Ship of Fools: BBC Booze Calculator

Thread: BBC Booze Calculator Board: The Circus / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

The BBC website currently has a "booze calculator" which purports to show how your drinking habits compare to national averages.

For example, I apparently fit in almost perfectly with the drinking habits of Sri Lanka.

And that's a comment I never expected to post.

So how do you measure up?

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

Portugal, "but this is not a very good match."

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

Allegedly I drink most like I'm from Guinea-Bissau and quite unlike people from my home country.

That's strange for two reasons. One is that I actually lived in Guinea-Bissau for five years (not many Brits can say that!). The other is that, unless drinking habits there have changed hugely, I don't drink anything like they do! (But the statistics are skewed as 50% of the population are Muslim who don't - supposedly - drink at all).

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

I'm not teetotal, but drink very little, so I compare with the average Kuwaiti

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

I put in a medium week and a rather heavier week, and both were quite a bit less than the average UK person (I got two places that were quite well down in the list).

Clearly, I need to drink a lot more.

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

I should have been more specific: I scored less than the average American, but that is only because I do not drink beer and seldom drink wine any more. My "spirits" consumption (bourbon & rye, mostly) is slightly over the average American, but because I am zero on the other two, my overall score is lower. So, in terms of what I drink, I resemble Sri Lanka, but in terms of total alcohol consumption, I am closer to El Salvador.

Not really planning on visiting either place in the near future, so I guess I'll have to take the BBC's word for it.

Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :

I got France, but not a good match. Mostly because I like my vin rouge.

Posted by fletcher christian (# 13919) on :

I drink like I'm from Tuvalu. Which apparently is not very much at all. Tuvalu looks quite nice.

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:

So how do you measure up?

Last week was a Slovenian week. This week I'm a Kuwaiti. Next week I'm a fish.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

O dear. Apparently, I'm with the French, albeit not a very good match (I, too, like my vin rouge), but up with Belarus when it comes to spirits...

[Eek!]

Posted by Evangeline (# 7002) on :

I was somewhat concerned I'd be typically Australian, but as I don't drink beer and very rarely spirits but rather like my vino, I drink like I'm from Equatorial Guinea, apparently.

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

Another Kuwaiti checking in but this is all false really as I used to drink to Belarus standards but eventually ended up choosing abstinence.

Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :

I party like a Costa Rican, apparently.

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

"You drink most like you're from Lebanon
and quite unlike people from your home country"

...and

"You drink less than the average for your home country
You drink as heavily as people from Bahrain, the joint 33rd lightest-drinking country in the world"

...and I'm Episcopalian. [Razz]

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

I am taking from this that, to be a true patriotic Brit, I need to drink more.

Fine with me.

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :

I drink like a French person. Go figure.

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

I drink like an Eritrean. Then again, I've all but given up drink on doctor's orders so it's not surprising.

I find most of these assessments miss the "how often do you drink" dimension, because most of my drinking used to be at the weekend when I might well have or exceed my weekly recommended limit in a couple of nights. That must make a difference. I'm sure the French and Italians don't drink much more than the British but they may well spread it out more beneficially.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

"You drink most like you're from Jordan
and quite unlike people from your home country"

Well, according to the map, the US is a beer-drinking country. I hate beer, or bear sweat, as I call it.

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :

Gabon.

I think at least some of this is that yesterday was end-of-finals—and, if they took my coffee consumption into account, they'd probably guess I was a fish.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

France

Posted by Gamaliel (# 812) on :

I put in a light week and a heavy one.

On the lightest I drank like someone from Nauru. Not sure where that is. Or Kiribati.

On a heavier week it's closer to Argentina and Burundi.

Thing is, I tend to cut down during Advent, but not abstain entirely, and I give up alcohol for Lent.

The rest of the time I probably have about 3 pints of real ale a week on average or else about half a bottle of wine over the course of a weekend. I may have one double measure of single malt whisky a week during the winter.

I do intend to reduce that in the New Year.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

I did the test twice:

Actual consumption this past week, which included two Christmas parties (about 12 glasses of wine, no beer or spirits): this told me I drink most like France (but not a very good match), which makes sense, and I drink at the level of a Slovakian (10th on the list). [Eek!]

Consumption in an ordinary week (about 7 glasses of wine, no beer or spirits): apparently I drink most like Equatorial Guinea ( [Confused]

) and as heavily as Uruguay (68th on the list).

I should imagine that most people's consumption will be rather more this week than usual; if I were to include Christmas Day, I'd have to allow for the GIN that we always have after church and before lunch ... [Big Grin]

Slainte mhor! [Smile]

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

Welcome ( hic ) to Belarus!

IJ

Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :

Hmmm... Just tried it. I don't feel particularly Gabonese at the moment.

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
Hmmm... Just tried it. I don't feel particularly Gabonese at the moment.

Have a drink. It will go away.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Uraguay!

I drink wine on Fridays and Saturdays then give my liver a break for the rest of the week.

[Angel]

Posted by Lucia (# 15201) on :

Apparently this week I am drinking like a Jordanian!
But on other weeks I would be like a Kuwaiti. And if I was really going for it I might make it as far as being like an Italian!

Posted by roybart (# 17357) on :

I'm an alcoholic in recovery. So Kuwait it is!

Very interesting report.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

(Well done, roybart - keep up the good work!)

IJ the Belarussian...

Posted by Baker (# 18458) on :

I do drink, but not a lot, and not in the last week, so I am like a Kuwaiti.

I mostly enjoy cold beer in the hot summer, or a dash of some liquer in coffee. Wine isn't really my thing, but I do enjoy champagne. Since New Year's Eve, which is also my birthday is coming up, I imagine in another couple weeks my answers may have been slightly different.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

Timor-Leste?

I had no idea they drank anything there.

Posted by roybart (# 17357) on :

I was surprised to see that the "favorite type" of alcoholic drink in Sweden is wine, while Spain (though not Portugal) prefers beer.

This is off-topic but I am also surprised about how infrequently alcoholism or the various approaches to living sober are discussed -- or even mentioned-- on the Ship.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

Well, you may have a point there. Why not start a thread, perhaps in Purgatory?

We may make a jolly quip or two about booze on this board, but it is a serious subject.

IJ

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

I was given a wee cuppie of Bowmore on Sunday. If I admit that I am an Uzbek. If not, a Surinamer.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

What Kirk uses Bowmore for the Lord's Supper?
[Eek!]

I'd go there...

IJ

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

[tangent]

There's a lovely (and probably apocryphal) story told by a member of the congregation in a kirk in Aberdeenshire where the Session Clerk was also the local baker, and he donated what was left on Saturday evening for the communion on Sunday. As the chap in the pew put it, "you were never quite sure what you'd get - last week I got a doughnut".
[Killing me]

[/tangent OFF]

Posted by Bene Gesserit (# 14718) on :

This last week I drank most like I'm from Timor-Leste and quite unlike people from my home country (UK).

I drank less than the average for my home country.
I drank as heavily as people from Nepal, the 35th lightest-drinking country in the world.

Disclaimer: Next week is Christmas. Results may change. [Razz]

Posted by Pangolin Guerre (# 18686) on :

I got Portugal for the pattern, "but not a very good match". (Wine, beer, spirits in descending order.)This did not surprise me. I got Belarus for my volume, which rather did alarm me. This site, however, looks only at raw volume, rather than the social context. Binge drinking is quite common in Belarus, Russia, Finland, etc., which is something I don't do, and I'm usually eating as I drink, which alters the rate of metabolisiation. That's just an observation, not a rationalisation, because I was already planning to halve my my consumption in 2017.

Roybart raises a very interesting question, or questions , for discussion. In my personal experience with physicians, there are national differences in the attitude toward alcohol consumption. In the UK they tend to be much less puritanical than in Canada. I wonder whether there are also national differences as to the definition of alcoholism.

[ 27. December 2016, 17:31: Message edited by: Pangolin Guerre ]

Posted by Barnabas62 (# 9110) on :

Apparently. I'm more like an Italian than a Brit.

Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :

"You drink most like you're from Portugal (but this is not a very good match)"

and:

"You drink as heavily as people from Lithuania, the third heaviest-drinking country in the world".

In my defence I must add that this week has not been typical, but I have been enjoying the post Christmas break.

Posted by Kyzyl (# 374) on :

Timor-Leste, which I had to Google.

Posted by Pangolin Guerre (# 18686) on :

Where are people seeing the ranking of nations on the website? I can't find it.

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