People of class drink alcohol

[Doktor Howl]

This is another thing Mr. Language and I were discussing the other night; our personal correlations between drinking and writing. Both of us find that we are better and more prolific writers when we drink.

I get more writing done when I'm fucked up on pills.  I throw 90% of it away, but the remaining 10% is twice the amount I do when my head is clear.

[Adios]

Ok, I am not being clear. I posit the amount of education does not in any way pertain to how much one drinks. I have been a blue collar hillybilly most of my life and also rubbed shoulders with highly educated people. It has been MY experience that a cowboy bar is a hell of a lot more fun on Friday night that a yuppie bar. Cowboys are out to have fun a d raise hell and the Yuppies seem to be more interested in impressing others with their wit. I bet a cowboy bar with a decent band sells a hell of a lot more alcohol than the yuppie bar does.

Hope this clears up the confusion.

[AFK]

To be honest, in my professional opinion, the data as it has been presented leaves a little to be desired.  First, he doesn't look into economical variables, or at least he didn't publish them.  My hunch is that may be a variable influencing the trend.  Second, what does "drink" mean?  Is it defined as someone who drinks regularly?  Does it include people who tried alcohol once or twice but no longer drink? 

It's clear from what he writes that the trend cuts across the variables he did discuss which is primarily gender, religion, and region, but this means he is missing something, or multiple somethings. 

Also, it would be helpful to have more information on WORDSUM.  Who takes it?  Where?  My guess is that is also a confounding variable. 

[Requia ☣]

WORDSUM is part of the General Social Survey where he gets all his data.  This is a big national survey done every few years (16 times between 1974 and 2007) with in home interviews.

[Requia ☣]

Ok, I am not being clear. I posit the amount of education does not in any way pertain to how much one drinks. I have been a blue collar hillybilly most of my life and also rubbed shoulders with highly educated people. It has been MY experience that a cowboy bar is a hell of a lot more fun on Friday night that a yuppie bar. Cowboys are out to have fun a d raise hell and the Yuppies seem to be more interested in impressing others with their wit. I bet a cowboy bar with a decent band sells a hell of a lot more alcohol than the yuppie bar does.

Hope this clears up the confusion.

'uneducated people who go to bars' is a hell of a bias when you're talking about drinking habits.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This is another thing Mr. Language and I were discussing the other night; our personal correlations between drinking and writing. Both of us find that we are better and more prolific writers when we drink.

I get more writing done when I'm fucked up on pills.  I throw 90% of it away, but the remaining 10% is twice the amount I do when my head is clear.

Yes, this factor. Sometimes, or even often, taking something like alcohol or pills seems to knock out my little "this is no good" self-censor, which means that I write a lot of crap and a lot of incomplete ideas, but even so the amount of good stuff that gets through is vastly increased.

[Doktor Howl]

This is another thing Mr. Language and I were discussing the other night; our personal correlations between drinking and writing. Both of us find that we are better and more prolific writers when we drink.

I get more writing done when I'm fucked up on pills.  I throw 90% of it away, but the remaining 10% is twice the amount I do when my head is clear.

Yes, this factor. Sometimes, or even often, taking something like alcohol or pills seems to knock out my little "this is no good" self-censor, which means that I write a lot of crap and a lot of incomplete ideas, but even so the amount of good stuff that gets through is vastly increased.

Yep.  My problem is that I think everything I write is crap, so I need the old inhibitions lowered a bit.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This article contains more detail: http://www.newsrecord.org/sections/news/researchers-suggest-iq-alcohol-correlation-1.849034

but I'd like to see the study itself.

I also think it's worth noting that while there may be creative benefits to alcohol and/or drug consumption, absolutely no one is saying that drinking heavily is a good thing. If anything, if this correlation is confirmed with future studies, it should set off alarm bells because it would mean that high-IQ children are at increased risk for alcoholism.

Also, Hawk, "yuppies in trendy bars" aren't necessarily smarter than "NASCAR rednecks". They're just from a different economic demographic. Your observation is essentially irrelevant.

[Adios]

Ok, I am not being clear. I posit the amount of education does not in any way pertain to how much one drinks. I have been a blue collar hillybilly most of my life and also rubbed shoulders with highly educated people. It has been MY experience that a cowboy bar is a hell of a lot more fun on Friday night that a yuppie bar. Cowboys are out to have fun a d raise hell and the Yuppies seem to be more interested in impressing others with their wit. I bet a cowboy bar with a decent band sells a hell of a lot more alcohol than the yuppie bar does.

Hope this clears up the confusion.

'uneducated people who go to bars' is a hell of a bias when you're talking about drinking habits.

Wut? Where did I say 'uneducated'?

[AFK]

This article contains more detail: http://www.newsrecord.org/sections/news/researchers-suggest-iq-alcohol-correlation-1.849034

but I'd like to see the study itself.

I also think it's worth noting that while there may be creative benefits to alcohol and/or drug consumption, absolutely no one is saying that drinking heavily is a good thing. If anything, if this correlation is confirmed with future studies, it should set off alarm bells because it would mean that high-IQ children are at increased risk for alcoholism.

Also, Hawk, "yuppies in trendy bars" aren't necessarily smarter than "NASCAR rednecks". They're just from a different economic demographic. Your observation is essentially irrelevant.

College.

And I'm amazed this study didn't address that.  They kind of get at it by looking at professions, but it is not directly addressed.  But I think if the researchers had looked at attending a 4 year college as a factor, it would have shed some light on their results. 

Kids with higher mental abilities are more likely to attend a 4-year college and colleges, as we know, are hot-beds for social drinking. 

So I don't think it is the IQ, my hunch is it is more to do with whether or not the kid attends college. 

[AFK]

WORDSUM is part of the General Social Survey where he gets all his data.  This is a big national survey done every few years (16 times between 1974 and 2007) with in home interviews.

How do they choose the homes? 

[Adios]

This article contains more detail: http://www.newsrecord.org/sections/news/researchers-suggest-iq-alcohol-correlation-1.849034

but I'd like to see the study itself.

I also think it's worth noting that while there may be creative benefits to alcohol and/or drug consumption, absolutely no one is saying that drinking heavily is a good thing. If anything, if this correlation is confirmed with future studies, it should set off alarm bells because it would mean that high-IQ children are at increased risk for alcoholism.

Also, Hawk, "yuppies in trendy bars" aren't necessarily smarter than "NASCAR rednecks". They're just from a different economic demographic. Your observation is essentially irrelevant.

I in no way intended to imply a difference in level of education includes a difference in intelligence. Many factors can come into play when it comes for the opportunity for a higher education.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This article contains more detail: http://www.newsrecord.org/sections/news/researchers-suggest-iq-alcohol-correlation-1.849034

but I'd like to see the study itself.

I also think it's worth noting that while there may be creative benefits to alcohol and/or drug consumption, absolutely no one is saying that drinking heavily is a good thing. If anything, if this correlation is confirmed with future studies, it should set off alarm bells because it would mean that high-IQ children are at increased risk for alcoholism.

Also, Hawk, "yuppies in trendy bars" aren't necessarily smarter than "NASCAR rednecks". They're just from a different economic demographic. Your observation is essentially irrelevant.

College.

And I'm amazed this study didn't address that.  They kind of get at it by looking at professions, but it is not directly addressed.  But I think if the researchers had looked at attending a 4 year college as a factor, it would have shed some light on their results. 

Kids with higher mental abilities are more likely to attend a 4-year college and colleges, as we know, are hot-beds for social drinking. 

So I don't think it is the IQ, my hunch is it is more to do with whether or not the kid attends college. 

I haven't found the text to the actual study, do you have a link?

[Telarus]

Educated people do NOT drink more than anyone else.

See NASCAR please.

This is about drinking at all, not how much they drink.

Garbled syntax - he's positing that a larger number of uneducated people (broadly classified as NASCAR fans, perhaps unfairly) drink alcohol than the number of educated people.

Drinking with a group of people encourages story-telling (especially about other times those people got drunk), and also ecourages the development of 'jargon' specific to that group of drinkers. I can guarantee that NASCAR fans have jargon that you won't even begin to grok the origin/meaning of until you're buzzed and screaming it at a car that's been turning left for an hour.

Garbled Syntax indeed.

[Requia ☣]

Ok, I am not being clear. I posit the amount of education does not in any way pertain to how much one drinks. I have been a blue collar hillybilly most of my life and also rubbed shoulders with highly educated people. It has been MY experience that a cowboy bar is a hell of a lot more fun on Friday night that a yuppie bar. Cowboys are out to have fun a d raise hell and the Yuppies seem to be more interested in impressing others with their wit. I bet a cowboy bar with a decent band sells a hell of a lot more alcohol than the yuppie bar does.

Hope this clears up the confusion.

'uneducated people who go to bars' is a hell of a bias when you're talking about drinking habits.

Wut? Where did I say 'uneducated'?

I posit the amount of education does not in any way pertain to how much one drinks.

That would imply you felt the yuppie bars are full of the educated and the cowboy bars aren't.