You Drunken Brits...

[larrysputnik]

Don't worry, I'm not actually calling any of you drunks. But a local Pittsburgh reporter did the other night!

I sh*t you not - there was actually a local reporter who went to London to do a story on all of the people who get drunk while watching football.
Her interviews with people were about how much they consume while watching the World Cup and she went on to say "Many of them admit to having gone into work hungover!"
I know Americans have a reputation in other parts of the world for thinking they are better than everyone else, but she must be deluded if she thinks that there isn't a comparable portion of in America going into work hungover all the time.
Even if there isn't a grand sporting event to watch on TV.

So give me a response here fellas. Be honest. Does the UK have a drinking problem? Consider this an "Intervention."

Just one bloke to an entire country trying to help you admit that you have a problem...

[r0lan6]

I believe that your average British adult (and I mean people over 21 years of age!), much like any average adult in the developed world, does drink sensibly. I don't think its fair to do a piece on drinking and (many would argue to be) the greatest football tournament in the World, in a country that is passionate for the sport! Its like doing a report on over eating during Christmas Day, or excessive chocolate consumption during Easter!

As for people coming in to work hungover? Well that all depends on numerous factors such as job, location, age range, marital status, social economic status, etc. I know a lawyer wont be coming in hungover to court the next day (let alone even drinking the night before!); a doctor wont be in hospital hungover... Maybe if the journalist can actually back her presumptions with an empirical fact then she may be granted credibility. Until then, her report has no basis for anything.

[celsis]

I had an accountant that used to drink a highball glass of neat Smirnoff before getting into his car to drive to work! He was a raving alcoholc but I presume the US has them as well!

As to drinking too much, there seems to be a genetic thing about getting out of your mind when you're young. Couple that with the people who are so moronic that they should be banned from drinking and we could say there is a problem.

Is it worse than the US? Yes. It's also worse than Europe. We seem to look at alcohol as something to aid behavioural change. And not for the better.

Having said all that, the majority of people behave sensible with alcohol and even drunk driving has become socially unacceptable. That's if you even go to the pub since the smoking ban made it a pain in the butt!

[cohibaIV]

My names CohibaIV and 'I' have a problem.....

[Robusto]

I think the UK is indeed a country of piss artists. I've seen similar docs made in French and German about the same thing. When I drive home to my town after a gig, the local folk are out in the nude - or tits and minge in the air - all over the shop. That's quite nice, but not when you have to drive round them on the main roads.

Drink makes me heave. A couple of pints and I feel ill. That's why I like cigars.

Maybe if I could take drink, I'd be out there on the tarmac with the crowds.

[goose165]

I dont have a drinkin problem,i drink,i get drunk and i fall down,no problem

[TJCoro]

Your Problem is...

My names CohibaIV and 'I' have a problem.....

You sure do, senor CIV...you suuuuuure do!


Hello, my name is Boy, Bag Boy, and I have a puro problem.....Can't get enough of 'em!

[larrysputnik]

Well, I only drink because it stops the shaking...

[Simon Bolivar]

I believe that your average British adult (and I mean people over 21 years of age!), much like any average adult in the developed world, does drink sensibly. I don't think its fair to do a piece on drinking and (many would argue to be) the greatest football tournament in the World, in a country that is passionate for the sport! Its like doing a report on over eating during Christmas Day, or excessive chocolate consumption during Easter!

As for people coming in to work hungover? Well that all depends on numerous factors such as job, location, age range, marital status, social economic status, etc. I know a lawyer wont be coming in hungover to court the next day (let alone even drinking the night before!); a doctor wont be in hospital hungover... Maybe if the journalist can actually back her presumptions with an empirical fact then she may be granted credibility. Until then, her report has no basis for anything.

obbery
I agree with the 'Over 21yo part' guess most of the blatent drunken excess is committed by those under 21 but they are the visible evidence that visitors see. Compared with Europe (I am in Belgium), I have never seen any one of any age, drunk on the streets, abusive, semi-naked. They drink less, more slowly & then drive home The unacceptablitily of Drink Driving has yet to catch on over here.
As for turning too still intoxicated or suffering from the effects, I think you are underestimating the problem there. Especially in the medical profession. As doctors have such high drink & suicide rates & more now are addicted/ abusing prescriptive meds as well, there must be a significant proportion 'under the weather' at work.

[eggopp]

i was drunk yesterday i had 4 beers... thats to much for me

[captain duff]

Well my tuppence worth is that europe has always been broadly divided between the grape and the grain. In the latin-south wine drinking is the main alcohol, with far less 'shorts' drinking in addition. In the colder north and east of course beer was the easier drink to produce historically (as was grain based spirits like whisky and vodka), with the added issue that you could drink far more of it and for different reasons aside from getting drunk - to refresh/revive (particularly the case with higher suger/lower alcohol beers such as mild in britain), or as a safe alternative to polluted water supplies in industrial cities during the 19th century (when even very young kids drank 'small' - eg low alcohol - beer as it was less harmful than water that could kill you).

So as a result there evolved two quite seperate drinking cultures (the so-called european 'cafe culture is largely confined to the traditional 'grape' areas), and in my experience the binge drinking side of things is not just a brit issue - even with far higher prices the scandinavians/icelanders, east europeans and to some extent the germans can, and sometimes do, give us some serious competition.

In theory the US should also have inherited some of this dual culture given the mass immigration in the 19th century from both central/eastern europe (beer), Ireland (beer) and Italy (wine). But of course prohibition destroyed what was a very good beer producing sector and what replaced it after the lifting of that idiocy was some of the worst beer in the world like the fake (and in my view virtually undrinkable) US Bud that has cheap rice as a central ingredient and is matured for a fraction of the time a genuine Czech Bud - so it's hardly surprising that things are different there

[the mothman]

Cheap 3 litre bottles of cider and vodka, Drinking Problem? Its not a problem I like it...

[nicwing]

3 litres of Vodka Mothy old man, what a day??

No wonder you keep flying into the lights matey!

[the mothman]

3 litres of Vodka Mothy old man, what a day??

No wonder you keep flying into the lights matey!

LOL

[larrysputnik]

Well Canada's beer is no picnic either...

But are we seriously suggesting that there is any validity to stereotyping an entire country as having a drinking problem, Cap? Surely there are some stereotypes that are just outright far-fetched, don't you think? I mean, most stereotypes are just simple fact, but can't some of them be wrong?

Of course, we'll just ignore this thread: http://www.ukcigarforums.com/showthread.php?t=5986