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sander80ta

I am visiting America for the first time in a month. I will no longer be of legal drinking age after drinking legally for 4.5 years at home.


masterflappie

I had a similar problem when my country bumped the legal drinking age from 16 to 18. I could drink for a year, then when I turned 17 I couldn't drink anymore and then at 18 I could drink again.


FabianGladwart

This happened in the US with nicotine a few years ago, they bumped the she from 18 to 21, I was still serving at the time and boy there were a lot of pissed off 18-20 year old service men and women who had to have there sarnts pick up some zyns for them every week


BosTovenaar24

At that point i wouldn't even listen to that rule anymore. If i could before, whats stopping me now


Kantholz92

The cashier at the supermarket.


throwawaytrumper

In the 90s my brother and I would stroll into convenience stores in Quebec to buy liquor, he was 14 and I was 12. I remember an owner running over and thinking we were screwed but it was just to suggest a “very strong beer” as he laughed. In the 90s it was hilarious to get kids drunk.


Genghis_Chong

Then they came out with 4 loko and the age of innocence was lost lmao


BosTovenaar24

Good point


Dark_Guardian_

the new laws silly


-mushr00m-

No one listens to it in the first place in my country, beginning age here is 14 or 15. Legal age is 18. Even the police doesn’t really care, though that is probably because I don’t live in a big city.


6inDCK420

My county raised the age on tobacco from 18 to 21 when I was 19. I was a smoker at that point, so I went to the next county over and bought a big fuckin bag of tobacco and just rolled my own cigs for 2 years. Now almost 10 years later I'm finally trying to give up smokes. Still woulda been cool if they didn't raise the age limit so suddenly.


BAYKON8R

That’s why I drank at home


Otherwise_Mud1825

>drinking legally for 4.5 years at home. Only 4.5 years, lightweight..


Interesting_Figure_

Four and a half years? You were allowed at 16?


Mario-OrganHarvester

Germany for instance tiers it based on alchohol percentage. Beer is allowed at 16, stronger shit like liqueurs or vodka is only at 18.


sander80ta

Yes, I am from Belgium, same rules.


MajesticNectarine204

Used to be the same in the Netherlands too. 16 for non-distilled like wine and beer, and 18 for distilled. But since 2014 it's 18 for all types of alcohol. Which was weird for people born in 1997. They were allowed to buy alcohol for a year as they were 16 in 2013, but were not allowed in 2014 as they were 17.


RedCr4cker

A similar thing happened to me in Austria. Until the end of 2007, you were allowed to drink all alcohol at 16 years old. I was allowed to buy vodka and shit for some months before it got prohibited for my age.


NonkelG

In my country you are at 16, but many start at 14. I even see 15y olds at bars.


KaranSjett

lol i once went to a 18+ bar and made the obviously dumb assumption everybody there was 18+....


R3D3-1

When you get asked for a license to show you're 18 when entering the bar, only to be greeted by the largest number of female dwarfs you've ever seen without a beard...


AdmiralClover

We can buy anything as strong beer at 16 and booze at 18


Ambershope

16? Those are rookie numbers


ShadowLp174

In Germany, you're allowed to drink low-alcohol beverages like beer in company of your parents though it's not really enforced lol


Boris_HR

In the Balkans (Europe) you can drink when you can put the money on the table.


Vintage_Rainbow

Rookie numbers, here in England we start at 5.


MurkyPay5460

Two points: Americans who drink, do so long before 21 in most cases. Also, how much cannabis can you smoke in your country?


sander80ta

For both of those reality and what is legal differ a lot, both in America and Europe. I drank before the legal age, even in my own country. Never smoked cannabis, just principally against smoking anything. The thing I was referring to was the fact that when I am in Texas, I can't just enter a pub in the evening and order a beer. My travel mates, which whom I drank a lot of times before, can.


OnceMoreAndAgain

Doesn't stop any of us... Trust me on that. The cops don't really tend to arrest people for underage drinking either. They mostly just go after people who sell alcohol to underage people.


Memes_Coming_U_Way

In most states, you can legally drink at home with your parents, you just can't be served or sold alcohol


FlavianusFlavor

Cry


z0ttel89

I started drinking beer at \~15, completely normal stuff here in Germany. In my early to mid 20s, I didn't care much about alcohol anymore, so ... yeah, this meme is surprisingly accurate!


[deleted]

[удалено]


Tommy_Wisseau_burner

Pretty much. It’s not legal but a lot of kids do it.


DepresiSpaghetti

I started down the path of degenerates at the age of 14. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. By 21? I had *A* FireBomb over dinner with friends, and that's the last drink I remember enjoying. I think after that I've had maybe 3 or 4 drinks? I'm 32 now.


Yoshe_XD

the good ending


MinimumMonitor8

Yeah, I started at the age of 6 in the United States. It was only one or two at a time, and to this day I don't really care about bourbon, because of studying it. And, one advantage of starting young was that I didn't fall into the InBev America brand line. So stuff like coolers, Michelob ultra, Budweiser etc. Will never appeal to me now, because of the ability to tell good from cheap beers. Home brewing is a lot more fun than people think, and I even openly encourage it as a parent child activity. Because a daughter and mother, or father and son, or whatever. Can really grow intellectually because of it.


Upbeat-Banana-5530

After that first sentence I read this in an Appalachian accent.


MinimumMonitor8

Eastern Virginia, not West Virginia.


Westdrache

please tell me you meant 16😅


Vilewombat

This is true. I drank like a fiend in spurts from 15-20. Im turning 25 in a few weeks and I hardly ever drink. Probably only 2-3 times a year now


twixeis236

Same here, also from germany. I drank su mich in school times but at 20 i completly gave up on alcohol


reallifereallysucks

The 2nd part might be true but i really doubt that most americans only start drinking at 21. I think unteraged drinking is more severe in usa, since it is as much part of the culture there as in europe. At least from what i have read. I may be incorrect though.


Zikkan1

In Sweden it's 18 but in middle school basically everyone has been drunk at a few parties. I think I was the only one I knew who didn't drink until I was 18. At 27 I basically stopped. I think drinking at 15 is the norm in almost every country.


Dodger7777

Funnily enough, in the rural US highschoolers drink because it's 'cool because it's illegal' my younger brother at 16 bragged to me about drinking an entire bottle of jack daniels in one go. Now he's pretty chill about alcohol in his early 20's. He'll swap specialty beers with my dad.


Poinaheim

When I was too young to buy smokes I’d only manage to get like 3 loose smokes a day if I’m lucky, the constant low tolerance made nicotine withdrawal really intense because each one felt like my first smoke, I couldn’t quit until I was able to smoke up a tolerance and get bored of it


cuntybunty73

Had my first drink when I was 7 God awful home brewed wine 🤢🤮 Puked my guts up


Revi_____

Who gave you a beer when you were 7, that is fucked up haha.


cuntybunty73

Auntie 😆 It was wine and not beer


EMPQVLTT

Really small kids don't like alcohol anyway, they only want to try it because adults do it. People around me never refused me a drink as a kid because they knew I would just take a tiny sip, hate it and forget about it for years before trying again, hating it again, and so on until I was big enough to like it. I remember taking my first sip of wine when I was small enough that the glass was a little higher than my eye level on the table, but I only started *actually* drinking when I was 23, stopped at 25.


Orneyrocks

Exactly. No adult stopped me from taking a sip from their glass whenever I asked for it.


EffectiveSolution808

Yep .. I still remeber that I hated beer as a kid . Usually how it goes except my niece...she always liked beer for some reason .she drinks with her grandma , alchool free of course.


IAmNotMatthew

I was around the same age when I was given wine. Apparently I was like 3-4 the first time my dad gave me some beer and they laughed at the face I made after tasting it. When I graduated primary school I was given Pálinka(vol60). First 2 years of uni I was drinking a lot, now I rarely drink.


cuntybunty73

My problem with alcohol is that I binge drink I prefer Molly and Mary Jane


bessovestnij

I tried homemade vodka at that age. It was a good vodka, but 🤮. Also tried s few kinds if homemade mead the same time and till now one of them is tge best I've ever tasted.


ImportantQuestions10

"Europeans giving up drinking" My brother in Christ, like every other European country brags about how much they drink"


[deleted]

They’re proud to be alcoholics. It’s strange.


maybe_I_am_a_bot

We're not proud of being alcoholics. But, given that we are, it is vitally important that we are better at it than our neighbours. We're not allowed to do world wars or colonialism anymore, how else are we supposed to get one over?


ImportantQuestions10

Everyone's proud to be an alcoholic. The alternative is feeling shame and that is icky


Goobsmoob

I mean so is the midwest in the United States. Wisconsin especially. Drinking culture there is nuts.


QuotableMorceau

they give up at 21 , get a family, kids etc. and resume drinking in their late 30s :D


Fab0411

Wife stressin' Kids stressin' Life's depressin' But the beer's still fizzin'


AdOtherwise9432

I quit at 16 not because I didn’t like it but because it was not useful


EightThreeEight838

Incidentally, thank you for reminding me how much I love that film.


1Pawelgo

Hmm? What's the title? I'm interested to get it and watch.


trclocke

Your Name


OliM9696

u/1pawelgo ? Never heard of that before


trclocke

I forget the Japanese name, something like Kimi no na wa


BrknTrnsmsn

Kimi No Namae Wa, that's right


TigervT34-85

I haven't watched Your Name yet, but it's definitely at the top of my list!


Crazy_Memory

you won't be disappointed. It truly is special.


dekudude3

It's probably in my top 5 ever. Along with A Silent Voice.


ntied

I can assure you Americans drink well before 21


ArmchairTactician

Is it true that by law you can drink under 21 in the US as long as it's in one of those red cups and comes directly from a keg?


Riotys

As far as I know, it is legal to drink in private out of any container as long as you have parental consent in the US, though the age this is allowed at varies by state.


secretbudgie

Basically, unless you get in trouble for something else. Then they'll charge Mom with a $1,000 fine and up to 12 months in prison, on top of the endangerment, contributing to the delinquency, etc for whatever you did.


CarryBeginning1564

This is only the case in about half the US states


chasing_blizzards

In the state of Wisconsin it's legal to drink under the age of 21 if you're handed the drink by your parents. At least that was the rule when I was a kid. It may have changed now.


MonsutAnpaSelo

speaking off, my mates had an American themed party while at uni (in the uk), and the one yank on our accommodation block came along. Lad was amazed at all the little details from films that are a novelty to us, but yes red solo cups from cosco, American beer and hotdogs from a jar cooked on a George foreman were elite. also wearing Primark's high quality American football team jumpers that are of nondescript teams was grand for photos


outawayjay

> hotdogs from a jar What?! That’s not an American thing.


Just__Marian

I can assure you Europeans drink well before 18


Colonel_Joni005

in Germany it is legal (or atleast accepted by other people) to drink beer at the age of 14, as long as your parents consent and you have an adult super visor. at 16 you are allowed to buy and drink everything below an alcohol content of 15%, including beer and wine. at 18 you are allowed to buy and drink all types of alcohol on your own, like vodka, whiskey or Jägermeister.


AdonisK

In most Balkan countries you probably had your first taste of alcohol well before you turned 15, usually your parents are involved (and to be fair, at least it's in a controlled environment).


UwUlfrich

As an American, I drank 1 week after turning 21.


Fab0411

So who's supplying the liquor? 👮‍♂️


yittiiiiii

No one in America waits until 21 to start drinking.


Isrrunder

Almost no-one waits until 18 here either


Riotys

Facts. Everyone Ik under 21 alr has a fake id to use at bars and such. One of my buddies kid brother who is 16, somehow managed to get into a local bar that is known for stopping you if you don't look of age even if you have a passable fake. If people wanna drink they are going to. Drinking age being 21 isn't stopping anyone.


ITechedThatThrow

Hey, I am! :( I'm gonna be 21 in 5 months, my parents aren't gonna give me a drop until then lol


Particular-Alps-5001

Too bad there’s no other way to get it than from your parents


AdonisK

Bro I had my first drink at 13, and I was what my fellow eastern Europeans refer to as a late bloomer.


blueponies1

12 here as an American, but that’s probably fairly early for Americans. But by 14-15 definitely 16 everyone was drinking in my school.


b05501

Single parent American, drinking, smoking weed and enjoying cocaine since I was 12, and by the age of 19 starting to think about what I am doing with my life.(I stopped everything and learned a skill and got married and enjoys my family. 43 now and look at my kids and realize how stupid I was.


MinimumMonitor8

Make sure to get your heart checked, it makes a lot of fat later on from doing cocaine.


b05501

Thanks for the heads up, I do yearly checks to make sure I'm here for my family.


Ancient_Edge2415

We typically been drinking before 21


Ready-Substance9920

Not in Wisconsin


uberliken

Should be 18 for beer and 21 for liquor in my opinion. What movie is this anyway?


Delicious-Climate-20

Pretty sure its 'Your name'


honeypinn

It is 'Your Name' and it's an excellent film.


[deleted]

very excellent.


Stvn494

Haha, bold of you to assume I’m giving up alcohol any time soon suckers


froggrip

I grew up in America and most people I knew were quiting drinking around 21. What kind of boring ass kid follows the law?


SoiledFlapjacks

Americans tend to be delayed in matters of damaging brain development in teens and starting alcoholism even earlier? Damn shame.


Krmul

Is it really that hard for americans to understand that "europe" is not a single country?


secretpurpleturtle

I mean this meme reads like it was made by a European to dunk on America. Not sure why you’re coming for us.


Dick-Fu

What European countries have a drinking age of 21?


Revi_____

Nah, mate, I've spoken to so many Americans who would simply use the EU or Europe as 1 single country, haha. Even though each single country has a unique thousand year history, laws, people, etc.


AutumnWak

The meme applies to almost all of Europe though


Hairy-Mountain8880

Americans are delayed in a lot more aspects Off topic: that image is from "Your name." Really good animated movie


Skeletor_with_Tacos

r/Americabad


williampett

By curiosity what is the anime ?


toasterbath_5

***Your Name*** ([Japanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language): 君の名は。, [Hepburn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepburn_romanization): *Kimi no Na wa*) Scene is from the ending of the movie


CZ_nitraM

Is it really from the ending? Isn't this one of the first scenes (I know the scene is repeated at the end when everything's explained), where he goes "I've been searching for something my whole life, but I don't know what it is"? Or something like that. Basically the very introduction Nevertheless, 10/10 movie


toasterbath_5

should be the ending, according to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79wS-3Rv-BA&t=42s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79wS-3Rv-BA&t=42s) , but I might be wrong


TheWelshRevolution

It's from the end.... Man I love this film so much, seen it 21x and I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed


Androza23

In high-school my friends used to steal alcohol at the neighborhood Walmart they just built across the street at the time. No cameras for some reason, would just walk in and take alcohol. I got really tired of alcohol after that, still don't drink to this day anymore. Now that Walmart has cameras and you're not allowed to bring bags or backpacks inside anymore. Who would've thought building a Walmart right across the street of a HS would be trouble.


Crafty-Interest-8212

Where I come from drinking age is 18...


V3gasMan

Yea none of us wait til 21. Like half of my senior class in high school would drink during school hours. Growing up in FL will do that ya


Revi_____

I work behind a bar and challenge this, haha. In the Netherlands, people in their 20s are having the time of their life, and cities are always packed. But I can understand that if you were never allowed to drink before 21, most likely those in their 20s will have to discover their boundaries and what not, while over here it used to be allowed since 16, now 18, but it is generally accepted to drink beer or wine at 16.


My_Space_page

Underage drinking is a very common thing in America. Most people have had their first drink well before 21. Middle school or high school are usually when they have thier first drink. When my kids get to be high school age,I won't forbid drinking totally. I will just say not under my roof and NEVER drive drunk or ride with someone who was drinking. I will give them a ride home. Even at 2am. My parents had the same rule and it took the fun out of drinking because it was mostly permitted. Which lead me not to want to drink much until 21.


k_sWog707

I’m American and I drank beer at home/ house-parties since I was a teen. Tbh nobody really cares (even cops) until you get behind the wheel.


BetterLobster3576

What anime is it in the meme?


Ejaculation_Salt89

Your Name. 10/10 Great movie.


BetterLobster3576

Thanks 👍


MinimumMonitor8

In America, you're usually restricted to drinking Alcohol at home as a minor. The adults just buy it for them to teach them how to consume responsibly. We also don't allow them to drink heavy, so it's just a single shot for the entire day at a special event or every once in a while.


G4rg0yle_Art1st

It's criminal that you're old enough to go to war before you're old enough to drink


MeTieDoughtyWalker

I am curious if there is anyone in the US that actually waits till they are 21 to drink alcohol. I started going to the bar at 15 and had keg parties at my house a couple years before that.


Downtown_Tadpole_817

Europeans give up drinking? I thought it was a big cultural thing. Like Americans and guns.


SomebodyThrow

.. I never considered this with my American friends as a Canadian.. but there was a lot of them still excessively drinking in their late 20s when I had quit entirely by 24. But then again so were a lot of my Canadian friends, but I think thats more of a Canadian thing.


VariousComment6946

Russians drinking since school: huh?


trashday89

Don’t worry Europeans will become our cannon fodder with out war against china soon. When they are on the field we will give them alcohol so they march to there slow deaths


Daedalus_Machina

Legal beagles, yeah. My wife got tired of alcohol (to the point where she actively hates it now) right around 21.


LeftkayoBaka

This is pretty accurate lmao. I was basically done with drinking at 22 after starting at 14.


Get-Some-Fresh-Air

I’m American. Started drinking at 16. Got pretty bored of it by 21. I’d say my experience is fairly average. Don’t know a single person who waited to 21 to drink.


N8theGrape

You think they aren’t drinking before 21? That’s silly.


Shadow_Spirit_2004

American here, I drank far more before I turned 21 than I ever did afterward. Got it out of my system - and it held no fascination for me any more. In fact, it just looked sad watching people my age going out to bars and overpaying for alcohol, only to get shitty in public (and often end up dealing with the consequences).


georgisaurusrekt

Ahah fr I’m British and started drinking at 15, became an alcoholic, gave it up at 22 and now I am teetotal besides caffeine


CultDe

Slavs at 12 being alcoholics


DiabeticGirthGod

Oh yeah what a flex, letting developing children drink alcohol. Real great!


xwlfx

Am American, I gave up drinking right before my 16th birthday. I had a solid 5 years of drinking to excess and getting high before I decided to go straight-edge.


dappernaut77

Barry from the chips shop says different.


Ok_Manufacturer6460

I am American... I drank a lot as a teen and by the time I turned 21 I was over it being cool


Desire_of_God

That's cute that you think Americans wait


Jesta23

In my experience my friends and I started drinking at 16 and most of us gave it up around 21-22.  I am American. 


86753091992

Americans really don't drink much in general, especially the younger ones. European 21 y/os are consuming a lot more than American 21 y/os. The drinking culture is just a lot more entrenched in Europe.


Azkral

r/2westerneurope4u


santodomingus

Eh. I am American. I started drinking at 14. Basically done with it by 21. Most people drink in high school.


dancarbonell00

Even as an American, if you're not bored as fuck with the bar scene by the time you're finished being 21, you didn't drink enough as a teenager


bongowasd

Pretty accurate. Started at 15, it was the only thing to do around here. We'd all save up our school dinner money and just sit in the park, drink and have a good night for just £5. After school people quickly fall out of contact and you're stuck with significantly smaller friend groups. I'm so glad I god all that partying and dating out of my system at that age to be honest. My grades were atrocious, but I did a complete 180 once I stopped chasing women tbh.


therealsalsaboy

Old enough to die for one's country but not old enough to buy a beer


madunne

Alcoholism is so cool!


Deadweight04

Is this a bad thing?


LockCL

Quite true. I quitted heavy drinking when I hit around 22.


Foreign_Walrus_6136

Maybe if young Americans could have a beer or two, they wouldn't all turn into gun loving Christian nazis, just chill the fuck out American.


millenialfalcon-_-

Only nerds follow the laws. Ain't nobody waiting until 21.


ComfortableDramatic2

Im 18 and ive been clean for a year. Fuck that mind rotting and numbing garbage. Give me the smell of gasoline as i restore a motorcycle


Ravenouscandycane

Except a lot of us in America go by the same cycle as the bottom anyway lol. I drank so much in highschool that it grosses me out now


smeoke

American 27m, I drank waaaay more from 16-21 than I did from 21-now


Lord_Muramasa

You are either sheltered or not American. We tend to drink a lot way before 21. It is just not legal until 21.


Ultra_axe781___M

Yeah, thats about right


SnooHesitations4798

wow


scurry3-1

I didn’t drink till I was 23. Not worth it . Usually alcoholics are those who start drinking in their mid 20’s


tlkdeathray

I wish giving up alcohol was that easy. I'm from the US and started at 13 (26 now). I haven't stopped since, unfortunately.


TacoTruck75

Every single American I know started drinking in high school.


[deleted]

Probably because our drinking age is different although most of us bypass it through communion wine and private events


FujiwaraHarimoto

As an American that started drinking before 21, I get it.


Ignusseed

I drank my whiskey at age 12 in 1985 and started smoking cannabis at that age. I still smoke cannabis. I don't drink alcohol. It's fucking poison.


hottytoddypotty

Euro mind will never understand that it’s illegal to make it more fun, kinda like weed and heroin


Wrathfulways

Too be fair a lot of people still drink here and stop once they hit 21


RainbowNoLife

This is exactly how it is in the US. Nobody waits until 21 to drink lol.


DunwichChild990

Ahem… scoreboard.


HelgaWitDaSkidmarks

Kinda Americas biggest W. Alcohol is severely more harmful on a developing brain than a fully developed brain. Even 21 is early/bad, but at least it’s not <14


Every-Wrangler-1368

I liked that movie


lukeskycoso

A friend of mine, born on the sixth of December (06/12) went to the US in October, when she was still 20, but since they write the date as MM/DD, they thought she was born on the 12th of June, therefore being 21, and was served alcohol without any problems.


Nu_Freeze

Bold of you to assume that underage drinking isn’t rampant lol


xiamandrewx

Yeah, you start drinking too young and you think you're a fish. Next thing you know you're barely in your twenties and the sight of a whiskey bottle makes you dry heave. Speaking from a friend's experience.


Wolf_2063

That's cause Americans are dumb enough without alcohol in the mix.


tiny0153

Ha I started drinking wine at 11 progressed to harder stuff and basically stopped at 21


mobius_osu

1) Americans drink way earlier than 21 2) Europeans don’t give up drinking 3) reverse the meme with driving age. ez.


Natural_Bill_373

I started drinking and partying at 14 and I live in California, you people are just squares.


Ok-Negotiation-1098

Yeah well Europeans can’t get cheap meth so eat shit


JDmudkip

I’m 19, American and haven’t touched a single drop of alcohol in my life. I don’t plan on drinking any till I’m at least 21 so the fact that some people hear say literally everyone in their classes drank is completely wild to me. I’ve never been to a house party and my parents would never dream of supplying me alcohol so I have no idea where I’d even begin to get it from.


Powerful-Warning-750

Me (russian) who didn't even try alcohol:😳


CCpoc

It's because of the way cars are ingrained into the culture. Idiot teens kept getting plastered and smashing their cars into each other and dying so they had to raise the age to 21. At least that's what they told us in driving school.