I'd like to know more about Americans not drinking hard alcohol. Doesn't seem to be the case here in Canada.
Now this is all based what people in their 40 and older do. Not really sure how younger kids act these days anymore.
Alcohol and drunkenness is a national scourge. Imagine drinking vodka in the volumes of that Americans drink beer. You know, nice tall glasses. Polishing off a half liter bottle of Vodka in one sitting between two people is not really seen as a spectacular feat just basic stuff.
Gatherings — yes. Business — not necessarily. At least, anecdotal evidence of my various relatives doing small to medium scale business doesn't seem to confirm that.
> Now this is all based what people in their 40 and older do. Not really sure how younger kids act these days anymore.
> Alcohol and drunkenness is a national scourge. Imagine drinking vodka in the volumes of that Americans drink beer. You know, nice tall glasses. Polishing off a half liter bottle of Vodka in one sitting between two people is not really seen as a spectacular feat just basic stuff.
Unfortunately, younger kids mostly act like their older role models with regard to smoking and drinking. I always feel so lonely in a drunken company :(
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This raises a question: how realistic are high school parties in US as depicted in various movies? As in: gathering lots of people in someone's house and bringing lots of booze via fake ids?
I went to high school at a public school in Chicago, and was (am) a nerd, so I never even heard about such things. But my wife, who went to high school in the suburbs of Denver, went to a few such parties - sometimes, if the parents were cool, they'd supply the booze. America!
After each course people stand up and dance, and then return to yet another bowl of soup of potatoes and bread, and a large glass of vodka.
My wife was sitting next to a very big guy who told jokes in a language that was a mix of polish/bad German/worse English. He underscored each punchline with a real punch that he would throw into my wife's arm, with his elbow. She weights something like 90 pounds, and he must have been over 200 pounds (of muscle). She would almost fly off her chair every time.
I think that's because people eat fat stuff and soups with oil all the time (it stops alcohol from being absorbed quickly. It's important to eat the first fat meal before drinking), and they dance often (so the metabolism is faster).
EDIT: but yeah, in Russia they drink even more. Also the social protocols around drinking differs a little (tall glasses vs shot glasses for example).
It's something sometimes hard to explain to Americans, but in Poland, Russia, and most of Eastern Europe in general, vodka is a big deal. People don't care about drinking beer or wine (although they are very popular), but there is a certain culture and ruleset about drinking vodka.
I think the prevalence of workaholics may have something to do with it too. Drinking on the job is very seriously looked down upon here, but if you can't drink while you're working and you're always working then you're never drinking.