If the people you’re talking about have to drink, then I think it’s long since passed the point of rational explanation.
And I actually do know a few people who are more pleasant to be around when they’re drunk. Granted, these ARE people who are rather annoying normally, but it’s something!
I drink to make people like the OP bearable.
I’m not a big drinker, but I recently discovered that Bacardi gold rum makes diet coke a hell of a lot more palatable. I never drink enough to get drunk, or even a little bit tipsy. I just put enough in my coke once or twice a night for the taste.
I kinda wish they’d just make a rum flavored diet coke. Why not? They have lemon and lime and vanilla.
I choose not to drink alcohol because I don’t feel the same way about the “relaxing, fun, tastes good” benefits. To me, having my inhibitions relaxed isn’t relaxing for me, it’s worrying. Being tipsy isn’t fun for me. At greater levels of consumption, not being able to remember what happened is frightening—I have always prized my good memory. And alcohol doesn’t taste good to me. Maybe this makes me a self-control freak, I dunno. I have also never acquired the taste for beer, wine, or mixed drinks.
I am restricted from drinking alcohol because I’m a liver transplant patient.
However, I would never denigrate someone because he or she chooses to have an occasional drink and can stay on top of any possible habitual or addictive drinking. That’s not my choice, but I can’t make someone else follow my choices.
Gotta admit, it’s irritating when people ask how come I’m not drinking, or when they say, “Come on, loosen up, what are you afraid of, just one!” and don’t take no for an answer. I’ve never had a problem saying no to alcohol, but it’s like swatting mosquitoes: why can’t they just stop bothering me?
Are you being a bit sensitive? I can understand them asking once, but are you saying that despite being told why, they ask a second time? Or don’t you tell them why?
I actually am a more pleasant person to be around after a little alchohol. I 'm kind of the nevous type especially around lots of people, so after two beers I find it easier to act myself. Also after a full days work I can be kind of stressed out bastard. Beer lets me relax.
Now that I am a transplant patient, I tell people I can’t have alcohol and that usually satisfies them. Prior to that, when I told people I simply didn’t drink alcohol, it wasn’t always enough for some and they would ask a second time the same night, or they would ask every time we met, or something similar.
I don’t think I’m being too sensitive. I have an artificial foot/brace that helps me walk—very obvious, you can’t miss it—and I don’t mind multiple strangers asking me about that several times a day. I also accept that curious people will ask all kinds of questions about transplant, and I have no trouble explaining it to everyone who asks (and I can still smile when people ask “when you got your liver transplant, did you get onions with that too?” as if they’re the first person to think of it). What is it about trying to get me to drink that so fascinates people, I wonder?
Not wanting to answer for Fish, but I’ve seen behavior similar to what he describes, and it is most annoying. Not just in regard to alcohol, but other things as well. The first time, it can be interpreted as friendly and hospitable, but I’ve seen it go on and on, until the victim feels obligated to explain various medical conditions or personal preferences, which he shouldn’t have to do. I agree that this is very, very rude. Why should Fish, or anyone else, have to explain that he is a transplant patient, or a recovering addict, or eschews alcohol for religious reasons? Or has a food allergy, or a restricted diet?
The best response, I’ve found, is to demur politely, and if the urging continues to repeat the exact same sentence in the exact same tone as often as necessary. After about the 3rd or 4th time of hearing “That’s very kind of you, but no, I don’t care for any braised lutefisk <insert loathed food or drink here>,” most people give up. Try to change the subject at each opportunity.
Bottom line is, still, some people can be quite rude when you don’t share their particular fondness for beer, vodka, haggis, stuffed peppers, or whatever.
You are now, officially (and yes, let’s GET off topic here), so way cooler than I can ever be because you beat me to this. May I form a religion around you?
I sense a tad of hostility towards the OP in spots. Perhaps (s)he was simply reacting to frustration over being stared at incredulously when told that you don’t drink, asked “not even X? What about Y???”, given the third degree about it, and having every drink on the bar menu pushed on you in an attempt to see what you’re like when drunk and to show you that you should drink, 'cause it’s not bad at all.
That really pisses ME off, anyway.
Eh, I get the same reactions when I tell people I don’t like seafood. I deal with it, so can the OP.
You know what else pisses me off? When I miss people making exactly the same point I am.
Oops.
They make rum flavoring, look for it in the baking section of your grocery store. It’s generally near the vanilla flavoring. I use it in my coffee, sometimes, and it’s very good. But then, I’ll put all sorts of spices and flavorings in my coffee, because I refuse to pay an arm and a leg for those specialty flavored coffees when I have cinnamon and vanilla and other flavorings right in my cabinet.
Vanilla is particularly good in iced coffee, try it sometime.
I don’t like drinking to the point of being tipsy, but I do enjoy relaxing a tiny bit. However, since you derive absolutely no benefits from consuming alcohol, and in fact are restricted from drinking it because of your liver, I cannot argue that you SHOULD try any. Not even if I’ve made up a special mixed drink. And once I know that you don’t want any alcohol, I will try to make sure that I haven’t accidentally included it in anything that I will serve you (for instance, I’ll ask if it’s OK for you to drink the iced coffee that I made with vanilla extract, which contains alcohol). I think that it is the duty of the host/ess to make sure that his/her guests can eat and drink at least some of the items available. For instance, I believe that every party should have a variety of non-alcoholic drinks as well as alcoholic drinks, unless the host knows that every guest will enjoy drinking booze. I try to have at least some vegan dishes around (which everyone can eat, not just vegans) and I also won’t serve a pork main meal unless I know for sure that no member of the gathering is an observant Jew. Same goes for having a main dish that’s meat and dairy combined, like beef stroganoff.
Well, if it will make it more clear, how about I just be fucking hostile?
The OP implied that I have no control when drunk and may end up DWI. The OP can go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.
If only all hosts were as considerate as you, Lynn, then… we’d… uh, have a lot more considerate hosts, that’s what.
And of course it’s my responsibility to indicate to the host(ess) what my limitations and preferences are, if any. Most people are accommodating.
Take out the “fuck” and I do not see why this is here instead of IMHO.
That is SO WRONG. You’ve got to drink coffee plain, black and cooked for so long it tastes like sour ashes! Drink it like a man, it’ll put some hair on your chest! Oh wait… 
Why the fuck do I have to drink?
Yup, happens to me too. I don’t really drink (I average about 2 drinks a year), and I can’t eat anything with basil in it. Politely saying “no thanks” doesn’t work. Even explaining you don’t like alcohol, nor would you like a rash right now from eating pizza, often isn’t enough to stop the “aww, come on!” borishness. And people think peer pressure is just for kids. :rolleyes: