Many years ago, during my misspent youth, I decided to come to Poland and teach English for a while. Actually, I decided to come to Poland and do nothing but soon after arriving here I discovered that it was easy to earn a living teaching English and thought ‘what the hell.’ In those days if you were a native speaker of English and had a pulse, you could get a job as an English teacher. I qualified on both counts more or less all the time. I spent a lot of time with Polish teenagers and learned two things almost immediately. Number one that Polish teenagers worked much harder and were far better educated than English teenagers, and number two that Polish teenagers were immensely proud of what they saw as their nation’s reputation for hard drinking. In the way of teenagers everywhere the ability to acquire and consume alcohol was seen as a mark of extreme coolness. I heard a particular urban legend on this subject a couple of times from my teenage students. Apparently, they assured me, in medical textbooks there is a page that lists the doses of alcohol that will cause disorientation, unconsciousness, and death in the average human. Against each of these figures, they assured me, there is an asterisk(*) that refers you to a note at the bottom of the page. The note reads ‘*except Polish people.’ Now, I didn’t believe this story any more than I believed them when they told me they were ‘just about to sign a recording contract,’ or had ‘spent the night with four hot chicks I met at Prozac,’ but it was an intriguing insight into the immensely complex subject of the Polish attitude to alcohol. Obviously, these were the raw and untempered opinions of hot-headed youth, but I’ve heard a similar boasts in more subtle forms from all kinds of people. I’ve spoken to gentle and god-fearing young ladies who draw the line at an occasional glass of wine and heard them assert that a ‘strong head’ for alcohol is a defining characteristic of the true Pole. What’s interesting is that this belief persist alongside an equally deep-seated belief that drinking to excess is a shocking and heinous sin. On the one hand Poles are happy to suggest that they can drink any other nation under the table, while on the other they utterly deplore the actual act of drinking.
Interestingly most Poles imbibe very little and couldn’t drink a thirsty rabbit under the table. I am not a professional-level drinker but I’m amazed at the number of times that I’ve been invited out for drinks by a Pole who has suggested with heavy winks that it’s going to be a ‘night to remember’ only for him to fold and collapse in the early stages. It’s as if the very act of deliberately ‘going out to drink’ is wicked enough, the actual consumption of large amounts of alcohol is nether here nor there. It’s true that many westerners perceive Poles as heavy drinkers, but I’m convinced that this is purely because of the strange reputation of vodka itself. The mental equation goes something like this: Poles are from eastern (really central) Europe, Eastern Europeans drink vodka, vodka is a wild and crazy drink, therefore Poles are wild and crazy heavy drinkers. For some reason, that would be very interesting to research, vodka is seen as a spectacularly powerful and potent form of alcoholic beverage. Take a bottle of vodka to a party in England and you will be seen as a wild and dangerous character. Take a bottle of gin, which has exactly the same alcohol content, and you will be seen as a sensible and helpful guest. The truth is that most Poles drink very little and very rarely get drunk whereas most English people drink fairly regularly and get drunk often. Having said that, there are some spectacular drunks in Poland. I have seen a man down an entire bottle of vodka in one movement and ask for another. Of course he may have been dead the next morning. But, in general Poles seem to have developed an efficient division-of-labour system when it comes to alcohol consumption. The vast majority of Poles drink rarely and with considerable restraint but there is a small elite corps of front line spetsnaz drinkers who take the bulk of the strain for the entire nation. I have seen these brave and fearless guys slumped on benches all over Poland, or passed out in doorways. I’ll never forget one guy who I saw casually flat on his back half in and half out of a doorway in Kazimierz, his feet protruding onto the pavement. People were stepping gingerely over him to get into the building as he snored away. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve seen comatose drunks slumped in trams, buses, government offices, or doorsteps. This is extremely rare in England (and I do speak for England here, not Scotland, Ireland, or Wales about which I know little). And yet, it is certainly true that the average Englishman drinks far more and more often than the average Pole. I don’t know any English men, and only one English woman, who forswears alcohol, but it isn’t uncommon to come across Polish men who don’t drink and Polish women who will drink more than the occasional half pint of beer are thin on the ground.
Rare photo of a professional Polish drunk on his feet – that’s him on the right
I attended a traditional Polish wedding recently, about which I will write more later, and was introduced to the official Polish method of getting drunk. This is one of the few social occasions in Poland at which it is acceptable to get a little bit tipsy. Even there, I only saw a handful of guys who were full-on staggering-about wasted. It struck me that a lot of this was down to the strict and deeply ingrained rules for vodka consumption that exist here. It took me some time to get used to these. The key is to understand that it’s a communal affair. The procedure for drinking at a Polish wedding is as follows:
1. Find a bottle of vodka (this is not normally a problem).
2. Identify five or six people who are within earshot and alert them to the fact that you have a bottle of vodka (this is also rarely a problem).
3. Indicate to these people that you would like to share a drink with them (it helps if you can speak Polish at this point, but raising your eyebrows and proffering the bottle in a suggestive manner also works pretty well).
4. Pour a shot of vodka into everyone’s glass (everyone WILL have one of these sacred shot glasses).
5. Make eye contact with one or two people (depending on your level of inebriation), raise your own glass in the air (not too high!) and make a toast (‘Na zdrowie’ meaning ‘to health’ is the classic, although I like to say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Bottoms up’ just to confuse people).
6. Pour the vodka (ALL the vodka) down the back of your neck (tilting the head right back often helps).
7. Show no pain.
8. Shake any remnants onto the floor or into any other glass of beer, tea, or fruit juice that you may have lying around (vodka is sacred and wasting it is a very bad thing).
9. Grin broadly.
10. Start thinking about how long one should wait before repeating step 1 (I can’t really help you here, but I feel your pain).
There are a couple of very interesting features of this drinking procedure that I would like to compare and contrast with the time-honored English tradition of buying rounds. For anyone who doesn’t know what I mean by ‘buying rounds’ here’s a breakdown:
1. Find and enter a pub (this is not normally a problem).
2. Identify the people you entered the pub with (this is also rarely a problem unless you have previously been to another pub – maybe one day I will explain the concept of a pub crawl). These people are commonly referred to as ‘mates’ whether or not they are actually of the opposite sex or, indeed, actual ‘mates’ in that sense.
3. Decide who is going to buy the next ’round.’ This means deciding who will be first to buy a drink for everyone (this often takes fair amount of time).
4. Go to the bar and buy the drinks requested by your mates (if in doubt just buy the same drink x number of times and claim you forgot the details).
5. Drink (only on very special occasions such as death, birth, marriage, or extreme inebriation is it necessary to offer a toast – in which case ‘cheers’ is more than sufficient).
6. Continue drinking until your beer/other drink is finished (you may want to engage in conversation with your mates during this period although this is by no means compulsory or even advisable).
7. Show no pain.
8. Make rude comment about those who are drinking more slowly/quickly than you are, labeling them ‘lightweights/beer monsters’ as appropriate.
9. Grin broadly (or start a fight).
10. Go directly to step 3. The person you bought the first round is exempt from buying any further rounds until everyone else has bought one (this is very important).
There are a couple of important differences that need to be teased out here, and I think they go a long way to explaining why the average drinking session among Englishmen ends with a lot of people staggering around half cut, staring fights, or racing around the Rynek Glowny with their trousers around their ankles while the average drinking session among Poles ends with nothing more noteworthy than high spirited goodbyes and backslapping.
Scottish people have the same rules about buying rounds as English people, but there is the added threat that they wear dresses.
Under Polish rules one person has to initiate drinking. Deciding that you want a drink isn’t enough. You have to be sure that you can persuade at least one, and ideally three or four, other people that they should have a drink at the same time. Pouring a shot of vodka for yourself and happily downing it will cause Polish people to stare at you in that special way that they reserve for lunatics and ignorant foreigners. You can get escorted to the airport at gunpoint for that kind of behavior. This means that you have to seriously consider what other people will think of you for wanting another drink at that point in time. Every drink you have is automatically a public affair. It takes a certain social standing within the group in order to successfully pull off the drinking maneuver. Again, social standing shows itself to be such an important element of Polish culture. The meek guy sitting in the corner has little to no chance of getting a drink when he wants one, he has to wait for one of the alpha males to suggest it instead. Women never make this move. As a foreigner you initially have a certain degree of power, but this soon wanes. For any Englishmen out there not wanting to expire from thirst at a wedding or similar affair I strongly suggest the following strategy:
1. Pour vodka for yourself and then look shocked and ashamed when Polish people around you explain the rules. Make sure you get this first one down your neck during their explanations, it might be a while before you get another.
2. After a decent interval, offer everyone a drink. You can probably get away with this a few times before people get tired of you.
3. Wander off to another table and sit down in a spare chair as if you are lost or resting after excessive dancing. Pretend to understand absolutely no Polish and people will soon start to offer you drinks, food, and kisses on the cheek. Faced with a foreigner at a wedding table most Poles will automatically start to swell with pride at the magnificence of their customs and generosity (although none them are actually paying for it) and introduce you to the drinking procedure.
4. Wander to another table and repeat step 3. Poles have almost infinite belief in the ignorance of foreigners – not a characteristic unique to this nation by any means. Take care that you don’t choose the table that you started at – this can lead to industrial grade staring and a severe vodka drought.
Under English rules drinking responsibility is shared by the group. When one round is finished it is automatically assumed that the next person will accept the responsibility for buying/acquiring the next round. It is voluntary exactly who the next person is, but everybody knows who has and who hasn’t yet got a round in. It is completely impossible to refuse this mantle. If you have deliberately entered the pub with four other guys you have automatically accepted that you will be buying drinks for everybody at least once, and that you will be having at least four drinks. If there are five or six or ten, the same responsibilities ensue. It is possible to make one or more of these drinks non-alcoholic, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Let’s consider for a moment the group of 15 English guys arriving in Krakow for a stag party. You can do the mathematics yourself. Even if there is only one round per person per day, and this would be considered very mean, the potential for extreme intoxication becomes obvious. I have absolutely no idea where we got this system from, but it is taught to all Englishman from the day they first look old enough to get into a pub.
In English there are many phrases that are used to criticize a person for drinking too slowly or too quickly. These exist because drinking particularly slowly or quickly throws off the whole rhythm of the round-buying procedure and consequently causes social and metal pain. The Polish system neatly avoids this because the actual drinking part takes a couple of seconds. It is replaced with a period of uncertainty in which people at varying levels of inebriation are counting down in the heads. As far as I’m concerned this leads to high levels of stress. I’m convinced that the guys slumped on benches are those who have cracked under the strain, grabbed a bottle of vodka for themselves and never looked back.
How can there possibly be no comments on this post… what’s wrong with you people!?
I don’t have a comment, I have a question, however, going: As — Jethro Tull sings in handy: I’m Too Old to Rock’n'Roll, Too Young to Die — meaning: I’ve been too young to be(come) a Communist times’ heavy (fire) water drinker [though some claim this fine land's sons are genetically more fire-resistant] — and yet too young to learn what a delicacy to the civilised Western palate can be — in short, well, shorter: aspiring to find myself a blend of some old system’s Eastern frankness and some new Western sophisitication — I’ve found whisky and red dry wine to have the potential to conjoin or disjoin vulgarity and poshability, wherever, whenever and however required — but so what? — I go on drinking and drinking and still can’t tell a good distill from bad — any whisky is just damn fine hot, and any red dry wine is just damn fine dry — and I can’t rely on the price factor, because some more expensive stuff, metastes, sucks more than some cheapsters — so do you, guys from Where No Pole Has Drunk Before (Till A Short Time Ago) think the whole “good vs bad alcohol” is just one huge marketing hype encited by Gentlemanly Connoisseur Monthly-like rascals aimed at practical jokes and rip-offs — or are you really capable of distinguishing bouquets, vintages, cellars or hues of carrageen or heathers the barrel was rolled on — and if your answer to the latter is yes, then: HOW, both how do you do it, and / or how long does it take to be able to?
darthsida: The idea that us westerners are sophisticated drinkers is, I’m afraid, woefully inaccurate. I’m surprised you didn’t notice this during your brief sojourn in Blighty. The average Brit sucks down pints of rat’s piss lager with about as a much discernment as a starving dog in a bone yard. Concoctions such as blue-tinged Smirnoff Ice are considered the hight of sophistication in such circles.
Having said that, wine and whisky snobbery is not entirely unknown and also not entirely without justification (not to mention Real Ale snobbery, but that’s an issue for another day). Pour yourself a splash of Talisker and then a drop of bog standard Teachers and you’re a strange man indeed if you can’t taste the difference. Of course a bottle of Talisker costs silly money in this country so you may have to wait a while before you can put this experiment into practice. As to wine; I’m no expert, but it always seemed to me that you just have to find the wines you like. A good wine is often as much to do with your expectations of it and your association with it as it is to do with price.
The average Brit I kept meeting was speaking fluent Polish. Another average Brit kept looking Sikh and not feeling like speaking. Yet another kept being a Hindu seller with a vast variety of Polish beers and friendly nodding: Polish-beer-good.
But from what you wrote I understand I was reasonable, long time ago when we was grad, not to pamper myself with that 100mg shot of Johnny Walker Blue Label, Highlander pub, central Wroclaw mon amour, for half my wallet. Ta!
Dear Author,
I do intend to comment on this post (aren’t you a little afraid ?) but I will need some free time on my hands to do that.
After the Christmas cleaning and cooking, if there is still some strength left in my exhausted body, I will contribute to it, no doubt (on condition that I do not collapse after a glass of some vintage semi-dry …).
Jolanta
Dear Author,
Having checked four times already if the white barszcz (very unusual for this part of Poland) is sour enough and between two impressive batches of pierogi ( I am helping my mother make Christmas Eve Supper pierogi with cabbage and mushrooms, with cheese and onion and some sweet ones with apples – putting the filling inside the “packet” is all I am capable of) I can add a few comments to your thought-provoking text.
1.You seem to have confirmed my deep-seated belief that, on average, English people drink far more and with greater frequency than my fellow countrymen. The first time I spent a fortnight with some English friends I was truly suprised to see that the lady of the house drank at least one glass of sherry everyday and her two sons could not leave a whole bottle of wine in peace. On a daily basis I had to reject their offer of a drink because I was so afraid that, sooner or later, I would become addicted.
2. My parents have never drunk much and almost never vodka. Neither have their friends. I remember opening the fridge when I was ten and seeing A BOTTLE OF VODKA on the shelf – I was terrified that they had become drunkards!
I have seen my father drunk only once in my entire life, when he came back home after some fraternising with his colleagues; I hasten to add that he paid dearly for it with a splitting headache and nausea combined with my mum’s angry face.
3. On the other hand, my friends drink definitely more than the older generation (and we are not so young ourselves). When they meet as a group in a pub, they usually get drunk; when they go on holiday, they drink every night; when they meet in somebody’s flat they drink too. It seems as if they find a large amount of alcohol necessary to have fun, but, unfortunately, there is no fun involved for those who prefer a certain limit …
Real conversation is impossible, the superficiality of communication is irritating – I have finally stopped taking part in that kind of socialising.
4. It is true that a traditional (?) Polish wedding reception cannot be without vodka. Because I think the taste of this legendary drink is revolting and the side effects a high price to pay, I do my best to be assertive and I never drink it. As a result, I have to ask the hosts to buy some wine for me or … bring it myself. It may surprise you but, when the wine eventually appears on the table, there are more people who are looking longingly in the direction of the bottle that anybody might have expected. If the circumstances are extreme (namely, there is ONLY vodka on the table), I prefer to stay thirsty.
The whole situation is even worse for my companion who is 100% teetotal and has to give all kinds of excuses why he is not drinking AT ALL. Judging by our previous experience, a terminal illness as a reason works wonders! However, the wedding receptions when there is no alcohol on the horizon are rather scary too … One has to look the long-forgotten relatives in the eye and admit that, actually, one does not know who they are (and there is no valid excuse that one is too drunk to be able to recognise them!).
5. Please, do not get me wrong. I am no stranger to drink myself and I do like an occasional glass of wine (or two). Actually, I have recently followed Charlie Dimmock’s advice (you do know her, don’t you?) and taken to weeding with a glass of wine as a companion – it helps enormously, believe me. Unfortunately, next spring I will have to disguise the beverage by putting it in a teacup because my dear neighbours are already worried that I may be doing considerable damage to the reputation of our respectable street.
Enjoy your Wigilia with a glass wine, then (if it is allowed in your circles).
Jolanta
darth:
“Another average Brit kept looking Sikh”
Classic darth statement!
It’s a fair point, from the point of view of a visitor, London is a ridiculous concept of a place. Just a huge group of people from all over the world imagining they are in some particular place or society that is really just made up of another group of people imagining they are in some other particular place or society.
I liked your description of the local shop situation, it made me feel homesick.
Jolanta:
We thank you for taking a few moments from your onerous cooking duties to comment, even if they are restricted to stuffing. By the way, was there a carp swimming in your bath, or is that a terribly working-class thing to do? Seriously, I have no idea.
1. “her two sons could not leave a whole bottle of wine in peace” is a beautiful phrase! You were quite correct, sooner or later you would have become addicted. And yes, we do drink more and more consistently than Poles I’m sure.
2. My parents don’t drink much either, although my grandfather was a massive gin-and-tonic consumer. I say ‘was’ only because he gave it up in his 87th year, not because it killed him. In fact, he still enjoys the occasional G and T when entertaining his girlfriend.
I like the bottle-of-vodka-in-the-fridge-horror moment!
3. and then i went to bed
Dear (sleepy) Author,
For a little while I was toying with the idea of taking offence but it suddenly dawned on me that if I quit, I will never find a better place to flaunt my profound encyclopaedic knowledge …
By the way, there was no carp in my bathroom last week and, frankly speaking, this Christmas carp was probably the last one in my life. I think the way this poor creature is transported, kept in the shallow and bloody water for hours on end until it is put (alive) in a plastic bag and taken home is cruel and unacceptable. I refuse to take part in this ridiculous communist custom any longer.
Good night
Sorry about that Jolanta,
I was literally overcome with fatigue (and possibly beer) it wasn’t a comment on the appeal of your comments, which were as fascinating as always.
Where on earth did the carp idea come from in the first place? It’s always struck me as faintly oriental, which seems odd.
now where was I…
3. Yes, it is completely impossible to have an interesting conversation with someone who is drinking if you are not, and vice-versa. I’m not entirely with you on the accusation of superficiality though. It’s strange, but certainly true, that different alcohols cause people to get drunk in different ways. Whisky almost always makes people thoughtful (if prone to occasional aggressive outbursts) while vodka seems to make people vapid. Weird.
4. I like the idea that the only way to get out of drinking vodka is terminal illness! The only thing I don’t like about vodka is that you can’t sip it over an extended period. Wine is, of course, ideal for this and therefore far superior in social situations.
5. Ah yes, Charlie Dimmock and her notorious, well… charlies. I think you’ll probably get away with the wine-in-a-teacup ruse as long as you don’t start following her undergarment advice.
[...] The saying is: “truth shows when wine flows”. When someone goes sloshed(wards), their mind starts closing but their mouth starts spilling the beans (beside some grosser things) — so you can learn a lot. Yet, though any potent wine, plonks included, can do the trick – you have to stay sober yourself – and the timing is crucial since Poles are not heavy drinkers. [...]
[...] Drinking in Poland – the truth [...]
well, this really helped with my health report! thanks!
everyone i know takes vodka to parties. its normal.
no-one i know takes gin. not normal.
On the other hand, if my granny was having a party………….
Oh, bugger. Why did you have to discover all that??? I don’t feel so naughty any more when I drink my third glass…
Hi,
I’m a Pole (not North/South pole but a man from country called Poland). It is nice to see how we are seen all over the world – but sad at the same time.
I will try to put some light into unclear and/or unspoken things about your article.
1. In our culture alcohol is something user frequently. It is similar in other cultures (in the ancient times people used to drink wine – didn’t they?). Thus our body (DNA?) got used to drinking. This is why some Poles could be resistant to alcohol – but remember that there are some (many) ordinary people.
If looking at Poles you should look at our past – when we were in the stage of communism. People were doing nothing – no matter if we were working or not, we were paid. If you don’t need to work then you could drink at work, don’t you? And at some point most of the Poles were drinking at work/before work/after work.
2. Poles working at building sites are often drinking. Look at previous point
3. Traditional polish wedding must include vodka. Currently there should be some waiter filling the glasses. On province you have to do it on your own. An average amount of vodka on a polish wedding varies but it is bellow 0.5 liter per head count (since some of the wedding guests are not drinking at all).
4. Currently the situation in Poland is changing drastically – and the process is here for many years already. Less and less people are drinking.
5. Most of the unemployed people (many of them were drunks) left our country to find some job abroad. However many valuable people left as well.
Your image of “typical Pole” is probably the image of such “unemployed unqualified polish drunk who left the country”. On the other side you might have noticed Poles that are valuable employees.
6. Right now many Poles are coming back to Poland. Thus “the odor” might stay while few Poles are left. I’m not sure what is going to happen in Poland with them now.
7. In general we are more resistant to alcohol – because it is in our culture and our bodies are genetically used to it. However we are used to drinking thus we “know how to drink”. That makes us in general more resistant to the alcohol. Note that I know some people from other countries who can beat most of the Poles in drinking.
Have you seen a guy from Sweden who is drunk? He is laying on the ground vomiting under himself.
Have you seen a guy from Finland who is drunk? He was drinking with his neighbor from Russia and they are both laying in the bed.
Have you seen a guy from Poland who is drunk? He either looks like every day (because he is drunk every day) or he is laying on the ground vomiting under himself.
Maciek,
Maybe you’re taking too serious of what is just a joke! I did not get offended or shaken as you – maybe because I do not drink vodka…
[...] Drinking in Poland – the truth [...]
LOL! Loved this article, couldn’t stop laughing! We’re going to a wedding in Poland tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it even more! Thnaks.
OOoops, must be the vodka, I meant THANKS!
Chantal: Should be a blast, have fun! And don’t forget to check out 15 things you need to know about Polish weddings – the survival guide:
http://polandian.home.pl/index.php/2009/05/11/15-things-you-need-to-know-about-polish-weddings-%E2%80%93-the-survival-guide/
Funniest thing related to drinking I’ve read in a long time! This is brilliant.
This would be funny, if I didn’t find it absolutely false. And you landed at some sort of a horrible wedding.
I didn’t indepthly look at the rest of your blog, therefore have no idea where your stay took place but, if you were anywhere south of Krakow, in the Podhale of Malopolska, you would be much more entertained and exposed to the only Poland I know.
I heard that the Poles in the North were weak at drinking but I viewed it as an understatement.
In the villages, where people farm and work, drinking is something you must do at the end of the day, but more likely during lunch time, so that planting the rest of the fields with potatoes will go easier.
also it is rude to open a bottle and not finish it, regardless of whether or not there are 2 or 10 of you.
and this business of everyone having their own sacred shotglass is b.s. down here as well. The group sharing the bottle shares one kieliszek, therefore the insults about slow drinking do take place because you’re waiting for that cup. and we also don’t like to disturb the tempo.
and the thing about no people staggering and such, you say vodka is a crazy drink, i don’t see how. once the art of drinking vodka is mastered it doesn’t tend to alter your locomotion but goes for your head, therefore, one completely out of his mind may appear, sober and in control.
whereas beer gets you good, and the effects slowly show
agh. I could continue.
That sir, is a magnificent blog post.
i am polish as well and had quite a bit of trouble stopping laughing. this was hilarious. ive often bragged about being able to drink vodka like water ( voda = water in polish). however i have realized more recently that a lot of poles actually cant hamdle their alcahol. i think its the vodka personally, it has a rep of making people nautious. i could drink lager all day, even more than water haha.
Leave the drunks alone.
They have probably hurt no one.
Let them wander off into the forest or the side of a highway or a nice church, where it is safe.
I don’t really mind alcoholics, just don’t ask me to get into your car.
Frankly, alcoholics make me sick.
If you drink too much vodka, you will die and not wake up.
Bald people are gross, and so are men who own DOGS.
MOST MEN ARE DOGS.
YOU ARE DOG SHIT – GO AWAY.
Are all men pathetic losers?
Perhaps they are…perhaps they aren’t…
Take a bath – you are disgusting.
And learn how to dress.
Tie your shoelaces and learn better etiquette.
Good manners will take you farther in life than a broken fist.
Learn better manners.
What’s wrong with saying please, thank you, or I’m sorry….
I have known many alcoholics, and a lot of them are quite sad – men and women who once had careers or good families or nice houses, and have squandered all of their dreams for addiction.
haha! they weren’t joking about alcohol tolerance.
I have an English encyclopedia that says that Polish people, Russians, etc. are an exception when it comes to doses of alcohol that cause disorientation.
Too much alcohol can cause you to go BALD.
Don’t insult the proud people of Poland.
The Polish are communists never.
Only Russians and stupid people play roulette, and they frequently kill themselves, because they are drunk and stupid, and I think it’s mostly because of themselves.
Give a drunken Russian a loaded gun, and see if he kills himself.
A drunk Russian will blow his head off before someone from another country.
Intense amounts of alcohol can cause completely normal people to go slightly “crazy”.
Drink less.
Or get addicted to food.
A nice chocolate cake or a really good lobster dinner is much better without alcohol.
Food is better than booze.
But if you do drink alcohol, ALWAYS eat food first.