences :-)). However, I think all of these factors listed above contributed to an overall sense that I got of a more responsible and healthier society in Ireland. I am only reiterating something that many of us have known for a long time, but when it comes to alcohol consumption and diet, America is a complete mess with the excessive consumption of food and alcohol at all hours of the day and night, partying all night long, and the general feeling of the need to just “Go, go, go!” all the time…

Disclaimer: Okay, I now realize this post has mostly become just a bunch of rambling. I’m hoping it might start some good discussion, though.

2

I had a class last semester in which we discussed the fact that, in America, childhood is becoming a longer and longer period. We are no longer forced to accept responsibility at the age of 15-17 years old and rather are coddled and by the time we are 21, we are still big kids that, in general, do not know how to handle themselves and behave in a responsible manner, simply because we have never been given responsibility. Just something to chew on.

3

[quote]Stronghold wrote:
I had a class last semester in which we discussed the fact that, in America, childhood is becoming a longer and longer period. We are no longer forced to accept responsibility at the age of 25-17 years old and rather are coddled and by the time we are 21, we are still big kids that, in general, do not know how to handle themselves and behave in a responsible manner, simply because we have never been given responsibility. Just something to chew on.[/quote]

well put. It is odd to think about lives compared with our parents or grandparents lives. For example, my dad graduated college at 21, he graduated early, back then people wanted to get out of college quickly. He was married by 23 and had a kid by 24. I’m 22 now and ill graduate soon, but the last thing on my mind is marriage, children, a family, etc.

Another thing that I find amazing is my parents have been living on their own and supporting themselves since they were 17. I mean if you turn on mtv and watch one of those reality shows like true life, its the same shit over and over again, some 24 year old drug addict living at home with no job, its ridiculous.

5

It’s funny when you compare america with europe. For example, I have a couple of friends that go to LSE right now (London School of Economics) incredible school. As far as the college bar scene, here in america it is a joke, everyone goes out and gets absolutely plastered, make some bad decisions, get arrested, get in fights, or hook up with ugly people.

Based on my own experiences in europe, and stories my friends have told me about LSE, people do still get drunk, but there is more of an emphasis on communication. Basically people will go out and still drink beer and liquor, but there arent looking to get shitty off of shots. They are more interested in meeting people, especially of the opposite sex. It must be quite the thing to walk into a bar and meet an attractive girl that still has both of her heels on and doesnt have her skirt over here head.

7

Probe into Irish binge drinking

The Irish government is to set up a group to examine the law governing the sale of alcohol amid growing concerns about binge drinking.

Binge drinking ‘costs Irish $3bn’

The effects of drinking alcohol cost Ireland more than $3bn last year, according to a new report.

8

Drinking is awesome. Smart people say so.

“Behan was perhaps the most famous Irish writer of his time, and was once hired to write an advertising slogan for Guinness. As part of his payment for this, the company offered him half a dozen kegs of their stout. After a month the company asked Behan what he had come up with; Behan had already managed to drink all of the beer they had given him and produced the slogan Guinness Makes You Drunk.”

Lady Astor, aghast at a party. “Mr. Churchill you’re drunk!”
Mr. Churchill: “And you, Lady Astor, are ugly. As for my condition, it will pass by the morning.
You, however, will still be ugly.”

“Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink.”
Lady Astor to Winston Churchill

“Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.”
–Churchill’s reply

“Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.”
–Winston Churchill

“People who drink “light beer” don’t like the taste of beer; they just like to pee alot.”
–Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI

I feel sorry for people who don’t drink.
When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.
–Frank Sinatra

The problem with some people is that when they aren’t drunk, they’re sober.
–William Butler Yeats

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his friends.
–Ernest Hemingway

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
–Ernest Hemingway

You’re not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
–Dean Martin

Drunk is feeling sophisticated when you can’t say it.
–Anonymous

Time is never wasted when you’re wasted all the time.
–Catherine Zandonella

Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
–Ambrose Bierce

Reality is an illusion that occurs due to lack of alcohol.
–Anonymous

I never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast.
–Anonymous

A woman drove me to drink and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her.
–W. C. Fields

What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?
–W.C. Fields

Beauty lies in the hands of the beer holder.
–Anonymous

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
–Oscar Wilde

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
–Henny Youngman

Life is a waste of time, time is a waste of life, so get wasted all of the time
and have the time of your life.
–Anonymous

I’d rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
–Tom Waits

24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?
–Stephen Wright

When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
Sooooo, let’s all get drunk, and go to heaven…
–Brian O’Rourke

He was a wise man who invented beer.
–Plato

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
–Benjamin Franklin

If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose.
–Deep Thought, Jack Handy

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you
that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
–Dave Barry

“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind
of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”
–Frank Zappa

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.
–Humphrey Bogart

Why is American beer served cold? So you can tell it from urine.
–David Moulton

Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
–Kaiser Wilhelm

I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.
–Homer Simpson

I drink to make other people interesting.
–George Jean Nathan

All right, brain, I don’t like you and you don’t like me
so let’s just do this and I’ll get back to killing you with beer.
–Homer Simpson

Bart, a woman is like a beer. They look good, they smell good
and you’d step over your own mother just to get one! (chugs beer)
–Homer Simpson

9

“To alcohol: the cause of – and solution to – all of life’s problems.”
-Homer J. Simpson

“It is all well and good for children and acid freaks to still believe in Santa Claus �?? but it is still a profoundly morbid day for us working professionals. It is unsettling to know that one out of every twenty people you meet on Xmas will be dead this time next year… Some people can accept this, and some can’t. That is why God made whiskey, and also why Wild Turkey comes in $300 shaped canisters during most of the Christmas season.”
-Hunter S. Thompson

10

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
“To alcohol: the cause of – and solution to – all of life’s problems.”
-Homer J. Simpson

“It is all well and good for children and acid freaks to still believe in Santa Claus �?? but it is still a profoundly morbid day for us working professionals. It is unsettling to know that one out of every twenty people you meet on Xmas will be dead this time next year… Some people can accept this, and some can’t. That is why God made whiskey, and also why Wild Turkey comes in $300 shaped canisters during most of the Christmas season.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
[/quote]

HAHAHAHAHAH

That one is my absolute favorite.

You want to know why people drink? Cause they’re fucking bored and unfullfilled. I liken it to this quote by HST, and beer is one of the ways you escape, if only for a little while…

"If there is, in fact, a Heaven and a Hell, all we know for sure is that Hell will be a viciously overcrowded version of Phoenix… a clean well-lighted place full of sunshine and bromides and fast cars where almost everybody seems vaguely happy, except for the ones who know in their hearts what is missing�?��?? and being driven crazy because the one thing you want is not there.

11

Hunter Thompson shot himself because it never got weird enough for him. He should have played in a rock and roll bar band. You want weird. I got it.

And the quote from Tom Waits is my favorite. Especially after the piano has been drinking.

And what the hell is wrong with a barefoot girl with her skirt over her head? Damn, you kids should have been young in the seventies. You’d have a worthwhile perspective on beer and life. Amateurs!

12
13

[quote]Jacked Diesel wrote:
Stronghold wrote:
I had a class last semester in which we discussed the fact that, in America, childhood is becoming a longer and longer period. We are no longer forced to accept responsibility at the age of 25-17 years old and rather are coddled and by the time we are 21, we are still big kids that, in general, do not know how to handle themselves and behave in a responsible manner, simply because we have never been given responsibility. Just something to chew on.

well put. It is odd to think about lives compared with our parents or grandparents lives. For example, my dad graduated college at 21, he graduated early, back then people wanted to get out of college quickly. He was married by 23 and had a kid by 24. I’m 22 now and ill graduate soon, but the last thing on my mind is marriage, children, a family, etc.

Another thing that I find amazing is my parents have been living on their own and supporting themselves since they were 17. I mean if you turn on mtv and watch one of those reality shows like true life, its the same shit over and over again, some 24 year old drug addict living at home with no job, its ridiculous.
[/quote]

I may be a tad off-base here, but it seems like in the U.S there is a lot more coddling of adults(18-mid twenties) by parents and less willingness for them to let their children assume their own adult lives.

Just look at the typical college student, many who rely on mommy and daddy to sustain themselves until they get their degree and enter “the real world”. In the past, this took place during a person’s late teens. Now, I’m somewhat guilty of this, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

14

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
Jacked Diesel wrote:
Stronghold wrote:
I had a class last semester in which we discussed the fact that, in America, childhood is becoming a longer and longer period. We are no longer forced to accept responsibility at the age of 25-17 years old and rather are coddled and by the time we are 21, we are still big kids that, in general, do not know how to handle themselves and behave in a responsible manner, simply because we have never been given responsibility. Just something to chew on.

well put. It is odd to think about lives compared with our parents or grandparents lives. For example, my dad graduated college at 21, he graduated early, back then people wanted to get out of college quickly. He was married by 23 and had a kid by 24. I’m 22 now and ill graduate soon, but the last thing on my mind is marriage, children, a family, etc.

Another thing that I find amazing is my parents have been living on their own and supporting themselves since they were 17. I mean if you turn on mtv and watch one of those reality shows like true life, its the same shit over and over again, some 24 year old drug addict living at home with no job, its ridiculous.

I may be a tad off-base here, but it seems like in the U.S there is a lot more coddling of adults(18-mid twenties) by parents and less willingness for them to let their children assume their own adult lives.

Just look at the typical college student, many who rely on mommy and daddy to sustain themselves until they get their degree and enter “the real world”. In the past, this took place during a person’s late teens. Now, I’m somewhat guilty of this, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
[/quote]

Let’s get back to the point- Drinkin’s awesome.