We watch a lot of old movies. We also have been following a CBC series called “The Murdoch Mysteries” which is a co-production with the BBC. In it and in almost all those old movies we love, everyone has a drink in his or her hand all the time. No matter what happens, from murder to emotional crisis, to epic human tragedy, to it simply being noon on a Thursday, the fix is simple. Drink. Have one. Have two. Just drink up, ladies and gents.
Freshen your glass?
It’s a testament to the change in attitude to “social” drinking that at least on media outlets, being a lush is no longer considered hilarious. The glories of drunkenness are no longer celebrated with quite the enthusiasm as in days of yore.
I’m not convinced this means anyone anywhere drinks less than they always have. They just drink less on television — and maybe, in the movies. Out in that surreal “real” world, I’m pretty sure everyone is still knocking them back with the same enthusiasm alcohol has always engendered. Some people really can stop any time they want. Many can’t.
If “sober” is a dirty word in your life and nobody understands how badly you need another drink right now? Maybe your bar tab exceeds half a month’s pay and the only people you know have their own “designated” seats at the bar or pub? If the number of empty bottles in your trash is getting embarrassing? If the word “lush” feel uncomfortably personal, maybe you’d like to lower your expenses by reducing how much you drink?
Consider dropping by the Alcoholics Anonymous® website. It’s free. This is a quiet, worthwhile organization which can help you.
You don’t have to go it alone.
HOW BIG? 
STAYIN’ ALIVE 
BE KIND TO YOUR KIDNEYS SO THEY CAN BE KIND TO YOU 
IT’S FINE. JUST DON’T DO ANYTHING. 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Excellent post. I was brought up in a “one for the road” culture. That’s changed now but I wonder if it just means it’s more hidden.
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I think the culture is alive and well. Not as “public,” maybe, but I don’t think it has gone away. The liquor industry is doing just fine, so someone is still drinking.
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I am one of those people who are annoyed by the lack of reality in TV and movies… and I’m not talking about plots. I’m talking about just what you’re mentioning… the sanitizing of everyday life so that no group can claim your show if corrupting people out there (who are probably already doing it anyway). It’s weird to watch an old episode of The Twilight Zone and see people light up, because that just isn’t allowed on TV anymore! Showing an alternate reality where vices aren’t indulged in doesn’t fool anyone, and just rankles us detail oriented people…
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The British shows are a lot truer to life. People smoke, drink … and even … (gasp) have sex! Even Canada is way ahead of the US on this. But if you think about it, American TV has always been silly and prudish. Remember how every show, people needed to have separate beds, even married couples? No nudity, no swearing. Even now, you hear very little language that reflects how people really talk. We act one way, but we like to pretend to be another way.
I think it’s called hypocrisy. Pretty sure.
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As someone who has his AA birthday this coming Tuesday, I second your recommendation 🙂
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draliman, congratulations, and I agree with Martha as well. I have utterly no head for booze and can get light headed just licking the cork. Best to just say no, lol.
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I was always half a drink, fall down or throw up. Never tolerated booze well, but managed to marry two alcoholics. Go figure, right?
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Congratulations, Draliman!! I think Garry just passed #12 in December. It seems to be less an issue as the years pass, but I suspect that has a lot to do with the company we no longer keep and the work he no longer does. There’s a culture of drinking. I think it’s a lot easier to be sober if you can avoid it — which is a lot easier out here, in the country 😀
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With a mom who was a drunk and a brother who was a drunk, I’m sober. Not because of them, really, but because during the Disco Daze I poisoned myself good and hangovers are, for me, indescribable and certain. It just stopped being worth it. As a sober person, I find I feel pretty uncomfortable with people who gather others around them and drink, you know, parties. I don’t think everyone who drinks is aware of how much they change as people when they’re drunk. Since I’m constantly challenged to figure out what is real reality, I really hate that.
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Obviously, we don’t drink. As long as they don’t get aggressive and insistent that we join them in “just a glass of …” I’m okay. If they get really drunk, we leave. It makes us uncomfortable. I don’t trust drunks and don’t like being around them. More with each passing year. But at events where there’s a bar, as long as no one is getting pushy about it or unpleasant and rowdy, we cope pretty well. Booze and tobacco are the last two legal poisons.
To be fair, I was never much of a drinker. No head for it. But I’ve spent too much time with close friends and family who were deep in cups. Not happy memories.
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My rule is no drunk people stay at my house ever.
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IN my house? Never again. There’s no booze here and no one is going to bring it in. Not on my watch.
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I will let people bring booze here, but if they’re drunk when they arrive, they can’t come in, and if they’re drunk when they leave, they can’t stay. There’s a motel 4 blocks down the street to which they can walk.
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Oh and every room is themed with a different wild animal! Deer, elk, grizzly, brown bear, antelope, cougar 🙂 That could be weird for them the next morning “WTF??? How did I get here?”
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We don’t get a lot of company any more. When we moved out here, the world decided we lived too far away. It’s just an hour and a bit out of Boston, but city folk think we live on another planet. Also, we have had quite a lot of dogs and not everyone is into a hairy dog experience. I like the dogs better than most people anyway.
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🙂 Dusty, Mindy and Bear approve your values. ❤
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And Bonnie & Gibbs (attorneys at lawlessness) approve yours ❤
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They’re not always drunk when they arrive!
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But sometimes, they really ARE, even if you can’t tell for sure. You just feel that they are “off.” It makes me very uncomfortable.
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What really annoys me is that if in a TV series, mostly soap, someone has problems, the first thing they do is open a bottle – and usually the hard stuff. Is that the only solution according to the media? If someone wants to drink it is their business, but the stereotype reactions on the TV are annoying.
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it seems to be. We’ve noticed it more in British productions than American ones … at least recently. Old American movies, EVERYONE has a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other. It’s a cultural thing.
I come from a non-drinking family. There was usually a (very old) bottle of schnapps in a cupboard somewhere for emergency toasts, but I don’t remember anyone actually making a cocktail.
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I was a pipe guy. I don’t think I smoked more than 4 or 5 cigarettes during my days of wine and roses. I did try that Paul Henreid bit (lighting 2 ciggies and then giving one to the lady). I lit the cigarettes and both promptly fell out of my mouth.
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….and a cigarette
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They really have become unwelcome almost everywhere around here. It’s not illegal, but it might as well be. On the other hand, booze is still the product that really SELLS.
Probably the unbelievably high price of cigarettes has gone a long way to reducing smoking. It’s around $10 a pack here … and those are the cheap ones. BEER on the other hand, is cheaper than Coca Cola.
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Lush For Life!
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Yes, the cigarette! I would have poured a thousand drinks down the sink for the cigarette!
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They are insanely addictive.
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I started smoking when I was about 16, and smoked for 32 years. I tried to quit for 31 of those. What finally did it for me was pneumonia, shoot I didn’t even WANT to smoke I was so miserable and I figured, why not. And it worked. I hated being tied to that little pack of junk, I couldnt even cross the yard unless I had the pack and lighter with me.
My husband quit two years later. We used to smoke the equivalent of a year’s property taxes, each.
( I will admit, though, I do linger near smokers outside the mall, inhaling deeply and moving along.) =)
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I got cancer. That finally convinced me I should really absolutely just QUIT. Not cut down. Quit. I was shocked at how much money stayed in my wallet. And that was 8 years ago. Now, a heavy smoking habit means taking a second job.
And even so, when I smell a freshly lit cigarette, i still want one. I don’t, but I yearn.
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