A question for people who drink: how unusual do you think it is for someone
not
to drink? I met a guy at a meetup a week ago, and when I told him I didn't drink, I got this response:
No drinking?? Odd but understandable. More explanation is a definitely necessary.
Is it really an OMGWTF YOU MUST EXPLAIN kind of thing?
Not in this day and age, I don't think so.
P.-C., no, no explanation is required. "Drinking alcohol" should not be considered the default condition of a human.
My sister doesn't drink now, and I think it's freakish and strange. But we grew up together, and I know her. When I meet someone new who doesn't drink it doesn't make me wonder, unless I had had plans to take advantage of them while they were inebriated.
Well, she basically doesn't drink, which means I will be trying to ply her with alcohol the whole time she's with me. I did kinda feel like a lush the last time we holidayed together at the all-inclusive place and I discovered my love of the plain daquiri.
To some drinkers it is though. I have (ex)friends who only socialize over drinks. It is their main activity outside of work and home and they always make a weird deal out of people 1) not drinking 2) having only one or two drinks.
My husband is a bar manager, just about everyone I know drinks, and I still don't think it's weird not to.
"Drinking alcohol" should not be considered the default condition of a human.
That's my thinking too, even though I pretty much assume it is anyway. But usually when I tell people I don't drink, they just accept it.
my love of the plain daquiri.
Heh. I was in CVS yesterday, and I passed this teenage girl reading a shopping list or something with her mother. "'Dye-keery,'" she read. "What's that?"
People might not drink for so many reasons, though. Health, and/or medication, just to name a few.
It strikes me as unbelievably rude that someone you don't even know would *demand* an explanation, too.
To some drinkers it is though. I have (ex)friends who only socialize over drinks. It is their main activity outside of work and home and they always make a weird deal out of people 1) not drinking 2) having only one or two drinks.
That's just weird. I would have to figure out what else to do with someone if they didn't want to go to a bar, but I don't care what they do while we're there!