This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Live
PTR
10.2.7
PTR
10.2.6
Beta
Legal Drinking Age in the United States
Return to board index
Post by
riaa
I think it should be lowered to something else like e.g. 18. I dont get why a huge thing like a drivers license can be given to children at the age of 16 and they cant be "grown enough" to drink before they are 21.. that just doesn't make any sense in my world.
But then again, a lot of stuff in the US just dont make any sense to people who live in the land of the free... that being Denmark ;)
Post by
wolfeyoung
I think it should be lowered to something else like e.g. 18. I dont get why a huge thing like a drivers license can be given to children at the age of 16 and they cant be "grown enough" to drink before they are 21.. that just doesn't make any sense in my world.
But then again, a lot of stuff in the US just dont make any sense to people who live in the land of the free... that being Denmark ;)
There is a group in the US that wants to make the legal driving age 18 here in the States . . . .
On Topic: As a parent in the States, I haven't any issue's with my child drinking around me or in some other controlled environment. I have a very intelligent kid that I trust to make good decisions (for her age).
Off Topic: BUT, in my opinion, for some reason I feel that alcohol is much more dangerous to the user, and those around the user, than pot. I feel that cigarettes are more dangerous than pot. I see pot as being really, really harmless. AND I don't even smoke pot. I have just been around enough people that do to see their behavior. I've seen too many people drink and get "red" and want to start fighting people. That never happens with pot.
Post by
riaa
actually alcohol kills more people than pot/weed/marihuana does... and then its the pot thats illegal.. that makes me sad :(
Post by
Squishalot
Speaking of marijuana,
I'll just leave this here.
Post by
Murrdurr
Speaking of marijuana,
I'll just leave this here.
Why though? this isnt some new information or anything. Plus theres already a marijuana thread.
On the drinking age in the US though? I think its fine where it is. The argument for being able to goto the military at 18 and not be able to drink till 21 is kind of weak also, not every 18yr old wants to join the military or even cares to join. Sure let anyone 18-20 with a military ID buy some liquor who cares they are doing us a favor. But for the ones who just want to get wasted at bars and such, well you can wait till youre 21. Besides its not like its impossible to find someone to get it for you. And I think its been proven that most 18 and 19yr olds cant handle their alcohol good anyways, they rush and just try to get wasted as fast as possible, doing that at home is fine but you wont last long at bars because people wont wanna put up with you.
Post by
Sweetscot
Speaking of marijuana,
I'll just leave this here.
Why though? this isnt some new information or anything. Plus theres already a marijuana thread.
On the drinking age in the US though? I think its fine where it is. The argument for being able to goto the military at 18 and not be able to drink till 21 is kind of weak also, not every 18yr old wants to join the military or even cares to join. Sure let anyone 18-20 with a military ID buy some liquor who cares they are doing us a favor. But for the ones who just want to get wasted at bars and such, well you can wait till youre 21. Besides its not like its impossible to find someone to get it for you. And I think its been proven that most 18 and 19yr olds cant handle their alcohol good anyways, they rush and just try to get wasted as fast as possible, doing that at home is fine but you wont last long at bars because people wont wanna put up with you.
For me the military thing has more to do with the fact that in the case of a draft you can be required to go into the military and still can't buy a cold one..but still yes it isn't really a direct correlation in any way.
On thinking of this more I think it's this feeling that at age 18 you are expected to take on an adult life, you're expected to leave home and either go into "adult" education or get a job or go to the military...so there is societal pressure to be mature and have adult responsibilities but aren't supposed to be responsible enough to able to handle buying yourself a pack of beer to keep in the fridge and drink at your leisure. I think expecting an 18 year old to have the weight of the freedom of a country on their shoulders (or of a family of their own) and yet telling them they aren't capable of handling alcohol is where the 21 limit seems very odd to me.
Post by
324987
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Squishalot
Speaking of marijuana,
I'll just leave this here.
Why though? this isnt some new information or anything. Plus theres already a marijuana thread.
People are talking about marijuana being better than alcohol because there are less social problems resulting from it, and therefore, alcohol should have a higher minimum age than a theoretical marijuana minimum age.
I'm arguing that minimum ages aren't set around social misdemeanors, but for health issues. And it shows that marijuana's really bad for adolescent development (i.e. teenage use). So it's just as bad as alcohol in that respect.
And for the record - the marijuana thread was still dead and buried when I posted that. It was only necroed about half an hour before you replied.
Post by
Spinkert
Hopefully their resulting complete lack of experience with alcohol doesn't mean they discover their own personal limits after getting their stomachs pumped once or twice.
Edit: And the point of that law wasn't so much to curb drinking among under 21s so much as it was to stop drunk driving accidents.
The problem you had was that people living in states where they could drink at 20 would drive to a state nearby where they could drink at 18, then try to drive home on a highway at night stupid drunk.
In 1987 in Colorado, we didn't even have to go that far. My friends and I would just hit the local gay bar in Denver, pay extra to get in as an underage patron, get a stamp on our hands which was supposed to mean we couldn't buy the 3.2 beer or wine coolers that were served, then we'd buy alcohol, drink until midnight and pick the least drunk person to drive home. We did this for 3 years, until the bar shut down a month before the majority of my friends (and I) turned 21 and could legally drink.
Frankly, I'm not suprised that we were that stupid and selfish, but I am surprised that none of us had drunk driving accidents.
Having said that, I've been living in the UK since 1998 and I've never seen people get as drunk as they do here. One night on my way home, I witnessed a drunk man in a business suit going in circles around a pole he was holding on to, then he fell over and someone just walked right over him and kept going.
In my line of business (media), people often go out drinking at lunch, sometimes carry on in the office when they get back from lunch, then go out again after work and get absolutely pissed until closing time (11pm). If I'd gone out drinking at lunch and then back to work while I was living in the US, I'd have been reprimanded at the very least. Now I'm in a culture (be it either country culture or work culture, I can't tell because I've been in the same line of work the entire time I've lived here) of people who think that because I rarely drink, I'm a wet blanket and not worth inviting along to the pub after work.
Sigh.
Post by
207044
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Squishalot
Honestly it the people that do stupid things that cause average citizens to lose rights.
Question: would an average person feel that their rights are being impinged on for there being rules against drink driving?
Because it is a loss of rights, technically speaking.
We make laws to stop the lowest common denominator from hurting themselves.
Post by
207044
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Squishalot
Read the rest of this thread for my views. I've already addressed your arguments.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
Much later, but...
True enough, but I looked into it today anyway. It didn't originate in a Yiddish environment, but the structure of both that and the other version share a common speech pattern with many other Yiddish sentences and phrases. Make of that what you will.
Yeah, that's what I said. And I did make of it what I will. It was an influencing factor.
And, Squish, I still maintain you don't understand how language development works. 99% of language development doesn't follow the logical patterns you want to impress on it.
I'm arguing that minimum ages aren't set around social misdemeanors,
but for health issues
.
I'd like to see you defend that against the latest DEA action of banning Spice and K-2 (and other synthetic marijuana substitutes)
while they test them
...they don't know if they're dangerous yet!
Putting on a label of "health issues" only holds up if you're actually consistent.
Post by
Squishalot
Perhaps; I make no claim to being anything close to knowledgable about linguistics. That doesn't mean that I'm going to roll over and accept a blind claim about the origins of a phrase without some sort of logical evidence though.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
Perhaps; I make no claim to being anything close to knowledgable about linguistics. That doesn't mean that I'm going to roll over and accept a blind claim about the origins of a phrase without some sort of logical evidence though.
I don't expect you to roll over and do anything, I expect you to realize that studying language history is about looking at things that happened and trying to relate and explain them in a causal manner.
Post by
Squishalot
I know. The simplest explanation for 'I could care less' would be from the fact that it's a spelt out way of how many people pronounce 'I couldn't care less', noting that people are generally fairly lazy about enunciating the "n't" part of the word. That's just my theory for the etymology of the phrase.
I appreciate that the phrase can and is occasionally used in the context of sarcasm, which you're using to justify a Yiddish origin. I wouldn't say that it's the most common use though.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
..which you're using to justify a Yiddish origin.
Influence =/= origin
I wouldn't say that it's the most common use though.
Use =/= origin
Post by
Squishalot
Influence =/= origin
So what exactly is your argument for its validity as a proper phrase?
Use =/= origin
If you're not using it in its original context, it's highly unlikely that you derived it from its original context.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
So what exactly is your argument for its validity as a proper phrase?
Who would question the validity of a phrase that's been in use for two generations? The only question is whether its origin was a strict debasement or something else.
The phrase "I couldn't care less" was only in America 1-2 decades longer than the other one...should we question the validity of that in America too?
If you're not using it in its original context, it's highly unlikely that you derived it from its original context.
That
I
derived it? I'm not doing any deriving. The phrase is 30 years older than I am. I'm using a common American phrase.
Post Reply
This topic is locked. You cannot post a reply.