To not really understand the need for people to drink alcohol all the time?

[BusWankers]

I really don't understand why people socialise and drink alcohol all the time, or go out specifically to get drunk and have fun, or all the "LOL Prosecco time!" At 11am in a Sunday. And people buying boxes if beers and 4 bottles of wine as part of the weekly shop.

I do drink, very rarely, sometimes for weddings or whatever.bit I really don't understand the normality of everyday drinking.

I know I'm in the minority, bit
..what gives?????

I drink but don't do drunk. I enjoy a glass of wine in the evening.

Alcohol is addictive.

But so is nicotine/cigarettes/vapes - so exactly the same question to people that use those.

And so is sugar, so exactly the same question to those who eat huge amounts of sugar.

And so are processed foods, so again same question to people who eat excessive amounts of those.

They're all addictive. Humans get addicted to things.

Obesity costs the NHS more, but you wouldn't get a thread complaining about people who eat too much with everyone agreeing.

Also, tax on alcohol goes back into the system (as with smoking).

Sunday morning? They could be buying because a sports game is on. My DP likes a drink when watching the football. Pubs are a bit shit, since Covid, so we drink it in the house. Could family meet up, could be for in the week.
I'm craving a malibu and coke, I was also craving poached egg and avocado, why is one wrong, but not the other? I've had strawberry daiquiris in the week. I've also had cake, see were that is going? People load their trollies for the week, getting the best deal that they can and making sure they get exactly what they want. What's difficult to understand?

Sugar and upfs are also v addictive and bad for you, lots of obesity around. I really don't understand the need for people to over eat all the time, but hey i also don't feel the need to post about it at 7.45am

You are joking? MN hates obesity. The heavy smokers, extremely fat ad heavy drinkers are doing society a favour by dying in their 50s and 60s. Social care and state pensions are bankrupting the country.

You wouldn't get away with saying some of the things that are said about drinkers about fat people.

That's a different scenario entirely.

I get you OP, I've never liked the taste or effect of alcohol, but I know I'm in the minority.

I don't drink much these days as it goes straight to my head and I feel grotty. It is a massive social lubricant I guess. I have been watching Tribe and almost every tribe which Bruce Parry stays with, spend a lot of time brewing up their own booze which points to how important a part of their lives it is.

I don't drink tea or coffee. I also don't struggle to understand that millions of people do. I reckon it's because they like it?

Mn does not hate over eating, i have seen several 'light hearted' threads about binge eating, i recall cream eggs and digestives being just 2. Getting drunk is much more frowned upon

I know what you mean. I'm in my 50s and a lot of my friends will not socialise without alcohol. These same friends if they're not going out will drink beer or wine until they fall asleep in front of the TV every weekend night. Lots and lots of people are like this, it's very common.

I don't really understand it myself because I don't really like alcohol. I don't enjoy the sensation of feeling drunk or tipsy and I don't find that feeling relaxing at all. I will occasionally have a drink because I do like the flavour of some alcoholic drinks, but regret it before the drink is even finished.

Most recently I had one bottle of beer that had been bought for someone else and they forgot to take it so it was sitting in my fridge. I enjoyed the flavour of the beer for the first half of the bottle, but I didn't really want the rest. I drank it anyway and then felt hugely tired and a bit yucky and had to go to bed. I probably won't have another drink for a very long time until I've sufficiently forgotten how horrible it makes me feel.

So although on an intellectual level I can understand why people drink, on a personal level I just can't understand why they enjoy the sensation. I assume I don't have the same reaction to alcohol that most people do, otherwise they wouldn't do it.

First post nails it as usual.

I drink only when I go out, I've been out a lot for me lately as its been a big birthday and I do get what your saying. After spending a lot of money and feeling tired the next day it does seem a bit like what's the point! I do like a drink because it makes me feel more confident, I wouldn't dance without a bit of Dutch courage for example. I do wish I could just not drink and have the same confidence. It's not a big issue for me as usually I only l go out every few weeks if that.

All the time? Dramatic much?!

People enjoy drinking alcohol for the same reasons that people actively enjoy eating: for sensory and social reasons. It doesn't mean everyone is constantly pissing it up any more than everyone is constantly gorging.

I enjoy a drink or two on a Friday or Saturday night sometimes if fancy it, but just as often I don't. Sometimes I fancy a treat in the form of an unhealthy takeaway or dessert - sometimes I don't.

There's a very smug undertone to posts by people who claim not to understand.

Is it just day time drinking you hate op? Or are evening drinks allowed?

I drink and enjoy wine, as do most of my friends. I don't know anyone who drinks alcohol 'all the time'.

I find it odd that people get all prissy about alcohol while illegal drug use is off the scale, spreading exploitation, misery and violent crime across the world

I've cut down on alcohol intake as I've got older, it started not to agree with me in various ways. But I still enjoy a glass of wine now and then. I've asked myself why.

-- Is it the taste? Although, yes, I do like the taste of good wine (and can afford better stuff now I drink less), and enjoy how it can enhance good food, this is not the primary reason for drinking.

What, then? -- I think it's that small, faint alcohol 'buzz' I get; sort of a relaxing, physical, feeling along with a kind of mild mental fuzz and a sense of slightly enhanced sociability.

It's this effect, physical and psychological both, that lies at the bottom of my enjoyment of alcohol. Others too? Perhaps. But, as I've learned over many years, it's possible to have too much of a good thing.

Overindulgence negates the pleasurable aspects of booze, just as with many other of life's (myriad, inexhaustible) pleasures. That's been well worthwhile living long enough to learn (whilst at the same time steering away from being teetotal).

There's a very smug undertone to posts by people who claim not to understand

Yep.

People who drink daily must be addicts to an extent. Though a box of beers and couple bottles of wine in a weekly shop doesn't sound that crazy.
You're very lucky you have not been affected by addiction or by a health problem or accident caused by drink. Being drunk makes people feel good. They think they're having more fun. But obviously it comes at a cost.

I feel the same way.

I have rarely ever found alcohol relaxing nor like the taste of it but good grief the amount of people when I was a young adult who acted liked it was some sort of sacrilege when they themselves said it was an acquired taste was ridiculous.

In uni, I would have red bull vodkas and that was because it completely canceled out the taste of alcohol and it shut people up about me not drinking.

Last time I tried a drink with alcohol, it was meant to be non-alcoholic it gave me a headache, years before that stomach issues.

I judge those who can’t accept that other people don’t like, need, or want to drink alcohol and that it isn’t anything to do with their own habits or makes non-drinkers weird or think themselves superior. Most people have their poisons, alcohol just isn’t mine and I’m glad it’s not.

Life is hard. Having a drink is easy.

I've never met anyone who would judge me for not drinking, or maybe its just who i choose to hang out with

I love a drink. I work full time, run a house, small holding , go to the gym.

shock horror-i buy wine in
my weekly shop. Im a big fan of Morrisons wine of the week for £5.

i had half o bottle last night and ill have the rest tomorrow .

do I care what others thing. Fuck do i care

Watch the soaps.
People hurt..pour some wine.
People arguing.. pour some wine.
People upset.. pour some wine.
People having a hard day .. pour some wine.
And on and on.. listening to the wine being poured from the bottle to the glass.
If People drink up to them..but l hate being in the company of big drinkers.. who go over the top.
It's a legal drug.. damages more brain cells than marujuana ..
Go figure.