To hate the Scottish attitude towards alcohol?

[Yulephemia]

I hate that so many people think you can't have a good night out without getting absolutely bladdered.

The bullying, nasty nature of people who say "You don't know how to enjoy yourself" because someone just wants to have a few drinks then go home, rather than getting pie-eyed, flirting with the boss then flirting and dancing with complete strangers in a karaoke bar?

I end up avoiding nights out with these people, as they're just narrow-minded idiots. Such a shame we can't have a healthier attitude to alcohol in this country!

I am Scottish too...it's just people make comments about the Scots enough without us doing it ourselves too!!

FWIW I think Scotland does have worse statistics for this than other parts of the UK. That doesn't mean all Scots are like this, but it is a big problem up here.

yabu
this happens everywhere
an idiot can be from anywhere

As I said, I can't speak about what I don't know, and I have no knowledge of the situation elsewhere in the UK!

Bloody hell - I'd have been flamed if I had made assumptions about the rest of the UK, based on my ignorance of the situation!

MumNWLondon are you me? Although I live in N London, I'm also a Scot and went to Uni in NE (Newcastle).

OP, I didn't realise you were Scottish, and referring to your own country's alcohol problem is less offensive than accusing a different country of having a drinking problem I suppose. But yes, sadly it's not just Scotland.

it's just now the thread will fill with people making remarks about the Scots!!

I'll get my coat.

My DH is Scottish, I am Welsh. We are both a couple of piss heads that live in England.

Anyway - Scotish/British issue aside.

OP, YANBU - there is an attitude in a lotof circles that you can ONLY enjoy yourself if you're getting smashed.

The point of having a drink is to enhance the social experience - not drinking for drinks sake.

I've no problem with the social drinking - it's this idea that you've not had a good time unless you're legless and can't remember getting home that annoys me.

My colleague now can't face the bloke she lambasted last week, and they have to work closely together. How stupid. She's nearly 40 as well, not some daft wee lassie.

of course it isn't just scotland - but why aren't you allowed to talk about where you live? if i said why are british people so rude?, would there be a load of posts saying it is racist because french people are also rude?

in fact, are people so defensive because scotland does genuinely have a worse alcohol problem than other countries of the uk? scotland has double the uk average rate of alcohol related deaths, is that a stereotype?

I'm Scottish and I think it's because saying Scottish people have a drink problem is a long standing sterotype and I am gobsmacked to think that someone from Scotland would use such stereotyping themselfs. I also find it unbelievable that the op has never watched t.v or read a newspaper or spoken to anyone outside of Scotland to know that this is a u.k wide problem.

But the Scotland bit aside it is an interesting question about the British attitude to drinking.

Ok and now it's started let's all give Scotland a good bashing once again how long do you think it will be before someone comes on to complain about how English taxes are being unfairly used in the nhs in Scotland to sort out all the alcohol related health problems?

I think, OP, that you have an unfortunate experience if 'so many people' you encounter have this attitude.

I have lived in Scotland my entire life and met (I would guess) hundreds of people, very few of whom seem to 'think you can't have a good night out without getting absolutely bladdered'.

I do agree that the very small minority who feel like this are idiots.

Agree with SaorAlba (nice username, btw!)

I am Scottish, living in England and don't drink a lot. A woman living in the street behind me (also Scottish) has the attitude that you cannot possibly have a good time unless you drink and drink to excess. Her idea of a fantastic night out is to go to the local social club, sing karaoke and drink yourself into a stupor, whilst the kids play in the next room on the wii. Her 11 year old is now going out with a 13 year that she met in the "wii room". I have to watch them play tonsil hockey every night after school on the way home to my house.

Some facts about Scotland's dubious record with alcohol:

Scotland has the highest rates of liver disease deaths in western Europe.
Alcohol-related death rates in Scotland are around double the rates for the UK as a whole.
At a local level, Glasgow City had the highest alcohol-related death rate among both men and women in 1998-2004.

Yep, I agree OP - we do have a pretty reckless attitude to drinking. I know that the rest of the UK isn't great, but Scotland can drink the rest of you under the table. Not great, and it needs to change across the board.

YANBU nobody should make you feel like you have to get drunk. I don't drink much, it makes me ill. Feel like a freak!

It would be interesting to see the figures across Scotland - I would suspect certain parts of Glasgow have a much higher rate of liver disease deaths than in most other parts of the country, for example.

YABU, not for your OP but for your sheer narrow parochialism! You don't know anything about outside Scotland? Have they put a big glass dome over the place since I left? Sheesh.

FYI the attitude to alcohol you see around you in Scotland is pretty general throughout the world. Worse in pockets, Scotland being just one such.

Your problem is the people around you, blaming the whole country's attitude is just letting them off the hook. Have a go at them when they act like arsey sots, not the rest of the five million you've never met.

Absolutely whereyouleftit so the op cannot speak for the whole of the uk but can speak for the whole of Scotland

It's not parochialism, it's fact - Scotland's alcohol intake is pretty appalling compared to the rest of Europe and the UK. Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that it's on par with other countries is going to do nothing to tackle the issue sadly.

It's a northern european thing - have you ever seen Scandinavians drink...?

Yes scotlands drinking problem is worse then the rest of the uk's but are you honestly sticking your head in the sand and saying there isn't a uk wide problem also.

No Dylan, as my earlier post shows
"I know that the rest of the UK isn't great, but Scotland can drink the rest of you under the table. Not great, and it needs to change across the board"

How, give that the OP is Scottish and talking about the problem facing her in Scotland, perhaps that's the issue we should be addressing here? I live in Scotland, and my children are growing up surrounded by this very odd attitude we have to alcohol north of the border - it's that which worries me, not what they're doing in France.