Drinking.

DEmeant0r

I'd like to know why we, as a nation drink so much. Beers, liquors etc... don't particularly taste nice, they can leave you with a hangover in the mornings, they can kill, and they cost so much. So why is it that people are so attracted to drinking? Don't give me smart answers like 'because we're alcoholics'.

Villain

Because it makes us relax, its perceived to be part of our culture.

Mostly people feel relaxed when they drink.

It's mainly a culture thing with the younger generation, its seen as a type or rebellious action

Zombrex

Because most people actually don't enjoy being "out" that much (at a pub or club or whatever) ... especially young men, who feel arkward at the best of times ... modern, "ladish" society drills it into them that they should be pulling women. They are surrounded by attractive women. Men feel soo much more arkward around attractive women they are supposed to be pulling than anytime else.

They have to dance, not the most flattering thing to do, most men couldn't clap to a good beat let alone dance to one. Even standing they have to look like they are having fun, they have to talk to someone, else people think they are billy no mates (by the way this is all in the persons head .. most of the time no one is looking at them)

All this makes people, especially men (though also women I assume), feel very very uncomfortable and arkward ... so they drink till they are pissed so they feel better about themselves and more confident and stop worrying about those around them. It also makes them think they have a chance with the women, even thought they have less chance the more they get pissed

All this anxiety though, leads to anger and aggression when they are drunk. They are embarrashed about being out, that embarrashment leads to anger direct outwards. When they are drunk their control is not that good. Which is why you get a lot of angry drunk people spilling out of night clubs at 3am and starting fights with anyone who looks at them wrong

Just my theory .. but ask yourself how many people would really enjoy clubbing if they weren't drunk or worse high as a kite ... the excuse that it "enhances" the night out, in my mind is really just saying that it something arkward and embarrashing bareable.

ixoy

Wicknight - what a depressing post! Personally, I don't drink that much anymore because... it's boring!

Now, you're talking about young male "lad" culture. Well I never fell into that trap of feeling the need to pull women on a night out. Firstly, I'm too shy to be taking that approach. Secondly, being gay, it wasn't that much of an attractive propisition. But I feel your theory is broadly sound. There's way too much pressure to conform to a notion of what you should be like, and that can make people resentful/angry, which can be buried/chanelled best in alcohol.

So why do I drink? Well for a start the smoky atmosphere of pubs, where my mates meet, makes me thirsty. Soft drinks are such a blatant rip-off per volume that I don't want to dignify buying them (coupled with the fact I get enough of them during the day). The "buzz" from alcohol then is a nice way to relax, but I make sure now to generally temper it. However it's still, even this case, a sort of social crutch and I reckon it always be. In an ideal world we'd have NO need for alcohol because people wouldn't need a chemical to enhace/affect their mood. It's far from an ideal world however and the need to stop isolation/whatever will mean we're gonna be going to be look for the bottom of the pint glass for a long while yet...

Sarky

I drink for two reasons. Firstly, a drink is an excellent way to help relax, and conducive to enjoying other people's company. Secondly, the drinks I like to drink have a nice taste. If someone could make those drinks non-alcoholic while still keeping the exact same flavour, I'd probably still drink them.

*shrugs*

Wicknight has it pretty spot on, I would think. I'd say it's becoming very commonplace among women, too. Although a few guys/girls I know really are convinced that drinking lots= good times.

*shrugs again.*

amp

Originally posted by Demeant0r
I'd like to know why we, as a nation drink so much. Beers, liquors etc... don't particularly taste nice,

Nonsense. While beer and certainly Guinness can be acquired tastes, once acquired they can taste quite delicious. I suggest you try other drinks.

The Irish drink lots because we are a fun loving, sociable nation. The hype that the fact that we drink so much is merely a smoke screen to hide the shambles that our Health Service is in. Drinking doesn't cause socities problems. It's people that cause these problems.

Sarky

Demeant0r is just drinking the wrong beers. Get yourself some imported Teutonic lovliness.:)

BrianD3

The Irish drink lots because we are a fun loving, sociable nation

No, the Irish are fun loving and sociable because they drink lots.

I would tend to agree with Wicknight on this one. Irish people drink to overcome feelings of awkwardness and lack of self confidence. Drink gives us "dutch courage" and allows us to do things that we otherwise wouldn't dream of doing - talking to strangers, chatting to members of the opposite sex, mingling, dancing etc. In my opinion, (sober) Irish people are actually not sociable or outgoing at all, despite the stereotypes of us being great craic. If you want proof of how unsociable Irish people are, walk into a room full of sober people who don't know each other, and see how much social interaction is going on. Not much I'll bet.

BrianD3

sceptre

Originally posted by Sarky
Demeant0r is just drinking the wrong beers. Get yourself some imported Teutonic lovliness.:)

Agreed. I love a nice German beer. Mind you I don't drink all that much as a general rule.

I tend to agree with Wicknight's post as well.

chill

- Rediculous paternalistic pub opening hours.
- Too many years of restrictions on licensing eating places.
- Most excessive drinking is by small sections of the population.

Caesar_Bojangle

I've noticed that the majority of night clubs that were 18's a few weeks ago, are now in fact 21's. What’s the deal with that?

raphaelS

Well for a start the smoky atmosphere of pubs, where my mates meet, makes me thirsty.

Good point, from the 1st of January we'll have crisps and salted peanuts for free to make us thirsty!!

Raphael

Walls

Originally posted by amp
The Irish drink lots because we are a fun loving, sociable nation.

I disagree with that statement. The Irish drink more than other countries, independent of any shared characteristics we may have as a nation.

A fun loving sociable nation surely as a rule wouldn’t take to a drug that is in fact a depressive? Much more likely that the reason is much more pedantic; folks drink that way because they find others around them doing likewise. It seems to be a simple case of it being the culture and so accepted without serious thought. I would point to the more sober drinking habits across the continent as indication that the Irish hold different views about what is acceptable drinking.

Were one to change or alter that perception it would have to be by a slow gradual campaign of education or by shock tactics or by a mixture of both. The moment society decides to view drunkenness as a form of incontinence the quicker we will be to encouraging sobriety.

gimme

My theory on irish drinking is weather.
Our weather was always so **** through the ages it became customary to always be indoors. Therefore if you wanted to socialise you couldn't go sit outside 9 months of the year.
You would go to the public house.
These places served beer.
Then we learn drinking habits from our parents.
Most heavy drinkers parents drink heavily and opposite for light drinkers.

bonkey

Originally posted by Walls
I disagree with that statement. The Irish drink more than other countries, independent of any shared characteristics we may have as a nation.

How can you say that we have a shared characteristic as a nation, which is indepenent of shared characteristics?

Are you saying its independant of itself?

jc

tribble

A fun loving sociable nation surely as a rule wouldn’t take to a drug that is in fact a depressive?

Alcohol is a neurological depressive NOT a psycological depressive (except in rare cases).

Depressive means that it depresses or blocks certain paths in the brain, some of these affect the motor system (eg being legless) others affect logic ect., most people find it improves social interaction.

tribble

Walls

Originally posted by bonkey
How can you say that we have a shared characteristic as a nation, which is indepenent of shared characteristics?

Are you saying its independant of itself? jc

I am saying that the drinking habits are due to cultural issues rather than any characteristics held by an individual. It is due to conditions and perceptions that exist society-wide, rather than those held on a personal level.

simu

The fact that you are supposed to drink when having fun plays a large part in our high consumption of alcohol. Plus, ppl think it's cool to drink loads and boast about how drunk they were the night before. Plus a lot of women now try to match men drink for drink.:(

I try to minimise the amount I drink unless it's a major occasion. Otherwise, you're a zombie the next day, can't get anything done.

Boston

Hmm i recently have a thread on PI basically about marking friends and meeting people in college with out drinking. While most replies have been helpfull. A certain minority are like, you don't drink therefore your uptight and think your better then everybody else. Doesn't surprise me that people drink to avoid the stigma of such views

Victor

Peer pressure, as in "everyone does it".

Paddyo

I know when I was youngster, just about 18, some of the drinks that were ordered at the bar would now turn my stomach - Pernod and Black, Smithwicks and Lime, Guinness and Black Current.

Instead, now we have the alcopops.

It seems to me, that alcohol is mostly an aquired taste and these type of drinks make it easier to aquire the taste.

Initially drinking must be do to with pressure mainly from peers - not direct pressure, but the type that says that the grass is greener on the other side- my mates are drunk and seem to be having a good time - Im going to try it.

Anyone else got any vile concoctions from yesteryear of drinks they or their mates used to drink?

Paddyo

Billy Turdhed

This discussion is going nowhere
the reason Irish people drink so much is

1 It gets them over their inhibitions after years of priest ridden guilt

2 After about 3 drinks the inhibitions go and people talk more freely and truthfully

3 After about five the men fancy themselves as top studs and feel like balling any female within range

4The females fancy themselves as red hot and get flirty with the males.

What the hell is wrong with that?

simu

What the hell is wrong with that?

It's pretty pathetic that, as a nation, our sex and social lives depend so heavily on alcohol.

Ppl spending a fortune on drink, being barely able to remember what happened the night before on a regular basis, alcohol-related injuries and illness, violence caused by drink, ppl forgetting to use protection for sex because thay were too drunk, etc etc are things that I for one consider to be wrong at any rate.

Anybody who thinks the Irish are a warm and fun-loving people should spend a while hanging out with say, Spaniards or South Americans and see what the real meaning of these words are - ppl who can dance and have a laugh without getting plastered drunk in the process.

Billy Turdhed

What posts are you reading horse?

No one said anything about getting blotto and forgetting to put on the plastic mac!

The few bevvies looosen us up...get the juices going..keep the stalk upright for a bit longer and I dont hear any of our female friends complaining.

Loosen up there and give the auld nudger a run out now and again.

No harm in that!

Imposter

Originally posted by Billy Turdhed
...and I dont hear any of our female friends complaining.

I think you just did!

Billy Turdhed

Goes to show... ya can't please everybody