Binge-drinking an age-old problem

[malkin767]

A culture of 24-hour drinking and bingeing on alcohol may not be unique to modern society, say historians

Comments

[sollersuk]

The beer thing is complicated. When we discovered that women before the early 19th century did not suffer from osteoporosis - right into their 70s and 80s they did not have the disastrous thinning of bones that modern women get at the menopause - the only major environmental/dietary difference we could find between before and after was that the change came about the time women stopped drinking beer for breakfast.

[banshea]

I recall reading that the main difference between then and now is that drinking has developed a social stigma whereas then it was simply a fact of life. As I recall, drinking didn't really become a problem until the invention of gin, when the poorest people could afford to get really drunk, really fast and give themselves alcohol poisoning with more efficiency than ever before. That's when consumption of alcohol really began to be viewed in a negative light.

So really, I think from a cultural standpoint saying that these people hundreds of years ago were "binge drinking" is making an unfair and invalid cultural comparison. Their activities didn't have the same connotations for them as the term does for us.

[malkin767]

I agree. I also think the comparison is unfair: it's an attention grabbing headline in a publication not necessarily aimed at the scholarly crowd. The article itself points out that the ale wasn't as strong as modern brews. I would hope that most readers could figure out the difference between then and now, but the headline certainly doesn't help. Oh well, I guess we take what we can get.

Interesting bit about the gin.

[banshea]

You're expecting the average reader to be able to figure out that they need to question the accuracy of an article from a trusted source, to notice their own cultural biases, and to grasp that culture changes over time and their own values do not apply to history? You've got a much more optimistic estimation of the masses than I do.

[malkin767]

A quality journalist should be capable of being both simple and accurate.

[greengerg]

Obviously whoever wrote this article doesn't know much about beer, as it seems to imply that ale is something different from beer, and that ale does not have hops, both of which are incorrect. Ale is a style of beer, indigenous to the British Isles. Ale is flavored with hops. The difference between ale and lager (the other main style of beer) has to do with whether the yeast is top-fermenting (ale) or bottom-fermenting (lager) and what temperature it was fermented at.
It just annoys me when someone who should know better perpetuates confusing terminology...

[malkin767]

Hops weren't introduced into England till the 15 century. You are right that hops (or the lack thereof) no longer distinguishes ale from beer, though that was not always the case. Perhaps the author ought to have been a bit clearer on the matter.

[greengerg]

I am aware that hops did not arrive there until the 1400s. My point (as a former journalist) is that when writing an article, one should stick to modern definitions first, and when discussing past nomenclature that differs from this, it should be clearly differentiated, otherwise readers may not grasp that beer is a larger category of beverages which encompasses ales rather than compares with them. Having just enjoyed a nice Newcastle Brown Ale, I merely wish clarity, because I can't tell you how much confusion these terms still cause among the beer novices of the world.

[chilledglove]

"problem"?