Do You Ever Intend To Get Drunk?

[naomi24]

This morning I listened to a discussion on St Patrick’s Day where the general consensus was that it’s a good excuse to get drunk – but seriously – why would anyone deliberately intend to get drunk? I did it a very long time ago and it has to rank among the very worst feelings ever!! What's the attraction?

[RATTER15]

I work with a load of girls in their 20s, believe me, when they say they are going to get drunk that is exactly what they mean! Many are are drunk before they even leave home, they meat up to get ready to go out at someone's house and get started on the wine or Vodka, so they don't have to spend so much in the pub. I have quite often heard them say.... I don't have enough money to get drunk. so I'm not going out! So sad!! Personally, in the last 10 years, I have drunk about 5 times, usually New Years Eve. and had a fantastic time, I do enjoy being drunk but never set out to get that way and I rarely suffer the next day.

[-Talbot-]

I like nothing better than an all day-er. Start about 11 and finish whenever.
Do I intend to get drunk?
No!
about 6-ish I will be tipsy about 9-ish I will be as drunk as I will get. I then start drinking myself sober........ish. I only drink pints and never touch shorts, if I did it would be a different story.

It's also a rarity for me to get a serious hangover.

[keyplus90]

I never intend to.

[melv16]

I got really drunk when I was 17, when I drank half a bottle of whisky on top of 4 pints of beer. I wont go into the details, but that taught me one hell of a lesson & I've never been like that again.

[andy-hughes]

I can't comment from regular direct experience because I don't drink alcohol at all, but I have observed its effects thousands of times as a nightclub DJ, and as a regular concert-goer.

My observations on alcohol when I was a teenager, was that people used it to 'loosen up' - to become more relaxed in social situations, and I believe that this is the reason why most people drink 'socially'.

Within the last couple of decades, a new approach to alcohol has formed, where a 'good night out' is defined as a enduring a serious dose of alcohol poisoning, and then talking about it the next day.

This means that people with the express intention of becoming drunk, hence the drinking before going out, in order to save money on pub prices, and also have a head start on the end result.

I do think it is very easy to slip from social 'relaxation' drinking into being drunk, simply because awareness of the amount consumed and the effect becomes more blurred the more one drinks, so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

That is not to say that every drinker slides uncontrolled into a stupor - the vast majority of social drinkers have worked out the limit of their comfortable intake, and stop when they reach it, but many more lose the ability to judge, and simply carry on until incapable.

So, to address the original question, I think we in the UK have a culture where being drunk is seen as the measure of having a good time, and binge drinking - rather than drinking for the pleasure of a drink as the Europeans do - is the default status for a lot of people out on a weekend.

This is not new, and its obviousness only underlined the fatuousness of the government's 'café culture' tomfoolery in relaxing licencing laws.

So yes, people do get drunk on purpose, because culturally, it is seen as the way to show everyone that you are having a good time - or not!

[anneasquith]

gezz oh andy, you write half a book on one question :)

[ummmm]

You must be able to get through lots a books a day then, Anne.

[murraymints]

what Andy said ^^^

[VHG]

I was walking round a market the other day. On one stall was a girl in her 20s and two adults who I assume were her parents.

She said to them " I am going to go out tonight and get smashed".

So not going out to have a good time, or to have a drink or two, but to get "smashed".

I assume "smashed" means getting very drunk, throwing up in the gutter, then collapsing in the doorway of a shop.

Sad.

[ummmm]

VHG...it's just a figure of speech in many cases. We used to go on 'the lash' or 'the sesh'

I've never thrown up in the gutter or collapsed in a doorway.

[andy-hughes]

anneasquith - // gezz oh andy, you write half a book on one question :) //

I'm working up to writing a full book on one question!

[alavahalf]

Getting drunk is a condition that just happens through lack of experience or lack of practice... and you only have yourself to blame for either !

Last year I set out on St Patrick's day for breakfast at 10.00am. I was a bit worried that I would let myself down as I no longer take part in drinking every day as a lot of my family do. It involved Breakfast at the pub .. followed by a couple of pints of the regulatory dark stuff. Before you know it we went to another pub for a lunchtime drink and a chat will some seasoned campaigners. The afternoon session soon led us into another pub where we met up with family and friends. Then onto the local Indian restuarant where the owner had arranged some special St Patricks delights for regulars. From there we went back to the pub where we had started originally in the morning. A disco was at full belt where a group of about 10 Asians/ Indians in turbans, who were all hammered on the Guinness and were dancing to Toots and the Maytals .. take me home ..
Quite surreal... It was one great day I shall always remember and not one member of our party was drunk.. merry perhaps. All had drank more than 20 pints throughout the day, not to mention a bucket load of Jameson,s for those that had nowhere left to put the beer !

I really can't imagine going out with the intention to .. "get drunk"

... Keep the faith and keep practicing...!

[anneasquith]

andy.......... I have no doubt you will one day succeed :)

[anneasquith]

sorry Naomi. for my digression on your post.

[mikey4444]

I must be honest and say...yes I have. When I was a young man it was great fun. But now that I am a diabetic and nearly 62, its not so good anymore !

[ludwig]

It depends what you mean by drunk. I think as douglas said it's more an expression than anything. If someone says they're looking forward to getting drunk, what they really mean is they're looking forward to having a few drinks and getting a bit merry, nothing more.

[tinkerbell23]

I can sit and have one glass of wine with a friend- or with dinner- or one gin etc...

But if im out at a party or a club i dont go hell bent on getting drunk- but if i happen to get drunk i usually have a ball!!! Its the fear the next day thats the killer x

[mibn2cweus]

I'm pretty sure people like to take me out drinking solely for the entertainment value . . . me being their sole entertainment. :o/

[DTCwordfan]

Some of us translate into French or Portuguese and some of us get pished as a newt. Each has their foibles.

[naomi24]

Ludwig, //It depends what you mean by drunk.//

I mean ‘drunk’. Really drunk. It's this thing about going out to get drunk. Who in their right mind sets out to get drunk, incapable, and ill?

DTC, //Some of us translate into French or Portuguese…//

… or indeed into Arabic and a multitude of other languages – and all very clearly with the help of google - which is available to anyone trying to impress. Stop smarting and stick to English. Mwah!!