British Drinking Etiquette Question

Drinking to the point of not being in control of one's faculties.  To list work do happenings:

-When you've drank to the point where you, a gay male, would kiss (with tongue) a straight male colleague when it was completely by surprise and uninvited.

-When you've drank to the point you put your foot into the crotch of a colleague and begin... um... massaging.

-When you've drank to the point you hit on, sit on, and make out with a subordinate when you are in a position of responsibility within the company (off hours or not). Luckily she's been canned for her actions.

Or to give other examples:

-When you drink to the point of annoying those around you with loud, obnoxious behavior

-When you drink to the point of annoying residents of any street you walk down.

-When you cant remember what happened.

Oh good god, if that's the case, I'm with Mindy - I definitely do dinner and a couple of drinks and don't binge. I haven't lost time since I was, er, considerably younger. However I do go out for drinks relatively often and we often drink quite a bit when we have dinner parties. I'd probably categorize the behaviour that you're describing as just plain immature and tacky to be honest!

As for drinking in rounds, when I'm in the mood, I just do halves or small wines and if I feel like I'm getting squiffy I get a coke or something instead - I can't imagine anyone taking offence if you just said you'd prefer a coke or would rather sit the round out!!

Drinking to the point of not being in control of one's faculties.  To list work do happenings:

-When you've drank to the point where you, a gay male, would kiss (with tongue) a straight male colleague when it was completely by surprise and uninvited.

-When you've drank to the point you put your foot into the crotch of a colleague and begin... um... massaging.

-When you've drank to the point you hit on, sit on, and make out with a subordinate when you are in a position of responsibility within the company (off hours or not). Luckily she's been canned for her actions.

Or to give other examples:

-When you drink to the point of annoying those around you with loud, obnoxious behavior

-When you drink to the point of annoying residents of any street you walk down.

-When you cant remember what happened.

OK.  To me the first three are  being obnoxiously drunk and probably not anyone I'd go out with.  The third three are probably things most people have done at least once.  If you're doing this all the time then it's probably binge drinking but once in a while in my opinion technically isn't. And it is something you tend to grow out of.

I'm glad I don't work in your office, Navie!  

Like others, I go out for meals and perhaps have a drink or two (unless I'm driving, of course). I've been in the UK this time for 6+ years and I think I've only gone out for drinks a handful of times. Usually if I do go out, it's for a meal. But then none of my family or friends are pub goers. Neither is DH. I know I keep hearing about binge drinking and the whole pub culture, but I know very few people who go to a pub regularly. Maybe we're weird. I don't know. But I was born in the UK and all my family is British as well, and nobody goes to the pub on a regular basis, if at all. Once or twice a year perhaps?

I don't think drunk and idiotic behaviour is confind to the UK either.  It happens most places where booze is freely availble.

Yep, you're weird.   

We go to the pub a lot - after work on a Friday, Sunday afternoons, etc. and I meet people for a couple of drinks and a natter relatively often, but I think there's a HUGE difference between frequenting a pub and binge drinking!!

Yep, you're weird.   

We go to the pub a lot - after work on a Friday, Sunday afternoons, etc. and I meet people for a couple of drinks and a natter relatively often, but I think there's a HUGE difference between frequenting a pub and binge drinking!!

 

I know you do, and that's why I said I know "very few people" who go to pubs regularly. You're one of the few, the proud, the pub-goers! 

For myself, I think it's more of a where I've come from vs. where I am scenario.  In my small Ohio town... we have one, true bar.  Called Sneaky Pete's.  I believe it's actually closed now.  Of course, you've got places that have bar areas, like steakhouses, or Buffalo Wild Wings.... but for an actual bar you'd have to travel.

I didn't even drink until I was legal at 21.  Perhaps I'm just lame.

I don't know....I find the secretive back woods drinking that happens here in the Southern US a bit scarier than people hanging out in a pub. At least most of them aren't driving.  I think it's the more concentrated level of humanity in the UK that bring sit to the forefront.  Though that said there is an issue with binge drinking that other European nations don't share.  


I never could rink as much as our mates nor DH either as he's on the smaller side (though he gave them a run for their money).. . we just bought a round and then said we would sit out or ask for a coke or water.  I'd ask for a half pint.  One of our friends was a really big binge drinker and he would just buy himself an in between round if he fancied it.

I think you should be able to be honest with your mated, even if you do get some good natured ribbing.  Friends are people that will respect your decision.  Otherwise why be around them?    Especially as you get older!
 

When I wrote about 'binge drinking' what I had in mind was a particular pattern of drinking, what the British Medical Association calls "heavy episodic drinking". The person may well be sober all week, but on Friday and Saturday evenings they get spannered! Some people say that a binge is when you have 50% or more of your recommended maximum weekly units of alcohol in 'one session', e.g. one night out.

I don't go out for meals that often, when I do it's usually just with my husband and we usually don't drink alcohol.

While I do go to the pub more often and DH's friends can go as frequently as once a week, and they drink a lot, they behave normally. They don't act drunk.

When I mentioned that some of the women get drunk and act like morons, I meant they get silly and giggly and say stupid things, definitely nothing close to the behaviour that Navie described.

When I was working for a large company, I always left work dos early so I never knew what went on at the end of the night.

Sometimes, when I go out, I like to drink a lot (ish), and sometimes I don't. It really just depends on my mood and the circumstance. The one thing I cannot stand, though, is someone commenting on how much or how little I'm drinking, and my standard line to anyone that comments is, 'what are you, the drinks monitor?' That usually shuts them up.

I don't think you should ever be bullied into drinking more than you are comfortable and people that do that might just have a problem of their own.

Sometimes, when I go out, I like to drink a lot (ish), and sometimes I don't. It really just depends on my mood and the circumstance. The one thing I cannot stand, though, is someone commenting on how much or how little I'm drinking, and my standard line to anyone that comments is, 'what are you, the drinks monitor?' That usually shuts them up.

I don't think you should ever be bullied into drinking more than you are comfortable and people that do that might just have a problem of their own.

In psychology it's called crabbing, which derives it's term from observed crabs in a bucket in that, when one tries to climb out, others will inevitably grab it and pull it back down.  In human terms, it refers to pulling people into one's own bad habits or short comings in order to feel more justified.

'what are you, the drinks monitor?' That usually shuts them up. 

 

In psychology it's called crabbing, which derives it's term from observed crabs in a bucket in that, when one tries to climb out, others will inevitably grab it and pull it back down.  In human terms, it refers to pulling people into one's own bad habits or short comings in order to feel more justified.

Or... misery loves company.