Is the European attitude towards alcohol better than the Americans'?

[Mr.Cynic88]

I spent some time in Italy, and as an American, living in a town that has a $250 open container ticket law, was amazing that I could buy alcohol from streetcarts and drink it in the middle of the day walking down the street.

Something I noticed about my time in Europe: people drank all day; every restaurant I went to went out of their way to serve us alcohol, but at the same time, I never ran into drunk assholes. In an American city at 1:00 A.M., you can hear the drunk dicks shouting rude things at passing women, but I despite drinking all day, I didn't seem to see this in Rome.

From my impressions, it seems like alcohol in Europe is more ever-present (I was traveling with a Muslim who didn't drink, and the Italian waiters didn't seem to accept that, and brought him alcohol-laced drinks anyways - I would hate to be an addict and have to deal with that while traveling) but at the same time it's far more moderated and mentally healthy. Americans binge-drink, Europeans are more constant and moderate.

I know this forum has both Americans and Europeans, so I would love to hear what you all think about the Alcohol attitudes between the two continents.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Eh, it depends in Europe. The different countries all have very different cultures. Living in Britain, I can say that your description of American drinking culture sounds a lot like us.

Then again, I guess that most people don't think of Britain when they say Europe XD

The only other EU country I've been to is Spain and it was much the same as the UK. I was, however, in a tourist area which was... well, full of British people.

 

[Nickolai77]

I think it depends on which European culture you are talking about- The Brit's i don't think have a very mature attitude to alcohol and i get the impression the Irish are similar. In some European countries like France and Italy however, alcohol and more specifically wine is drunk within families as part of respectable cultural tradition and children are exposed to it from quite a young age and don't get overly excitable about it when they reach the legal drinking age. In Germany you only have to be 14 or 16 i think to order a pint of beer.


I think part of the trick is to expose adolescents to moderate amounts of alcohol early so it doesn't become some sort of forbidden fruit which they'll binge on when given the opportunity to. The other thing to is to develop a respectable drinking culture that isn't overly tainted by young adults consuming vast amounts of alcohol. Teenagers look up to young 20 somethings as role models and mimic their behaviour- If they associate alcohol consumption with their mothers and fathers however rather than "cool" twenty somethings getting wasted then they're less likely to copy that sort of behaviour.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

I think most European countries have a better overall view of Alcohol than we Americans do. I moved to Germany when I was 18 from the US. I had grown up with seeing people getting trashed and drunk to the point of passing out a lot. Everyone seemed to think that getting drunk was the only thing to do. I never drank because my parents died when I was 8 from being hit by a drunk driver. On the flight over to Frankfurt as soon as the flight attendants started passing out drinks all the other under 21 people started pounding drinks like it was a contest just because it was legal for them to drink. On our military base I saw a lot of problems, fights and arguments start because of alcohol. Mostly because no one was relaxed about it, it was basically a contest as to who could get the most tossed. In contrast I visited almost every European country over 3 years of living there and I never saw anyone getting drunk like that, I saw many kids having wine or beer with their parents and it was no big deal.

I was 22 when I came back to the states and seeing the attitudes of people that could and couldn't legally drink was shocking. Everyone was so focused on drinking, if you weren't fucked up you weren't having a good time. Hearing people brag about blacking out from drinking was scary, they thought it meant they were so cool. Because the way alcohol is portrayed in movies and TV directly conflicts with what people are told from a legal standpoint all it does is become this thing that people want to do in order to look cool or flaunt the law.

 

[Esotera]

The UK is one of the worst countries in the world in terms of our attitude to alcohol...and Europe has quite a few problem drinkers. I guess they're probably about the same, although the European attitude of giving small amounts of alcohol to children at meals to promote responsible drinking is cool.

Anyway, sort of off-topic but I think the best attitude towards alcohol is to legalise pot. A lot of drinkers will switch to it instead and there'll be a reduction in violence & health risks, plus you can grow it yourself and it takes a lot less resources to produce.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I don't really know about moderate, Denmark is known as one of the most irresponsible countries in that regard. We drink... a lot.

 

[Dyan]

Coming from a country that is ranked at first place in alchohol consumption (Estonia) I do see a difference in how alchohol is handled compared to the US. One of the reasons why binge drinking is uncommon is exactly what a few others here brought up; people are just exposed to alcohol at a very young age. So it's not treated as so called "forbidden fruit"

Drinking is quite heavily ingrained into most holidays here. It's almost expected of a family at christmas time to have quite a bit of Vodka. There's also law here according to which no store is allowed to sell alcohol after 10PM.

 

[Angelowl]

I don't really know about moderate, Denmark is known as one of the most irresponsible countries in that regard. We drink... a lot.

As a swede I can kind of relate. Over here people have absurd views for alcohol. A beer or glass of wine to dinner seems like a nice idea to me, but if you suggest that you can easily get branded an alcoholic (a bit absurd when I barely drink anything at all). Unless the dinner is at a party, because then it's the other way around. If you go to parties and don't like to drink until you puke prepare to be the black sheep. I turned into a outcast quite fast at the university since practically all forms of socialising was bingedrinking at parties. Passing out at a strangers couch was expected.

Sweden got really messed up and back-wards norms and views when it comes to alcohol. A drink with the food is a no no, not drinking when trying to be social makes you an abomination.

 

[Playful Pony]

There are a lot of countries in Europe though! In Norway you are not allowed to drink in the street, but because we have a pretty weak police pressence (where I live anyway...) people don't seem to care. Plenty of drunken assholes out in the streets at night, but I'm not a party girl and stay away from those areas. I really hate waiting for the bus late at night, I've been groped 3 times and mugged once at the stop I have to wait every day after work, and it doesn't help that I work late hours in a store most days! I really hate looking weak and submissive, wish I could pull off that badass ice queen routine some times X3.

*nom*

As one might imagine, Norway and Sweden are pretty alike on this... I think it's perfectly normal to want to have a glass of wine or two with dinner, that's a pretty common thing in my family. If you suggest that to most others though, they'll tell you that you drink too much and it's not good for you. These are the same people that go to parties every weekend and drink until they drop (sometimes litterally!), and I don't see the apeal... I have never been drunk, and I don't intend to ever get drunk. When I'm starting to get tipsy thats not a good feeling to me. I don't like feeling dizzy and uncoordinated!

 

[Boris Goodenough]

I don't really know about moderate, Denmark is known as one of the most irresponsible countries in that regard. We drink... a lot.

That's weird, I would say that we are more responsible at least in my circles, and I drink with chemists who have access to 96% ethanol.
We have half the drunk driver accidents the US has (there are more reasons fro that though).
Just because we drink a lot doesn't mean it's bad if you can control it.
I love the fact you can drink a single beer in the park in good weather, so much better than the US (outside of the French Quaters in New Orleans).
Remember 2-3 units a day (unit being 12 gram(me)s of ethanol) is the healthiest you can live with regards to alcohol. Drink nothing and drinking 5 a day break even. You get around 2-3 years more at 2-3 units for men, and 1-2 for women.

 

[Rathcoole]

Well can not really comment on other countries. But in Northern Ireland drinking alcohol is seen as a pretty standard thing. While in most countries drinking daily seems strange in NI no one really bats an eyelid about it. In jobs if someone tips, they will always tell you to buy yourself a drink. It is considered very strange if you do not drink.

 

[Therumancer]

I spent some time in Italy, and as an American, living in a town that has a $250 open container ticket law, was amazing that I could buy alcohol from streetcarts and drink it in the middle of the day walking down the street.

Something I noticed about my time in Europe: people drank all day; every restaurant I went to went out of their way to serve us alcohol, but at the same time, I never ran into drunk assholes. In an American city at 1:00 A.M., you can hear the drunk dicks shouting rude things at passing women, but I despite drinking all day, I didn't seem to see this in Rome.

From my impressions, it seems like alcohol in Europe is more ever-present (I was traveling with a Muslim who didn't drink, and the Italian waiters didn't seem to accept that, and brought him alcohol-laced drinks anyways - I would hate to be an addict and have to deal with that while traveling) but at the same time it's far more moderated and mentally healthy. Americans binge-drink, Europeans are more constant and moderate.

I know this forum has both Americans and Europeans, so I would love to hear what you all think about the Alcohol attitudes between the two continents.

The thing is that spending "some time" in a country doesn't really show you much about it. For one your an outsider, and secondly if your visiting your largely going to be around tourist traps and heavily travelled cosmopolitan areas. Even if your military, your time is going to be spent in and around a base, with an area built heavily around outsiders being around. A lot of people like to think travelling let's them know what other places are like, but really it doesn't, as your generally seeing the best foot put forward for the most part with far more attention paid to decorum and law enforcement.

To put things into perspective, if you come into the US as a visitor your likely to wind up in an area surrounded by the tourism and hospitality industry and carefully maintained. Even the people who live in the area are likely employed in some aspect of those businesses. It's sort of like how if you visit the US and wind up down in Florida your going to be in the area around resorts like Disney, Universal, and all kinds of smaller productions. Even if you never visit any of those places all of the shops, bars, resteraunts, etc... are set up for the tour traffic. The people who live there are generally employed by such businesses. When it comes to such superficial businesses you also tend to see a lot of the "beautiful people" or at least slightly ones around, with everyone at least being fairly cleaned and well groomed. Your visitor to the US doesn't generally run into some glades trash drinking hooch out of a dirty Ragu jar, or see trailer parks full of drunks yelling at each other. As someone who LIVES in the USA you of course see all of that because your more out among the general populance. If you were to judge us entirely by the face we put forward for polite visitors and tourists you'd think of the US as being something of a Utopia.

In general some of the biggest mistakes people have ever made when it comes to living arragements have come from people who went on vacation or studied abroad for a few years and decided they wanted to live somewhere they thought was better, only to have reality set in once they got there.

As far as the availability of alcohol and not seeing anyone drunk or nasty, there is an art to managing that at resorts and surrounding areas. I did some of it for the casinos down here in Connecticut when I worked security. At any rate even down here in the "bad" part of the state if you hit the visitor areas like the casinos, Mystic, the beaches, etc... you'll find everything well taken care of, and if your an adult you'll find alcohol being pushed everywhere. SE Connecticut, quaint New England with all this cool stuff around and just the right level of development... who wouldn't want to live here, the people are so nice, clean, and happy. Now head down to Bridgepor and the more developed and lived in parts of the state and you'll see why this is the bad part of Connecticut. Our ghettos and urban blight can compete with the "best". If your not rich and come down here and live like everyone else chances are you won't find it anything special. The same can apparently be said true for most of the developed world when you get past the hype. :/

 

[Cecilo]

It's odd that so many people think that Americans do not give their children a glass of wine, around the parts of the east coast I have been to, quite many Italian-American, and German-American families give their children a single or two glasses of wine on say, weekends or Friday, or for holidays.

My point is, that it is hard to lump all citizens of the United States as Americans, it is a nation of immigrants and each state has it's own culture, and even the separate counties and parts of each states can vary vastly from one another. And although it it not technically legal for the parents to give their children the alcohol, as long as you don't let them go out and do something stupid no one is going to care, so the portions of each state that do have this trait aren't likely to talk about it or discuss it out in the open. My family was one such family, I personally never took the offer because I have an addictive personality, or maybe it is obsessive, one or the other.

 

[Terramax]

Eh, it depends in Europe. The different countries all have very different cultures. Living in Britain, I can say that your description of American drinking culture sounds a lot like us.

Then again, I guess that most people don't think of Britain when they say Europe XD

The only other EU country I've been to is Spain and it was much the same as the UK. I was, however, in a tourist area though which was... well, full of British people.

This. The UK is terrible for alcohol.

It depends where in Europe. In France, I remember that they drank with meals, and in moderation, therefore there was almost never a problem (in most places in France).

Moderation is the key. People drink to be social in France. People drink to get drunk in the UK and, presumably, the USA.

 

[DanielBrown]

As stated; Europe is many different countries and cultures. We're not all the same.
In Sweden we pretty much only drink on Friday or Saturday and the holidays are used as an excuse to get really shit faced. The majority start drinking very early in their lives too. I was 13 when I ventured into the world of alcohol and spent my rebellious years that followed by drinking a shitload. People that don't want to drink are labelled pussies.
Legal age for going to the pub is 18, but it's 20 to purchase liquor above 2,8% in stores for some fucking reason.

You also aren't allowed to drink in public places here. Doesn't stop people from doing it though. Drinking in parks is very popular.
But yeah, we binge drink too.

 

[Lemonpie39]

Netherlands/Germany here. Though I'm fairly sure it can differ depending on what city you're visiting (the student-populated cities tend to be a little rowdier in general), I'm yet to really run into any public nuisances regarding alcohol. Sure, you have some drunk students in every city, but aside from the festivals or the kind of parties you know to avoid if you're not into that kind of stuff, you won't run into any coma-drinking nut jobs all that quickly. Admittedly, it's sometimes referred to as a problem among the youngest of people, but most I've run into tend to go a little easier on their consumption after the first time they got themselves absolutely smashed. I guess they just get the chance to learn/experiment at a younger age. Sometimes for good or ill I guess.