Reefer Madness?

[Stephen Swann]

On Mon, Jul 30, 2007 at 04:05:49PM +0100, M Holmes wrote:
> 
> Lucy has a great story about yanks and drink. She was at a medical
> conference when a yank doctor started to present a paper on the links
> between heavy drinking and cancer. As usual she started by laying out
> the protocols of her research. In the definitions she noted that they'd
> classed as a "Heavy drinker" anyone who'd had the equivalent of 4 pints
> of beer or more in the last month. The audience collapsed in laughter to
> such a extent that the woman had to stop lecturing. Most drinkers in
> Scotland would have four or more pints of beer or equivalent with dinner. 
> 
> I think many yanks think that Prohibition is still happening.

Yeah a lot of Brits I've known don't view having a couple of
pints with lunch as "drinking" at all.  "Drinking" seems to
start somewhere around the 3-4 pint mark, which they often
stopped for on the way home work.  I used to go out to the
pub every couple of weeks with some friends, one of whom was
from London.  *He* used to view 3 or 4 pints as warmup for
an evening of drinking...  ;-)

Steve