Drinking alone

[Lord_Il_Palazzo]

@Alice_The_Goon

When they say “drinking alone”, they don’t mean drinking- they mean* drankin*'. Not the same. Having a glass or two with dinner by yourself is not the same as sitting down and getting drunk by yourself, the latter may indicate a problem.

I’d generally agree with that, but I’ve heard the whole “drinking alone means you have a problem” thing in response to mentioning my own levels of drinking, as though having one beer over the course of a week makes me an alcoholic or something just because I was alone at the time.

I’m wondering if anyone else has run into this interpretation or has any opinions or explanations.

For example, the thread I referenced contains this (underlined by me, for emphasis):

@TriPolar

I really like to drink, but getting drunk is something I consider a leisure time activity, and it’s hard to find the time to spend at the bar, then operating at half capacity the next day. I’m so sleep deprived most of the time that often turns into quarter capacity. Now here’s something interesting that occured to me while writing this, I’ve never had a drink by myself, always in the company of others. I even poured myself a drink at home one time and didn’t drink it. I suppose it’s just a pattern, but it doesn’t seem to make sense to drink alone.

It’s pretty clear this is talking about “having a drink by myself” rather than “getting drunk by myself”.