I echo Sophia's curiousity. I recall reading that in colonial days of America, most everyone including children drank beer or hard cider all the time. I don't know why; water from streams and rivers might sometimes be bad to drink, but well water was usually safe.

If nothing else, I bet they didn't drink that much overall. I feel like even in my childhood, all you drank was a glass of something with each meal -- not all of this water all the time business.

DH doesn't watch much television. In fact, I might be a bad influence in that way . I think it is rude to ask why he doesn't watch Tv as if he had violated some major social rule. And TV isn't fraught like drinking is

But then , my new england blood is strong.

Beer wouldn't necessarily have been the 12%-ish stuff we're used to. There was a lot of "small beer", kvass and such like, that was only mildly alcoholic and wouldn't have taken as long to ferment.

Sophia, I don't have an answer to your question, but I know that I heard someone on NPR postulating that part of the cause of The Enlightenment was the arrival of tea and coffee, so people went from drinking alcohol all the time to drinking caffeine all the time.

I, actually, know (mildly) someone who has displayed the opposite behavior. In the dressing room, we'll be discussing doing something after the performance, and he'll (unisex dressing room) say, "I don't drink." He has done this several times. It's not a huge cast. He also did the "I don't drink" at a cast party as a response to "there's wine over there and pop in the fridge." It very much a, "Dude, we don't care. If it makes you happy, that's cool," thing with the rest of everybody. Even the heavy drinkers in the group don't give a damn if anybody else drinks. The only thing making me curious was that he was so repeatedly emphatic about it.

I will say, if I had to live in the medieval period, I wouldn't mind being a little bit tipsy all the time. (Beer was also a pretty big source of calories, apparently.)

I will say, if I had to live in the medieval period, I wouldn't mind being a little bit tipsy all the time.

I am alo wondering if there was any other pain relievers available. Because if they had, for example, bad teeth, I can also see being a bt tipsy as a comfort. And the two things that work for my cramps are flexeril and alcohol (not together).

I've met a few people do the over emphasis on the " I don't drink". A lot of the time it seems to be for general health reasons - guidelines they think everyone should follow. But , that just maybe the people AI have met.

DH doesn't watch much television. In fact, I might be a bad influence in that way . I think it is rude to ask why he doesn't watch Tv as if he had violated some major social rule. And TV isn't fraught like drinking is

Heh. Although I do feel judged when people don't watch TV. Or at least when they declare that fact in a proud, morally superior fashion.

There was a time in my adult life that I thought it odd and worrisome if someone drank every day.