Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


 OPINION 
5

Kids, Learn to Spot Your 'Stupid Drink'

Teetotaling message doesn't work; just be smarter

Share

(Newser) – Kids everywhere are back at college, where they’ll be admonished not to drink, or at least not to “binge” drink. It’s advice they’re sure to ignore, writes “Joe Sixpack” of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Instead, we should tell them to avoid their “stupid drink,” the one that turns a good night to a bad night. It’s a term devised by Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, to cut down on dangerous drinking

“We know the abstinence message doesn’t work,” says one professor, and students laugh at the term "binge drinking" because of its five-drink definition. Instead, the "stupid drink" campaign aims to help kids recognize when they're too hammered. Some signs:

  • You can’t taste your beer.
  • You’re grinning at yourself in the bathroom mirror.
  • You've uttered the phrase, “I love you, man.”
Some educators may balk at teaching kids to drink, but stupid drink can’t be stopped; it’s destined to join the slang lexicon.

College drinkers need to learn when they've done too many kegstands.
College drinkers need to learn when they've done too many kegstands.   (Flickr)
A man contemplates his beer.
A man contemplates his beer.   (Flickr)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
5 comments
VIEWING:
 
easterner
Sep 12, 09 6:33 PM CDT
Drinking till you drop is consider a ritual and a right of passage because they are in college, except when someone drops dead and they are held accountable. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+9
RepressedBySociety
Sep 12, 09 8:37 PM CDT
It's not a bad idea. It probably won't work, but still better than the feeble "Less than 5 drinks" attempt. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+8
Derni
Sep 12, 09 11:01 PM CDT
Its sorta like telling teens that have hormones running thru their bodies not to have sex-especially when their frontal lobes( the brakes of the brain) aren't fully developed Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+3
pg13
Sep 13, 09 1:47 PM CDT
What if the only time I can grin at myself in the mirror is AFTER I've had that "stupid drink"? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
Loafer
Sep 13, 09 10:04 PM CDT
I'm an alcoholic. I'm one of the lucky ones. I came to understand I had a problem. Luckily, people kept trying to tell me, until I was ready to hear them. For almost twenty years my Holy Grail was that Stupid Drink. I knew that if only I could spot it, alcohol would be my Best Friend Forever! I never did figure out the rule. Some days it was the tenth drink, some days it was the fourth. But one thing that kept me drinking was the certainty that one day I would figure it out, and they I would be happy for ever and ever. Lots of luck with this campaign. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

226 Stories

College Threatens to Fail Students for Obesity

Twenty-five seniors must prove they've lost weight to graduate

Nov 21, 09 11:25 AM CST
(Newser) - Twenty-five seniors at a university in Pennsylvania must prove they've lost weight in order to graduate this spring. The unusual requirement stems from a policy Lincoln University put in place fours ago: Incoming freshmen with a body mass index of 30, the threshold for obesity, must take a nutrition class... More »

MORE ABOUT:
obesity • obesity epidemic • college • graduation • Lincoln University

BIG BROTHER

Cops Use Facebook to Bust Underage Drinkers

Phony 'friend' gains access to drinking photos

Nov 19, 09 6:19 PM CST
(Newser) - Wisconsin college student Adam Bauer should represent a cautionary tale for Facebook users under 21, or otherwise on the wrong side of the law: be careful what you post, and whom you friend. Shortly after accepting a request from an unfamiliar, “good-looking girl,” Bauer was invited to the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
social networking • law enforcement • Facebook • sexual predator • underage drinking • invasion of privacy • University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

cheers

 Alcohol Good  
 for Men's Hearts 

Daily drinking reduces disease risk by more than a third, says study

Nov 19, 09 10:59 AM CST
(Newser) - Drink up boys, it’s good for you—or for your heart at least, says a new study. Drinking cut heart disease risk by 35% to 50% in the survey conducted in Spain. It followed 15,500 men and 26,000 women, and found that daily heavy drinking did wonders... More »

MORE ABOUT:
alcohol • heart disease • drinking • health study

226 Stories


Science & Health  •  Opinion 
TwitterFollow @NewserScience on Twitter

 
binge drinking • college • drinking • underage drinking

from our news partners