Observations on Americans, Part ... 4?

[tealin]

Americans cannot hold their liquor.

Going out for drinks and having a selection of alcoholic drinks available at social gatherings is a standard part of life in Canada, so I thought I was familiar with its effect on people. But HOLY CRAP. I went to a party last night and was one of the first people there, so I got to see most everyone come in, and they went from jolly sober to smashed drunk in about fifteen minutes, apparently on wimpy American beer.* I am used to comrades downing six or seven pints and a couple of shooters still being able to walk straight and hold a decent conversation, but after what could only have been two or three bottles these people were finding stairs a challenge. There were some people who by the end of the evening had the cognitive powers of a slow five-year-old. How can this be? Is it because the higher drinking age prevents gaining a tolerance of the stuff in developing years? Do you seriously expect me to believe none of these people drank before they were 21?

And then this morning I was auditory witness to one of our new downstairs neighbours making comically exaggerated offerings to the porcelain throne. Lovely.

At any rate, I can understand, now, the attitudes towards alcohol of some of my more puritanical acquaintances, if this is the sort of context they have.

*American beer is 4% alcohol, as opposed to 7% in Canada and, what, 73% in Europe?

Comments

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

I sometimes hear stories of teenagers desperate to be cool being offered "alcohol" (really just apple cider) by big brothers or sisters and later claiming to be "sooooo wasted". Some of them may think they've drank so much they should logically be drunk by now even if they don't feel like it, so they act like they think one should act when drunk, but I don't think all of them are faking it. I think some of it may have to do with the power of suggestion. People think they should be drunk, so their brain convinces them they are drunk. It may work the other way around, too. People in Europe are used to harder stuff. They tell themselves a few bottles can't possibly be enough to get properly drunk even if there's ten times more alcohol in them than in American beer. So they're able to keep themselves sober longer, by convincing themselves they're not drunk yet.

[mellifluous-ink.livejournal.com]

I do get 'contact drunk' if I'm in a group where everyone is drunk and I'm only a little bit buzzed or not at all. So I support that theory, yeah. The human mind is amazing--we know this already.

As a side note--I find the hyper-pronunciation some people do when they're drunk entertaining, though in what way I don't quite know.

[the-moons-a-nut.livejournal.com]

I really agree with what you said. I actually remember seeing a study on drinking in colleges where the test subjects were given non-alcoholic beer (but they were told it was alcoholic), and in a matter of moments they started showing signs of drunkenness, even though they weren't.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I tried to find a clip of the drunken behaviour with non-alcoholic beer but all I got was this. Meh, 's funny. :)

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

What's really funny is when the next morning they claim to have a killer hangover or say they can't remember a thing from last night.