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Kids, Learn to Spot Your 'Stupid Drink'

Teetotaling message doesn't work; just be smarter

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 12, 2009 6:00 PM CDT

(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)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 4 comments
Loafer
Sep 14, 2009 3:04 AM 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.
pg13
Sep 13, 2009 6:47 AM CDT
What if the only time I can grin at myself in the mirror is AFTER I've had that "stupid drink"?
Derni
Sep 13, 2009 4:01 AM 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

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