• MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world
    11·
    5 days ago

    “I drink infrequently”

    “I drink a few drinks a month”

    “I dont drink more than a few times a year.”

    Nah, there are lots of ways to do this

      • MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world
        10·
        5 days ago

        That would be an extraordinarily rude response to those statements and I would seek to stay way the fuck away from anyone with that obvious of a behavioral issue.

      • AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world
        9·
        5 days ago

        “Because my consumption isn’t problematic.”

        Like the person who is only drinking a half dozen times a year doesn’t have a relationship with alcohol at all. They don’t even think about it in a regular day. The only person who would hear a red flag in those responses is someone who does have a relationship with alcohol, and it’s probably not a good one.

  • Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com
    5·
    7 days ago

    Alcohol is a great solvent and widely used in flavor extracts such as orange and almond concentrating and preserving the essence of flavors.

    It’s use can add natural flavors to a great variety of recipes.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.socialEnglish
    4·
    7 days ago

    If you’re trying to justify your drinking to me after I said “Oh, I don’t drink” I’m really gonna think you’re an alcoholic because I said nothing to warrant you needing to justify yourself. I just don’t like drinking myself.

    Almost every single time I have made a comment about how I do not like alcohol, I get a few replies from people trying to justify their consumption to me, as if I said I hate people who drink.

      • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 days ago

        I think in some areas, the culture is starting to shift around that a bit. I remember the 2000-2010s era having a lot of shows that were more on-the-nose about the topic and then seeing more people talking about how to properly interact with recovering alcoholics on social media in the years following.

        Purely anecdotal, of course. I just get the vibe that some areas where drinking used to be very expected, have learned to treat it as a choice

      • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
        1·
        6 days ago

        This is always weird when the doctor asks. Both my wife and I are not adverse to drinking and do but like it took us several years to use up a bottle of cognac she had picked up because she wanted to do up eggnog all special one year. So the answer is always. Yes but very very very rarely.

  • pH3ra@lemmy.ml
    3·
    7 days ago

    If you are in a position where you need to defend your booze consumpion, you’re probably an alcoholic.

    • earphone843@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      0·
      7 days ago

      Not really. Say you have one beer a week after mowing the yard. I could say, “If you aren’t addicted, then just quit.”

      • pH3ra@lemmy.ml
        3·
        6 days ago

        I could say, “If you aren’t addicted, then just quit.”

        Did anyone actually tell you that 1 beer a week is too much? Because it’s not a real case scenario in my mind.
        And even if they really did it’s probably their own problem, and you don’t really have to defend yourself for doing that.
        In any other case, if a person tells you “hey, tone it down with the booze” you probably should.

  • ted@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    7 days ago

    Sometimes the point of alcohol is just to get a little bit drunk.

    Similarly, asking anyone to defend their position on why sobriety is superior will eventually have them sound like they are insecure and judgemental.

    • my_hat_stinks@programming.dev
      0·
      6 days ago

      I can’t think of a scenario where you ask someone to defend why they don’t drink but they are the one that is insecure and judgemental. There’s plenty of situations where people drink when they shouldn’t (eg driving) but it’s not quite so common to be in a situation where you must drink but don’t.

      • ted@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        6 days ago

        Maybe I’m just terminally online, but I’ve seen lots of people boast that they’ve “never gotten intoxicated” and view this as some sort of moral boon. It just reads as fear to me. Not that I’d force them to get high, but don’t knock it if ya haven’t tried it.

        • TheBraveSirRobbin@lemmy.world
          1·
          5 days ago

          Generally (both online and in person) when someone gives a superiority complex because they don’t drink those people are always the people I think need a drink the most. That said, some of the most genuine folk out there seem to be the sober folks who don’t give off that superiority complex.

  • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 days ago

    Na, fuck alcohol, it’s as deadly as rat poison, a little won’t kill you but no amount is good for you and the only reason you are defending it is because you think it has some good traits and it doesn’t. Maybe it’s a good thing it’s hard to defend since it is literally poison. Try Pot or Lsd both are less harmful than Alcohol and are more fun

    • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      7 days ago

      Na, fuck sugar, it’s as deadly as rat poison, a little won’t kill you but no amount is good for you and the only reason you are defending it is because you think it has some good traits and it doesn’t. Maybe it’s a good thing it’s hard to defend since it is literally poison. Try Pot or Lsd both are less harmful than Sugar and are more fun

      Fixed that for you.

      • earphone843@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
        0·
        7 days ago

        They’re not completely wrong, though. The studies show that no amount of alcohol consumption is healthy for you.

        But, they were an asshole for how they said it.

        • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          6 days ago

          Not being healthy for you isn’t the same as always being a detriment. There is a non-zero amount of alcohol that can be ingested without causing harm. Sometimes having a small amount of something that isn’t great for you, but makes you feel good is fine. A few sugary snacks occasionally is never healthy, but it also isn’t always harmful. Same with alcohol, having a small glass of wine to celebrate something a couple times a year doesn’t provide nutritional health benefits, but it also isn’t going to cause harm.

            • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              6 days ago

              You are thinking of unhealthy. Between healthy and unhealthy are neutral things that our body simply processes and expels as long as we don’t get oo much. The whole point of discouraging any consumption of alcoholic drinks is to counter the myths that alcohol provides health benefits.

              A small amount of alcohol on occasion doesn’t cause harm to the body. It is processed and expelled. That is why fermented foods, which contain trace amounts of alcohol, are not unhealthy.

              Most spices aren’t healthy in the way that the majority of people use the word for food. They don’t provide nutrients our bodies need. Pepper doesn’t improve our health, but it doesn’t harm us either in reasonable quantities. It is something our body simply expels, just like small amounts of many other things that our body processes and expels.

              The point is that the level of alcohol that is not harmful is really low compared to what people think.

  • evergreen@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 days ago

    That’s a pretty subjective statement as it really depends on whom you’re defending it to. Does consuming any amount of alcohol make one an alcoholic? I suppose differing people will have differing definitions.

    • earphone843@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      0·
      7 days ago

      That’s the point, though. Even if you have one beer a week, defending that if challenged to quit will make you sound like an alcoholic.

      • GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        6 days ago

        But that doesn’t make sense, one beer a week is absolutely not triggering chemical addiction. At that rate you could attack any ritual behavior, or regular consumption of anything beyond nutrient paste and water

        To me the important distinction is between chemical and behavioral addiction, habits and compulsions.

        • earphone843@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          0·
          6 days ago

          No one said anything about triggering an addiction, or being addicted at all.

          It’s the act of defending your alcohol consumption that can make you sound like an alcoholic.

  • maxalmonte14@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 days ago

    That’s because the amount of alcohol you need to survive is 0, sugar on the other hand is both, needed and “bad”.

  • latenightnoir@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 days ago

    This sounds like it starts from the assumption that it can only be consumed for the effect, not the taste.

    I drink once, maybe twice every year, and never more than 2-3 drinks. And I specifically either sip a finger of Jägermeister, a White Russian, or expensive gin tonics (Scapegrace is brilliantly rich and nuanced, for instance), because I enjoy the taste.

    What I do not enjoy is getting drunk. Not only because the following two days are worse than death, but especially because I don’t like how my body slips out of my control and how it encourages my mind to drift toward the dark place.

    • seven_phone@lemmy.world
      2·
      7 days ago

      I think alcohol like music can not be separated from its effect upon the mind. I think those effects are entirely the point we take it, I think if it was just taste you would not drink your White Russian. I think when you drink it it is because you want to visit or at least be reminded of your dark place. Like all drugs it is vital not to ignore the positive effects they can have while also being very aware of the long term negative consequences. As to answering the original question I think if you drink less than the average it is permissible to give as your reasons that you sometimes like the way it makes you feel. You drink in the same way you put on music, not because of the sound or the taste but because it takes you to somewhere else and for a little while that is where you needed to be.