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Axeman
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25 Dec 2021, 11:25 am



Yeah I was expecting Ireland too. Hey this African moonshine causes blindness so just got to have some.



MaxE
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25 Dec 2021, 11:33 am

Axeman wrote:
Yeah I was expecting Ireland too. Hey this African moonshine causes blindness so just got to have some.

I don't know that Irish have a reputation for drunkenness so much as they do a reputation for getting into rows while drinking.


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25 Dec 2021, 11:35 am

When I read the title, my first thought was the United States. I would have never guessed Uganda!


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Axeman
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25 Dec 2021, 11:40 am

Jib wrote:
When I read the title, my first thought was the United States. I would have never guessed Uganda!


I'm sure the US is in the top five.



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25 Dec 2021, 11:42 am

Jib wrote:
When I read the title, my first thought was the United States. I would have never guessed Uganda!

This is an example of a sort of reverse cultural patriotism on the part of Americans, whereby they/we are likely to assume that certain social ills are most prevalent in the US. Especially willful ignorance, obesity, violent crime, and so forth.

In fact, the US contrasts sharply with most of Europe (in particular) with regard to acceptance of alcohol consumption as a routine part of day-to-day life.

Also, drunkenness as a pervasive social problem seems more severe in countries with worse standards of living. Case in point would be the Soviet Union (before Gorbachev took unpopular measures to control it).

It's not coincidence that Americans have the reputation for drinking milk at the dinner table.


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naturalplastic
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25 Dec 2021, 11:43 am

I was going to guess Russia, or some former Soviet republic.

Someone once admonished me that "statistically the drunkest country in Europe is not Ireland, but Moldavia" (former Soviet region now its own little country wedged between Ukraine and Rumania).



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25 Dec 2021, 11:46 am

I think the Soviet Union had quite a reputation for this under communism, maybe because there was so little else to do. Probably carried over into the Yeltsin era, of which the man himself was apparently a shining example.

The United Kingdom was for decades way ahead of the rest of Western Europe for drunkenness, but I'm not sure that's true any longer. Certainly a staggering number of public houses (pubs) have closed over the past decade, which must mean something.


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25 Dec 2021, 11:50 am

DeepHour wrote:
I think the Soviet Union had quite a reputation for this under communism, maybe because there was so little else to do. Probably carried over into the Yeltsin era, of which the man himself was apparently a shining example.

The United Kingdom was for decades way ahead of the rest of Western Europe for drunkenness, but I'm not sure that's true any longer. Certainly a staggering number of public houses (pubs) have closed over the past decade, which must mean something.


A "staggering" number of pubs?



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25 Dec 2021, 11:57 am

Oh, velly gut!

But seriously, if you took a bus ride from my home town into Central Manchester fifteen years ago, you'd have gone past around 25 thriving pubs along the main road. No more than about ten of these are still in business. In the village where I live, (population 28,000), seven pubs have closed in the last 8 years.


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25 Dec 2021, 12:07 pm

DeepHour wrote:
Oh, velly gut!

But seriously, if you took a bus ride from my home town into Central Manchester fifteen years ago, you'd have gone past around 25 thriving pubs along the main road. No more than about ten of these are still in business. In the village where I live, (population 28,000), seven pubs have closed in the last 8 years.

Has there been widespread adoption of Sharia law where you live?


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naturalplastic
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25 Dec 2021, 12:09 pm

That IS interesting. That Brits are suddenly NOT going to pubs anymore.

Wonder why.

Is this a post pandemic phenom?

Or did the trend pre date the pandemic?



Last edited by naturalplastic on 25 Dec 2021, 12:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

MaxE
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25 Dec 2021, 12:10 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
That IS interesting. That Brits are suddenly NOT going to pubs anymore.

Wonder why.

Generation Z probably not. Also not so much sex as 10-15 years ago.


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25 Dec 2021, 12:13 pm

MaxE wrote:
Has there been widespread adoption of Sharia law where you live?



There's a very sizable Muslim population in the area, definitely the second-largest ethnic group, but I don't think there's any evidence that Sharia Law has any influence or legal status here.

You raise an interesting general point though, in that the very significant change in the demographic composition of the local population has probably been a major factor in the developments I have described.


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DeepHour
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25 Dec 2021, 12:21 pm

naturalplastic wrote:

Is this a post pandemic phenom?

Or did the trend pre date the pandemic?



It predates the pandemic by many years. The present situation is pretty much what it was three years previously.


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naturalplastic
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25 Dec 2021, 12:33 pm

Fun fact!

The first global hit song to come out of Africa was...named after local moonshine. In Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) the locals made illegal corn liquor called by various names but know by the Shona tribe as "Skokiaan". In 1947 Shona band leader was inspired by the joys of drinking the stuff to write and record a song of the name. In a kind of Africanized version of big band music. It became a hit in neighboring South Afica, and then spread to the world, by the Fifties. But back then the record companies used the title "Happy Africa".

Here is Louis Armstrong's version.



I discovered the song in the Eighties when it was revived by the duo of Herb Alpert, and Hugh Masekela.



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26 Dec 2021, 2:14 am

A couple of other things that have been suggested as reasons for the decline of pub culture in British life:

The ban on smoking in public places imposed a few years ago - many pubs previously had areas where patrons could smoke, but no longer.

Excessive prices of drinks in pubs - as much as £5-£6 for a pint of beer in some London establishments, apparently. A 500 ml bottle of beer in a supermarket costs between £1.25 and £1.80. I remember paying £0.35 for a pint of lager at a pub in the West End of London in 1978.


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