I don't get why people LIKE drinking themselves unconscious.

[Odin2005]

Sure, I like a couple drinks to help lighten up, but I don't get the point of drinking so much you pass out.

[DesertFlower]

1. i don't know. i don't drink at all.

i tried in my younger years, but it made me sick.

[1620rock]

2. Obviously you are not an alcoholic. So luckily you will never "get why".

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Because being conscious sucks worse

Kind of like a temporary form of suicide.

That's my SWAG.

[babydollhead]

4. I had a drinking problem in 9th grade

after enough reflections of myself in puking toilet water, I decided if i was goinng to vomit, bulimia would be a better way to go. I turned my drinking problem into an eating disorder, and that made all the difference.

[freshwest]

5. I've never understood it. Being aware in some situations is very painful, so I guess that's why.

[slay]

6. Alcoholism, to numb pain, cause some think it's "cool"

i don't get it either - and i don't drink - but i have friends that span the spectrum of alcohol consumption. if it's purely to reach a truly altered state - lsd is much more effective - and without the annoying liver disease and hangovers.

most people i've known who do it are party kids who think it's cool, alcoholics, or people who are unhappy with their lives and use it as a way to avoid dealing with their problems. my buddy does it cause his marriage broke up and it's the only way he can forget about things for a little while - in his drunken haze. so yeah, i'm not so sure they "like" drinking themselves unconscious, but for those who do it, that's just where their lives are at the moment - that's what i tell myself at least. that lifestyle is generally unsustainable in the long term.

[laconicsax]

7. Being really drunk can be fun.

I've never been so drunk that I passed out, but being really pissed can be exceedingly fun and that point is just this side of the where you can tell that you need to stop drinking because the last of your judgement is about to leave you.

[Sirveri]

8. This. I can't do it anymore, but when I did that was the reason.

[Odin2005]

15. Well that explains that, I HATE losing my judgement, which is why...

...I generally don't drink much, anyway.

[progressoid]

9. I used to when I was young and reckless.

I did it off and on for a couple years but I got tired of the consequences and gave up on that stuff. In fact gave up on even getting just a little drunk. Now I rarely overindulge.

But I'll still have a drink or two when I can afford it.

[Lil Missy]

10. Alcoholics crave more and more, they can't help it. It's not necessary that you "get it".

[geardaddy]

18. ^ this ^

[Dragonbreathp9d]

11. To combat insomnia-

Sometimes it can be the only way to get to sleep

[pnwest]

12. cuz they got shit to forget, man!

[applegrove]

13. I binge drank as a teen because i was so shy and I really didn't want to be socializing

with the group I was socializing with. I drank when I was developing ptsd because I wanted to be on another planet from the one I have to live on. Quit alcohol alltogether because once I start I just can't stop. I don't miss it.... I'm lucky I know.

[saras]

14. Texts From Last Night (dot com)

You can't come up with that stuff - either the real ones OR the made-up ones - without a substantial amount of drinking.

[LeftinOH]

16. I don't drink much anymore, but I could always tell when I reached the "cut-off point";

Meaning: Definitely drunk, but still lucid enough to know that any more intake will be dangerous. Apparently, there are people who don't have the ability to recognize that... or some who don't care if they end up on the floor.

[LynneSin]

17. As someone who has drunk herself unconscious but is not a drunk, I have this to say

First, I am lucky I didn't develop a drinking problem.

Second, I can't say that this was something I had done on a regular basis

Third, for some of us we were young and in college we rolled with a crowd that loved to party. And I think at sometime most of us in our group probably drank way too much. I think for me, I liked drinking because I could be silly and carefree but once in a blue moon I would not realize I had hit my limits, probably because I was an inexperienced drinker. I could count on hand the number of times that has happened (and I wouldn't even need the thumb).

The last time was when I was out of college and my friend drug me to a party that was basically a bunch of losers (and Clinton haters too). Instead of drinking to be silly and carefree I was drinking because I was bored and surrounded by assholes. Within 20 minutes of being there I had some asshole hitting on me which made the party even worse and I begged my friend to go elsewhere but she wanted to stay.

That was the last time I ever drank like that and it was about 20 years ago when it happened. I also realized if I kept hanging out with this girl there was a chance I would drink until I blacked out again and again. So I made a vow that if I could survive the most wicked hangover ever, that i would never drink like that again. If I had to drink in order to tolerate people then perhaps I shouldn't hang out with those people.

I do still drink today but it's a glass of red wine a few times a week (I probably do a bottle a week which is about 4-5 glasses). It was suggested by my doctor red wine would be good for my heart. On a rare occassion I may drink more than normal, last time was probably a few months ago in NYC. But even then I was still able to walk home and even make it to my class the next day. But it was a fun night and none of us had to drive, so that was good too.

So honestly, after this rambling like this, I have no clue why people drink to the point of passing out. I think when you're younger, it's because you don't know your limits but as you get older it's because you are unhappy and want to mask the pain.

[pokerfan]

19. Good, it means you're not an alcoholic

Aaron Sorkin understands it:

Leo : "I like the little things. The way a glass feels in your hand, a good glass - thick, with a heavy base. I love the sound an ice cube makes when you drop it from just the right height. Too high, and it will chip when you drop it. Chip the ice and it will melt too fast in the Scotch..."

Jordan : "You had a drink?"

Leo : "I'm an alcoholic. I don't have one drink. I don't understand people who have one drink. I don't understand people who leave half a glass of wine on the table. I don't understand people who say they've had enough. How can you have enough of feeling like this? How can you not want to feel like this longer? My brain works differently."

The West Wing - "Bartlet for America"

[fizzgig]

20. <3 leo

[MiddleFingerMom]

22. What a wonderful show with amazing writers. n/t

[RobinA]

30. Maybe Leo Was On To Something

"How can you not want to feel like this longer?"

I'm not much of a drinker and I never quite "got" it either. After the initial buzz I felt like crap and didn't like it. No way did I want to feel that way longer. Maybe some people just feel differently than others.

I had a friend once who had a medical problem while we were on vacation. It wasn't serious but it was seriously annoying. We went to an Urgent Care place and she was offered pain pills so her vacation wasn't a complete bust. She declined, saying she didn't want to be in a haze the whole vacation. I'm like, "You're kidding, right?" That was my "How can you not want to feel that way" moment.

[Major Nikon]

21. Because it takes some a few years to learn you can have more fun on a couple of drinks

Then there are some that never learn.

[pokerfan]

24. Alcoholics are stupid?

[Major Nikon]

38. As a group, I'd say alcoholics are probably as intelligent as everyone else

Some studies suggest even more so.

I'm not sure what that has to do with what I posted, but there's your answer.

[Demoiselle]

23. I can't drink that much because I'll throw up long before I get drunk.

.. I threw up once when I was in college and had no idea how strong the whiskey sours were that I was being plied with.
Once was enough!!!

[MiddleFingerMom]

25. Most people don't LIKE drinking themselves unconscious - though the people who drink to escape might

.
.
.
I drank heavily through most of my life, though never developed a "drinking problem".
.
I drank for fun... and passing out (or getting sick, which didn't happen after the
"learning-curve" years) was NOT a goal -- it was antithetical to my "goal" (that
is also the reason I never liked "downer-style" drugs... they seemed JUST like
getting really, really drunk QUICKLY without all the fun involved in GETTING
really, really drunk.
.
Although... my divorce devastated me (I had married/mated for life and STILL
loved my wife). I stayed drunk for a year TO escape. I kept my day job, but
went straight to the bar and closed it... went to work then the bar and closed
it, etc. etc. I didn't talk to ANYONE unnecessarily anywhere (mostly my bartender
in order to keep the drinks coming). I did this for virtually a whole year until a
barmaid took me home and seduced me (she snuck up on me, I SWEAR -- I had
even lost any interest in that). Without getting crude (I have a great line for
what happened, but I'll spare the more sensitive), I was reminded that there IS
a reason for living. I stopped drinking to escape, yet didn't have to quit as I hadn't
become an alcoholic. I went back to drinking "normally" for fun.
.
I still drink -- though nowadays a "night of hard drinking" involves a SECOND
glass of red wine.
.
.
.
What I have never understood is the people who become real assholes when
they drink -- what would cause them to think THAT was either fun or an
escape? I think that hearing that I had been a real jerk would cause me to
exert a LOT of effort into an attempt to stop BEING a jerk.
.
.
.
Though alcoholism probably explains some of that, though in my own
experience (some as a bartender), most alcoholics aren't jerks. I'm talking about
people who become abusive or violent or who make it just plain difficult to be
anywhere NEAR them.
.
.
.

[LynneSin]

26. I think people who become real assholes when they drink...

dont' realize at the time they are being assholes when they are drunk.

I knew a girl like that who was a real party girl. Her marriage was going sour and had more fun going out and partying every night instead of trying to save her marriage. I'd only see her 2-3 times a month (since I had moved away from home) but when I was in town visiting she would drag me out until the wee hours of the morning. She would be fun at first but after her 5th or 6th cocktail she would just become beligerent and rude.

I really tried to be patient but after 6 months even I couldn't put up with it anymore. I would get into fights with her because I would try to take the keys from her since she was pounding the drinks all night and I would nurse 1 or 2 beers tops. That's when I learned 'tough love'. I couldn't save her - she would have to do it herself.

I found her on facebook a few years back and we chatted a bit. Seems she did turn her life around, which I am so glad because sober, this girl was an amazing person. But I guess after 20 years we had drifted apart for so long that there was no real desire on either end to reconnect. But I am glad she is better!

[pokerfan]

27. In vino veritas

As everyone knows, alcohol reduces one's inhibitions so I figure that people who turn into a flaming assholes after a few drinks are quite possibly simply assholes at their core. You just don't normally see that particularly aspectto their personality because it's normally wrapped with a veneer of good manners. "Never forget what someone says to you when they're drunk because drunk words are sober thoughts."

[CJCRANE]

28. That always used to amuse/confuse me when I was younger...

When I got my first office job I'd ask a coworker "did you have a good weekend?"

They'd reply "yeah, it was great!"

"So what did you get up to?"

"I can't remember, I was totally wasted for most of it".

[PVnRT]

29. Because work is just so fucking boring sometimes, and I'm not allowed to hunt co-workers

[WilliamPitt]

31. It's the only thing that calms the bees in my head.

Bees. In my head.

Bees.

[Throd]

34. There is a rabid squirrel that lives in my skull that I can only silence by soaking him in beer

[mwdem]

35. Okay, Will

What bees are in your head? Inquiring minds and all.....

[Odin2005]

37. Meditation will fix the bee-in-your-head problem!

[reggie the dog]

32. they like the voyage getting there

they like blacking out and having no idea what they did

some people like that

i personally havent had a drop of alcohol in over ten years so i am just guessing about this one.

[CJCRANE]

33. It's an adventure

into the unknown...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

36. I wrote a poem on the subject once.

While sadly the poem itself no longer exists, the final lines burned themselves forever into my mind.

(Remember, these are words from an active drunk talking about why he drinks himself into oblivion)...

"--We drink not to forget who we are-
we drink rather to remember
how to cry."

Amen.