Getting drunk part of Australian culture, study finds. “The National Drug and Alcohol Research Council study of 1,500 Australians found that some 58 percent of people agreed that sometimes having too much to drink was ‘simply part of the Australian way of life.'”
{ 22 comments }
John Quiggin 11.05.05 at 3:21 am
Normally, I’d have a sharp comeback on this. But it’s Saturday night and, well …
Belle Waring 11.05.05 at 3:42 am
good on yer, John! I’ll just go open this bottle of wine…
Syd Webb 11.05.05 at 4:28 am
Getting drunk part of Australian culture, study finds
What next? “Pope Catholic shock!”
– Syd “Saturday night” Webb
John Emerson 11.05.05 at 8:51 am
A Montana state legislator has stated that drinking and driving [drinking while driving] is part of the Montana way of life.
trotstky 11.05.05 at 1:13 pm
How much taxpayer’s money did the researchers spend coming to that conclusion? And how many bottles of beer did Australians have to drink to generate that revenue?
Jake 11.05.05 at 2:06 pm
John–
I have started reading the Gabriel du Pre mysteries and am trying to figure out whether du Pre drinks more at bars or while he’s driving. It does not seem to be clear-cut.
e-tat 11.05.05 at 3:29 pm
I am more concerned about the 42 percent who don’t…
John Emerson 11.05.05 at 5:39 pm
Years ago in Wyoming I saw a liquor store with a drive-up window. Presumably it was so people wouldn’t fall down and hurt themselves stumbling into the liquor store to get their last dose.
John Quiggin 11.05.05 at 6:12 pm
Most large Australian liquor stores have drive-through. It means you can use the forklift to load directly into the boot (=trunk) rather than going inside and taking it out a trolley-load at a time.
Neil 11.05.05 at 6:14 pm
I suspect that this is a case with perceptions lagging behind reality. Australia has slipped from one of the world’s biggest per capita alcohol consumers to well down the list. Wine consumption, especially mid-range wines, has shot up, while beer has plummetted (despite the fact that beer drinking among women has risen considerably).
Charlie B. 11.05.05 at 6:44 pm
I’m pleased to see the collective opinion of Crooked Timber is concentrating on giving us postings like this one, rather than anything bout say… the riots in France (after all, it took the BBC TV news eight days to bother with them) … and, of course, finding fault with any perceived failing in US society, and flailing at President Bush. No doubt these Oz distractions will soon be thrown over for diatribes against French racism (all that cobblers written during Katrina notwithstanding) and the failure of Chirac to respond personally.
Belle Waring 11.05.05 at 6:51 pm
yeah, charlie, I basically posted this because I hate freedom.
John Emerson 11.05.05 at 7:28 pm
Yo, Charlie! Wait till we get started comparing sheep-fucking in Montana and Australia!
Mrs Tilton 11.05.05 at 7:46 pm
How much taxpayer’s money did the researchers spend coming to that conclusion? And how many bottles of beer did Australians have to drink to generate that revenue?
Might these researchers have stumbled upon the secret of perpetual motion at last?
Matt McGrattan 11.05.05 at 8:50 pm
Charlie,
The riots in France have been one of the lead stories on the BBC News (in Britain) right since their inception.
Unless you are watching BBC America, in which case I presume they are catering for local taste.
ed 11.05.05 at 9:07 pm
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!!
I say that with a certain amount of pride after your post.
John Quiggin 11.05.05 at 10:06 pm
And of course we’re all huge Chirac fans here.
trotsky 11.05.05 at 10:49 pm
Perhaps a decade ago, as part of a crusade against drunk driving, the Legislature in New Mexico shut down the drive-up windows at liquor stores.
Yet somehow all of those establishments were allowed to keep their parking lots.
I never understood the relevance of the issue — other than the symbolism. And you don’t have to be a Libertarian Party member to think shutting down businesses for symbolic purposes is a poor idea. (Although my girlfriend at the time, strangely, couldn’t get her otherwise sharp mind aorund that point.)
Charlie B. 11.05.05 at 11:26 pm
Well I watch the BBC News either at 6.00 pm or 10.00 pm and the top stories have certainly not, until very recently, included the riots in France. Tonight was the first time I saw a proper report (from a guy with a Northern accent). I sometimes watch the breakfast programme and one morning France got about 10 seconds in the 8.00 am summary.
John Emerson 11.06.05 at 8:36 am
It’s funny. I already knew that the American crime rate was really about the rioting in France, but I only just have come to realize that Australian drinking patterns are really about the rioting in France.
david tiley 11.07.05 at 8:41 am
“SYDNEY, (AFP) – Occasionally getting drunk is a core part of national identity for most Australians, according to new research.
The National Drug and Alcohol Research Council study of 1,500 Australians found that some 58 percent of people agreed that sometimes having too much to drink was “simply part of the Australian way of life.”
Jesus… only Agence France Presse could assert that jump as logical. And the National Drug and Alcohol Research Council are a bunch of wowsers – “while Australians had been successful in banning smoking in most public places, the community was not ready to sever its ties to booze.
“Australians are not ready yet to make that big leap that we’ve seen with tobacco,” he told AFP.”
And: “17 percent of those interviewed said that they sometimes felt pressure to drink alcohol while in a work situation.” What do they think it is – battery acid? A hundred percent of mainstream Christians feel compelled to drink alcohol on Sunday morning.
One warped agency + one brain dead journo = lovely example of statistical distortion.
By the way, much as we like to get on the grog occasionally, we are culturally disciplined about drinking and driving. So I reckon, anyway.
peter 11.09.05 at 2:09 pm
On a drive in the rural south (where I live, so this isn’t some outsiders cheap shot), I once found myself behind someone in a Jeep with the top down who was drinking Jack Daniels, driving, talking on the cell phone and shooting a pistol at the occasional passing road sign-and all at the same time.
I have to admit through that in 12 years down here I have never seen or heard of anything else remotely like that.
Comments on this entry are closed.