# Do you get happy/loving/expansive when you drink?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 8, 2017, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114 "2017-05-08T05:12:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/21 "2017-05-09T01:48:50Z")

</div>

My answer is probably invalid

The only time i drink anything tends to be when i am doing something that entails getting very hot, drowning in sweat, and burning bunches of calories.

Yea i know, not the best time to consume beer.  
And NO, i do not know why i can not do that while pigging out on 40 dollars worth of chinese food.

So all i get out of it is the urge to take a nap afterwards.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/22 "2017-05-09T02:02:20Z")

</div>

for me it depends on the company.

If I’m at a bar or around more than 2 or 3 people, or around people I don’t want to be around, I have a beer and make it last. Otherwise my misanthropic tendencies come out.

When I’m home or other comfortable circumstances and around just my wife, nephew or one of my two older boys, I’m more or less happy. Not the “all is right and good with the world” happy of the OP but I’m not snarling and spitting at everyone either. I guess I’m the quiet brooding drinker. (I dislike having more than 1 or 2 or 3 drinks in an evening, dislike getting ‘drunk’)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/23 "2017-05-09T02:41:11Z")

</div>

I am very happy drinking but its hard for the casual observer to note as I also get very quiet. The more I drink, the quieter I become; but that’s the way I enjoy it the most.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/24 "2017-05-09T02:55:16Z")

</div>

Probably most of the people I know are “happy drunks”, except for my brother, who was an angry drunk. Then he got sober, and it turned out he was just generally an angry prick whether drunk or sober. Anyway, I usually just kind of get quieter and stupider. Sometimes I get gloomier than normal and more willing to talk about whatever is bothering me. As Tom Waits said, “…till you’re full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin, and you spill out over the side to anyone who’ll listen.” But, normally, I just get tired and quiet.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/25 "2017-05-09T02:56:17Z")

</div>

Another happy drinker. Although I don’t drink past the point where it affects me, but not too much (past that point, anyway, I become ill before I become drunk), and from what people are saying here, it seems that it matters, with drinkers being happy until a certain point and then becoming angry if they keep drinking. I didn’t know that. I thought it depended on people, some being happy drinkers and others angry drinkers.  
I’m also not particularly talkative, as we’re supposed to be when we drink, either. Rather contemplative, in fact. Enjoying silently how nice live is, quite similar to the OP.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/26 "2017-05-09T04:33:01Z")

</div>

I probably lack the enzymes or whatever needed to metabolize alcohol, so when I drink (a rare thing,) I feel pretty sick within minutes, perhaps what most other drinkers would experience if they took Antabuse. It took me a while to figure out, in my early 20s, that other people weren’t getting the sick feeling I was getting.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/27 "2017-05-09T12:50:44Z")

</div>

No!

I get _more_ happy/loving/expansive when I drink.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114/28 "2017-05-09T12:58:54Z")

</div>

As far as I can tell, I just get sleepy. I don’t get happier nor does my mood improve.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-happy-loving-expansive-when-you-drink/786114.md?page=1)
