I dunno… One of the funniest guys I knew was an alcoholic. It used to be good fun to watch his aged ass slide off barstools, attempt to engage other drinkers in “intelligent conversation” and hit on girls old enough to be his grandkids. He was especially humorous to watch taking a leak. He cornered the market where piss stains were concerned.
Wonder what happened to the old wino, and where the hell did he get the money to drink all the time?
Alcoholics don’t need too much alcohol to get drunk everyday … so, that’s cheap …
Humour ? The above doesn’t sound like humour …
[quote=“belgian pie”]Alcoholics don’t need too much alcohol to get drunk everyday … so, that’s cheap …
Humour ? The above doesn’t sound like humour …[/quote]
I guess you had to be there… :saywhat:
Ok, all silliness and poking fun at alcoholics aside… My mother was an alcoholic and she and her husband used to spend all day drinking. I remember her retard of a husband exclaiming once, “Geez…I’ve been drinking all day and I’m still not drunk…”
Hmm…ok, well done sailor.
I don’t understand the “Alcoholics don’t need too much alcohol to get drunk” comment either. The hard core alcoholics that I have known go through a HUGE amount of alcohol just to maintain.
I wholeheartedly agree with Infidel,no such thing as foriegners. So, no.
Alcoholism is not about binge drinking. Usually the THOUGHT alone of having a drink is enough to calm them down.
And BP is right, a true alcoholic doesn’t need a quart of vodka a day. It could be a nice little mamosa for breaky, a beer at lunch and tom collins at bedtime. But a real alkie will go toe to toe with anyone and not “feel” drunk (basically because they’re drunk all the time).
But it takes years of drinking to achieve this.
Probably most of the binge drinkers you might think are acoholics are probably just assholes. 
An alcoholic is somebody who can not control his or her drinking, and/or can not drink alcohol safely.
If you are an alcoholic, you are probably well aware of this. Maybe the people who care about you do as well. If you have any doubts, try to have just one drink, without craving more or ending up getting drunk. Did you enjoy it? Want more? Have a good time without more? End up having more than you intended to? Non alcoholics don’t have issues like this. They can stop when they want to and do other things.
If the thought alone of having a drink was enough to calm an alcoholic down, then I guess the jails, psych wards, and meetings worldwide would be a lot emptier.
Alcoholics do just about any type of drinking, from weekend binging to everyday drinking to long abstinence followed by a drink that leads to a drunk. Any kind of drinking fits the bill. Essentially, the person effected has to decide whether or not she or he is alcoholic. An alcoholic person is a person who is effected by the disease of alcoholism. Alcoholism can occur in anyone at any age regardless of when they started drinking and how much they drink. There is no known cure, and the only treatment I know of is abstinence from alcohol.
Drinking too much does not constitute “being an alcoholic” in my opinion.
My 2 bucks worth.
I was trying to think whether or not I drink more in Taiwan than I do back home. In the beginning, I’d say definitely. I was out just about every night. Alcoholism? Nah. Large disposable income, not a lot of work hours, and knowing someone in just about every pub. That’s basically all changed.
But now, definitely not. I have a glass of wine with dinner every night, a few more on occasion, but that goes back to the days when I first learned to walk. I think I’ve had one beer this month (a Chimay blue). I am considering opening a bottle of Highland Park this evening since the Lagavulin is all gone.
I’ve known a few alcoholics here, known a great many more at home. Then again, there are more foreigners there.
I was not talking about occasional binge drinkers. I know many alcoholics that did/do go through a bottle a day just to maintain their high. I don’t know of any alcoholic that would say just the thought of having a drink will calm them down. It will most likely be the only thought they have. Figuring how many hours of work are left so they know when the next drink will be coming. Always planning when and where the next drink will come from.
Actually, I meant the thought of a drink, like right before you ordered it, or standing in line at 7-11, or ten minutes before quiting time.
I drink much less here than back home. Then again, I don’t get nearly as many drinks bought for me here.
Good beer in Taiwan is too expensive to get drunk on every day … so, being a beeroholic is … well, expensive …
What is alcoholism?
If you boil down all the elements, it is in the final analysis: A Question Of Will.
In this country, this will be sorely tested with 24 hour booze available.
That said, too bad much of it is utterly foul tasting crap.
Enuff to make one give up the ghost…
I thoroughly enjoy my daily one drink of beer or wine with dinner, and occasionally will have a second, but never feel the slightest temptation to drink more than that, so I’m pretty sure I’m not an alcoholic or in danger of becoming one.
Almas, MM and some others, however, might consider that I have a drinking problem. 
The broadest possible measure of what is alcoholism is does your drinking alcohol negatively affect your life or those around you. If it does, you should do something about it.
In Omni’s case, his mates want him to drink more, so yes, in a strange way he has a drinking problem. 
HG
the people around me (taiwanese family and their friends) drink so much, that I more or less lost interest in drinking. Mostly because you’ll “have” to GANBEI all the time and I just want to enjoy and taste my beer, wine or drink…
Could you spot an alcoholic by the way he/she drinks his/her beer? I don’t mean by the first look, but after meeting the person often…? What are the signs?
I bet they drinks their beers like alcoholics.
There is no alcoholism problem in a country that everyone can drink beers on the street
and no police will try to arrest you for it.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]The broadest possible measure of what is alcoholism is does your drinking alcohol negatively affect your life or those around you. If it does, you should do something about it.
HG[/quote]
Stay drunk long enough you don’t have to worry about this.
Damn it I love my beer I come from beercity or brewcity also known as miltownkids home too. I don’t like the likes of this. Oh well guess I will be healthier no sense wasting the money especially if I can get up early go swimming, hiking, kite surfing, surfing, take a motorcycle up in the mountains. I would rather do that than party and wake up with a shit ass hang over; feeling guilty about spending so much on beer. Then on top of all of that destroying my liver and getting fatter.