Alcoholism and the Irish.

ejmaztec · 02-04-2010 12:07PM

I think it's a myth that Irish people are the biggest pissheads on the planet, and it's all down to people believing in a stereotype that was concocted by non-Irish people.

When the "navvies" went to England a couple of hundred years ago, they worked hard and they played hard. This gave the English the idea that even the Irish in Ireland were on the piss all the time.

On the other hand, I don't know why Listowel once had 60 odd pubs to cover a population of 3 or 4 thousand people.:eek: There are only about 30 pubs now though.:(

Min · 02-04-2010 12:22PM

Good marketing by alcohol companies, Guinness is good for you, take a drop of whiskey if you have a cold, red wine for the heart.....

Somewhere along the line, the words 'in moderation' went missing.

We all heard the term, the drunken Irish.

Nodin · 02-04-2010 12:25PM

Xluna wrote: »

How did we become a nation of alcoholics?

It started in 1649, over a pint.....

ejmaztec · 02-04-2010 12:31PM

Nodin wrote: »

It started in 1649, over a pint.....

But years after that, there was a lot more Orange juice about than beer.

02-04-2010 12:33PM

This post has been deleted.

orourkeda · 02-04-2010 12:41PM

TO MARTHA

Hank_Jones · 02-04-2010 01:11PM

Hell, I'm drunk right now...

Blahhhh

They think they're so high and mighty, just because they never got caught driving without pants...

Minstrel27 · 02-04-2010 01:14PM

Nation of alcoholics? Don't believe the stereotypes.

biko · 02-04-2010 01:23PM

Xluna wrote: »

How did we become a nation of alcoholics?

I don't think we are. Can you back up your claim?
Comparative studies?

smurgen · 02-04-2010 01:41PM

i don't think we're a nation of alcoholics at all.we just have different drinking patterns. i easily go 2 weeks without a drink and then go out and get blinded drunk every once and a while. tbh i dont really like the taste of alcohol so i reckon anything under 7/8 drinks is a waste of time and id prefer to be drinking coke/fanta then instead. and it does boil my blood when i see 6 yanks/french people/gemans sitting around the one scabby pint of guniness trying to be all meek and sophisticated.i think it's more about stinginess on their part than anything else. tbh i love getting battered drunk and making crap decisions and i do think it's funny. don't really care if people think it's juvenile, it's my choice and i make it

Intothesea · 02-04-2010 01:44PM

I think our brand of alcoholism (group/social commiseration, historically at least) stems from the national character being partially flipped inside-out by huge long-term negative pressures. In MBTI personality theory this is the INXJ personality turning to immediate sensate gratification as an expression of negative ESXP personality qualities. Some info: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/the-16-mbti-types.asp#ESFP

Garçon, une bière s'il vous plaît

Riamfada · 02-04-2010 01:46PM

Wow people I have identified in this thread

The Non Drinker
The Recreational Binge Drinker
The Alcoholic in Denial

Fingerwag. Its not a good thing to be high on that list.

JONJO THE MISER · 02-04-2010 02:55PM

Just opened my first bottle of 6 bottles of red wine i got in Lidl on special offer yesterday:D, i said id drink no Beamish or Guinness today as its the lords day and he drank wine, hell the priests are drinking wine today so overall im a good Catholic:).

Hank_Jones · 02-04-2010 03:00PM

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Just opened my first bottle of 6 bottles of red wine i got in Lidl on special offer yesterday:D, i said id drink no Beamish or Guinness today as its the lords day and he drank wine, hell the priests are drinking wine today so overall im a good Catholic:).

It's backwards logic.
But then again...is there any other kind?

I like it.

One_Armed_Dwarf · 02-04-2010 03:32PM

I drink to feel big

Lone Stone · 02-04-2010 03:37PM

A small island with a few generations of sexual abuse and the iron fist of the church who wouldnt want to drown there sorrows tbh..

(i dont drink)

Riamfada · 02-04-2010 04:13PM

Lone Stone wrote: »

A small island with a few generations of sexual abuse and the iron fist of the church who wouldnt want to drown there sorrows tbh..

Everyone in Ireland who drinks to excess was sexually abused? I also heard that the Church's sexual abuse scandal was directly responsible for the January cold snap and housing market crash.

The ****ers.

Hank_Jones · 02-04-2010 04:27PM

Grimes wrote: »

I also heard that the Church's sexual abuse scandal was directly responsible for the January cold snap and housing market crash.

Source?

dsmythy · 02-04-2010 05:28PM

The more northerly you get in the Northern Hemisphere the more people drink on average it seems. Being an island exasperates this.

bonerm · 02-04-2010 05:30PM

dsmythy wrote: »

The more northerly you get in the Northern Hemisphere the more people drink on average it seems. Being an island exasperates this.

Do Canadians have a reputation for alcoholism?

Pittens · 02-04-2010 05:35PM

The term alcoholic has been abused here. I have no idea if we have more alcholics per head of population - I think that Aboriginals and Native Americans etc. - have a bigger problem with alcoholicism. So lets get the terms straight.

An alcoholic is an addict.
Addicts - drugs, tobacco, alcohol - cant function without their crutch.
An alcoholic will drink every day. Many will drink all day every day ( although some can hold down jobs etc. as their tolerance increases). I know a guy like this. Journalist.

Many of the rest of us are social drinkers. If the culture supports binge drinking it does not mean it is an alcoholic culture. Most binge drinkers nurse their hangovers the next day whilst sober, and many alcoholics dont drink as much as the binge drinkers in any one day, but drink every day.

And Alcoholics may give up drink, but remain Alcoholics. A country or ethnic gourp prone to alcoholicism may then consume less drink per capita, if there is a succesful AA, or temperance movement.

My tuppence on this is that we have far less alcoholics then we used to - the sad guys in the pub at 1 pm - and more binge drinkers, and social drinkers.

As an aside: the "it's the priests" claptrap is getting old, trite, and utterly boring as an answer to everything. Irelands drink per capita has increased recently, as has the UK's. It correlates to secularism, and I think to binge drinking unrelated to any social movements except something in and of itself.

Between the two - the binge culture and the alcoholic culture - the binge culture is less destructive over a life time as people grow out of it.

Pittens · 02-04-2010 05:40PM

By the way all statistics on the web are malarky as far as I can see. They measure the amount drank in litres of any alcoholic beverage.

I suggest that this puts beer drinking nations in a worse statistical position that otherwise would be the case.

Riamfada · 02-04-2010 05:47PM

Pittens wrote: »

the binge culture and the alcoholic culture - the binge culture is less destructive over a life time as people grow out of it.

I agree but I dont see the disctinct difference between binge drinking and alcoholism as I have seen on more than one occasion binge drinking leading to alcoholism.

Pittens · 02-04-2010 05:50PM

dont see the disctinct difference between binge drinking and alcoholism as I have seen on more than one occasion binge drinking leading to alcoholism.

It can, but doesnt have to. I used to binge drink* 2 to 3 times a week in my early twenties, but settled down. Since I have addiction to alcohol - I dont need it every day - it was easy to stop. ( Well down to once a month - ish).

* as defined by doctors, and they define a very low threshold - more than 3 pints.

Lone Stone · 02-04-2010 06:00PM

Grimes wrote: »

Everyone in Ireland who drinks to excess was sexually abused? I also heard that the Church's sexual abuse scandal was directly responsible for the January cold snap and housing market crash.

The ****ers.

yeahh i thought this was common knowledge duhh

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 02-04-2010 06:21PM

Per head, the Germans drink more.

Also, it's just a steriotype... Most of my mates don't drink. We do go out from time to time, but we have 2-3 pints then head back to somebodies house to watch a film or something. I have had my time at college, with the drinking and partying. It was great fun but you can't do that forever.

BraziliaNZ · 02-04-2010 06:27PM

LZ5by5 wrote: »

We've gotten it into our heads that the only way to have a good time is by drinking ourselves stupid. Listen to your friends and I bet that instead of saying "I'm going to enjoy myself tonight" they actually say "I'm going to get legless/hammered/baloobas tonight".

Then the next morning they proudly update their Facebook status with pearls such as "Dude, I can't remember anything from last night, awesome night!" How was it an awesome night? You don't even remember it you tool! See, it's like a badge of honour with people.

why do people always come out with this getting drunk is a "badge of honour" thing for Irish people? We all like to go out drinking but I don't know anyone who's proud of blackouts and puking. I had a period of bad blackouts but it's not something I'd boast about, I used to lie and pretend I remembered things because I was embarassed!!!
So you must be hanging out with total arseholes if they boast about how drunk they got, I don't know anyone like that.

rubadub · 02-04-2010 06:59PM

Hank_Jones wrote: »

Source?

I have heard it from 2 irrefutable sources, a taximan and a bloke down the pub.

Grimes wrote: »

I agree but I dont see the disctinct difference between binge drinking and alcoholism as I have seen on more than one occasion binge drinking leading to alcoholism.

Well it would make sense that most alcoholics started off having a few drinks too many... That is the same faulty logic as the gateway drug theory (which even the gardai do not use anymore), i.e. I would find it extremely strange to find a heroin addict who did not take cannabis before heroin, or caffeine/nicotine/alcohol for that matter.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 02-04-2010 07:05PM

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

why do people always come out with this getting drunk is a "badge of honour" thing for Irish people? We all like to go out drinking but I don't know anyone who's proud of blackouts and puking. I had a period of bad blackouts but it's not something I'd boast about, I used to lie and pretend I remembered things because I was embarassed!!!
So you must be hanging out with total arseholes if they boast about how drunk they got, I don't know anyone like that.

I have gone out plenty of times and forgot large parts of the night, but I have never fallen, got sick, fell asleep or anything. I just simply forget parts of the night. It's not the goal, to get that drunk that you cannot remember. I think that's more of a teenaged thing, no?

bryaner · 02-04-2010 07:10PM

Just reminded me to stick me cans in the fridge cheers

Alcoholism and the Irish.

Comments