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^ I don't know about that. Some of these high-powered jobs where they have to wear the fake game face all the time and supress their real personality...they are trying to be too many things to too many people...finally, they just blow, and end up 86'ed, passed out face down on the sidewalk from some Georgetowne bar.
^ I don't know about that. Some of these high-powered jobs where they have to wear the fake game face all the time and supress their real personality...they are trying to be too many things to too many people...finally, they just blow, and end up 86'ed, passed out face down on the sidewalk from some Georgetowne bar.
K...I'm in, what bar is this? Sounds like a Friday Night in Adams Morgan anyway.
So you're telling me there are people drinking as much in Idaho, SC, Georgia as DC, Chicago or NYC?
Really, I'm curious.
Well Idaho doesn't really compare, but I'd say yeah Chicago and NYC drink as much, if not more, than DC (I'm going with more). Boston, LA, St Louis, hell even Milwaukee may drink more.
It sure seems like D.C. drinks a lot sometimes. But I think the areas of the city you frequent, your co-workers and the people you hang around will influence your view on any city's general drinking habits. D.C. has it's drinking districts like any big city (i.e. Adam's Morgan, U-Street, even Georgetown and the Downtown 7th Street Gallery to an extent). Here is some interesting information about cities with the most drunk driving convictions as of this year:
Notice that D.C. is not even on the list. However, you must consider that most statistical studies concerning behavioral patterns in big cities are skewed. Many drunks in D.C. hop on the Metro. Anyone who has ridden the Metro after a certain hour of the night on weekends can attest to all the overly intoxicated commuters many throwing up all over the place and unable to walk straight. Also, the cities that topped the most DUI's list have police forces dedicated entirely to arresting drunk drivers. In other words, drunk drivers in D.C are more likely to get away with driving drunk and related hit-and-run accidents than the cities on the highest DUI conviction list. Cops in D.C. always seem more occupied in chasing down murderers and narcotic traffickers. For instance, traffic laws concerning bad driving are a low priority in D.C. Many drivers I know in the District have horror stories of being hit by obviously drunk hit-and-run drivers at night. Many of the victims of these accidents copied the perpetrators license plate numbers and the police claimed that they "couldn't do anything about it". Trying to curb bad driving in D.C., including drunk driving and hit-and-run perps, is like trying to drain the ocean with an eyedropper. Year after year, D.C. consistently tops the lists of the worst driving cities in America:
However, many other cities have much higher occurrences of incidents like these. Houston, Texas has a terrible reputation for not being able to prevent drunk driving accidents and fatalities.
Here is some more interesting information about drinking habits according to region and demographics. People living on the East Coast and young people (ages 18-32) are much more likely to drink on a weekly or even daily basis.
Cohesively, a recent study also concluded that college graduates are statistically more likely to drink on a regular basis. Surprise, surprise, D.C. has the highest concentration of college degreed people of any big city in the nation.
Following this data it is safe to conclude that many young professionals in D.C. "get it in" on a regular basis. Anyone who has been to Adam's Morgan or U Street has seen countless inebriated red-faced yuppies, buppies and hipsters being begged to go home by police at 3 AM. Does this mean that D.C. is a city with an out of control drinking problem? Not necessarily. Many people in D.C. are able to drink in moderation.
Last edited by goldenchild08; 12-25-2010 at 08:07 PM..
It's not a DC-thing, it's a city thing. You are more likely to find people who drink in the city, more likely to find people who go to museums, more likely to find people who go to movies. And likewise, in rural areas you are more likely to find people who hunt or go fishing.
It's simply representative of the culture and available activities.
I agree -- there's some major drinking that takes place in the DC area and suburbs, even ex-urbs. I noticed it when I moved back here from a rural state. Take grocery shopping, for example. At this grocery store that I go to here in NoVa, there are display tables at every turn offering every imaginable brand of beer and wine. You would never see that where I used to shop. There's usually an employee doing a wine tasting (and a cop waiting to bust someone for DUI around the corner, no doubt!) The store's beer and wine section is bigger than most grocery stores where I used to live.
I agree -- there's some major drinking that takes place in the DC area and suburbs, even ex-urbs. I noticed it when I moved back here from a rural state. Take grocery shopping, for example. At this grocery store that I go to here in NoVa, there are display tables at every turn offering every imaginable brand of beer and wine. You would never see that where I used to shop. There's usually an employee doing a wine tasting (and a cop waiting to bust someone for DUI around the corner, no doubt!) The store's beer and wine section is bigger than most grocery stores where I used to live.
Possibly the stores are bigger because you nova is a more populated area than where you used to live, and the liquor departments are based on state laws that allow the sale of liquor in grocery stores??
It doesn't really take much knowledge of psychology to understand cause and effect, and realize that the grocery store situation is not likely to be because the area has simply attracted a greater share of alcoholics than other parts of the world.
Alcohol is the universal drug in America and many places around the world. Because of this, alcoholism is a major problem in every big American city. Violent crime, in itself, is very much an alcohol-related problem. In fact, most murders, assaults and rapes occur when the perpetrator and or victim of the crime are under the influence of alcohol. Cohesively, high crime inner city neighborhoods across the nation with above average violent crime and homicide rates are ubiquitously defined by an overabundance of liquor stores and corners stores that sell alcohol. It is not just a D.C. problem either. It is the same song in every big city and ghetto in America. The infamous West Oakland has over 50 liquor stores and no grocery stores. Many blighted inner city ghettos have more than one liquor store on every block. To add more, the dirt cheap get-you-drunk-quick malt liquor and fortified wines sold at these corner stores are directly marketed to the poor unemployed and underemployed residents of these ghetto neighborhoods.
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