WTF??? I'm old enough to go to Iraq and kill people, and yet I'm not old enough to have an alcoholic beverage, legally. That just doesn't make sense. I'm deemed responsible enough to carry a rifle around and police a war-torn state half the world away, but I'm not allowed by law to purchase a drink.
Benjamin [inactive]
So are you not allowed to drink alcohol even in your own home if you're under 21 in the US? Here, although you have to be 18 to buy alcohol yourself or drink it in a bar, you can drink in your own home at any age, and you can drink with a meal in a restaurant at 14.
It will be weird when I go to America later this month and will sort of not be considered completely an adult anymore whilst I'm there.
Porthos
Benjamin wrote:
So are you not allowed to drink alcohol even in your own home if you're under 21 in the US? Here, although you have to be 18 to buy alcohol yourself or drink it in a bar, you can drink in your own home at any age, and you can drink with a meal in a restaurant at 14.
It will be weird when I go to America later this month and will sort of not be considered completely an adult anymore whilst I'm there.
As far as I know, no. My relatives let me drink at home, but my mother doesn't usually allow me to except when we're celebrating something. And you're not, under any circumstances, allowed to drink at a restaurant, even under parental supervision.
Elaine
Re: Legal drinking age in America
Porthos wrote:
WTF??? I'm old enough to go to Iraq and kill people, and yet I'm not old enough to have an alcoholic beverage, legally. That just doesn't make sense. I'm deemed responsible enough to carry a rifle around and police a war-torn state half the world away, but I'm not allowed by law to purchase a drink.
That's so you won't show up slobbering drunk when the government sends you off to "liberate" sovereign countries.
Loic
Porthos:
The legal age for drinking is 18 here. However, we are not allowed to watch any films that would offend our delicate and juvenile sensibilities until we turn 21 -viz films which are slapped with the 'R' rating.
But you speak of you hypothetically carrying arms. All of us carry arms here with a large bulk of the boys opting for early enlistment at 16.5 years old. Some of them might have been tank commanders; many are simply riflemen or gunners; most of us have participated in live firing exercises where caution is paramount. However, all of us below 21 are not mature enough to appreciate the naked beauty of screen goddesses.
Liz
The legal age for drinking is 18 here, but the vast majority of people violate the rule occassionally or regularly. It is allowed in most of the families for "children" to drink a glass of wine or just taste the home-made chocolate liquor a bit.
The same thing applies to smoking and watching R-rated films (they are colloquially referred to as "adult films" here, the term which I shouldn't use here since it has a totally different connotation in English). Some parents let their children watch these films at home, whereas almost all the parents (smokers, too) inveigh against allowing children to smoke, even if they are quasi-adults (i.e. older than 18).
These rules are usually very easy to violate. If you look more mature than your age, you can easily buy alcoholic drinks and cigarettes, or tickets for, say, horror films. Most of the shop assistants here can't be bothered to ask for your ID. At the same time, it might happen to you that you are in your twenties, but you can't buy drinks or fags because shop assistants are positive that you are under 18, and they don't care much about your ID, either.
Mind you, I'm one of the very few people who didn't drink, smoke and watch R-rated films under the age of 18. But after that...
Loic
Liz wrote:
Mind you, I'm one of the very few people who didn't drink, smoke and watch R-rated films under the age of 18. But after that...
.....you rapidly made up for lost time, I presume.
Liz
Loic wrote:
.....you rapidly made up for lost time, I presume.
Not that rapidly...just a bit, and I don't mind not having tried those things earlier.
Benjamin [inactive]
A few months ago, after I'd been playing clarinet in the orchestra in Fiddler on the Roof, I ended up in the company of a group of people who were all either 16 or 17, because I'd been helping with their French exchange visit. They wanted to go and by alcohol, and they all took out fake IDs — which were accepted.
So yes, it's certainly very easy to get around it. I'll admit to having bought alcoholic drinks for people slightly underage — which is technically illegal, but in practice no-one would know.
Liz
Benjamin wrote:
They wanted to go and by alcohol, and they all took out fake IDs — which were accepted.
Whaaat? Fake IDs? Not many people are that creative here. However, you might become quite creative or innovative in need. Frankly, I was totally indifferent to the fact that I couldn't buy alcohol that time.
Walker
Liz wrote:
At the same time, it might happen to you that you are in your twenties, but you can't buy drinks or fags because shop assistants are positive that you are under 18, and they don't care much about your ID, either.
What? Even if you show them ID that proves that you're over 18?
Liz
Walker wrote:
What? Even if you show them ID that proves that you're over 18?
They simply don't ask for it... Or if you happen to have your ID with you...they finally, albeit willy-nilly do.
There are two extremes: the ones who don't care and those who think you *must* have a false ID, the first ones being more prevalent.
Walker
Liz wrote:
Walker wrote:
What? Even if you show them ID that proves that you're over 18?
They simply don't ask for it... Or if you happen to have your ID with you...they finally, albeit willy-nilly do.
There are two extremes: the ones who don't care and those who think you *must* have a false ID, the first ones being more prevalent.
Here they always ask for ID if they suspect that you're under 18. Yesterday I had to show ID when I bought a regular 6-pack (3,5%) in the grocery store...
Yelina
Here, we can't drink alcohol before 18, but many people do it before. In the supermarkets, it's written that people under 18 are not allowed to buy alcohol, but this law isn't respected. It's unbelievable to see the number of people who are under age and who buy packs of beers without being asked their age. It's rather easy to drink where and when you want (as long as you don't drink in front of policemen!)
Liz
Walker wrote:
Here they always ask for ID if they suspect that you're under 18. Yesterday I had to show ID when I bought a regular 6-pack (3,5%) in the grocery store...
Then you must look very young! It will be a great advantage when you grow older...
Walker
Liz wrote:
Walker wrote:
Here they always ask for ID if they suspect that you're under 18. Yesterday I had to show ID when I bought a regular 6-pack (3,5%) in the grocery store...
Then you must look very young! It will be a great advantage when you grow older...
I hope so! Really, I don't look that young. But sometimes when I have to show ID the slight absurdity of it all almost makes it hilarious rather than frustrating. And once they've asked me for ID I really want them to look at it and see how wrong they were.
It's not easy for under-aged kids to buy alcohol and tobacco in stores, but it's not hard for them to get hold of it. There's always somebody who'll buy it for you. So it's not like drunk ravaging kids is an uncommon sight.
Liz
Walker wrote:
I hope so! Really, I don't look that young. But sometimes when I have to show ID the slight absurdity of it all almost makes it hilarious rather than frustrating. And once they've asked me for ID I really want them to look at it and see how wrong they were.
I know the feeling. I was asked in the library at the age of 21 (about a year ago) if I was a primary school pupil. The librarian was almost positive that I was that young: "You go to primary school, I presume."
It was also funny when my granddad had to show his ID at the age of 70 a couple of years ago on the bus. The conductor couldn't believe his eyes. (FYI, in Hungary people who are older than 65 can use public transport freely.)
Yelina
Liz wrote:
Walker wrote:
Here they always ask for ID if they suspect that you're under 18. Yesterday I had to show ID when I bought a regular 6-pack (3,5%) in the grocery store...
Then you must look very young! It will be a great advantage when you grow older...
Few years ago, I seemed older. When I was 15, I entered clubs whereas the legal age was 18. One of my boyfriends came out with me because he thought I was 19 whereas I was only 15 (he was 21). I liked to look older. Unfortunately, now I just look my age. And for the first time in my whole life, I've been asked my ID not a long time ago.
Liz
Yelina wrote:
I liked to look older.
When you are young, especially an adolescent, it's quite natural that you want to look older. As you grow older, it changes. (I'm talking as if I was very old.)
Unfortunately, I've always looked younger or my age at best. Or rather, it wasn't really me who looked younger but lots of other girls who looked older. If I had had dyed red or bottle blonde perm hair, thick make-up on my face and had been wearing stilettos, I would definitely have looked older.
Yelina
Liz wrote:
When you are young, especially an adolescent, it's quite natural that you want to look older. As you grow older, it changes. (I'm talking as if I was very old.)
Well, as I was saying before, I wanted to look older till I'm 23 and then, look my age for 2 years and after, look younger!
Quote:
If I had had dyed red or bottle blonde perm hair, thick make-up on my face and had been wearing stilettos, I would definitely have looked older.
I've never dyed my hair nor put thich make-up. But well, I've always had stilettos (or at least, heels). I like being feminine.
Liz
Yelina wrote:
But well, I've always had stilettos (or at least, heels). I like being feminine.
I just can't walk in those bloody stilettos!!!! And I'm not gonna try it anymore...I really don't feel like falling flat on my face - literally...
Besides, stilettos are not the most suitable footwear for my daily routine trip up (!) the never-ending cobblestone-covered street.
That one is somewhat pedestrian-friendly, though:
That's a bit tough:
That must be a treat to walk down such a street in stilettos.
However, there are more and more cobblestone-covered streets being built (to our greatest horror) and stilettos are still in. One thing is incompatible with the other. What a tragedy!
Yelina
[quote="Liz]I just can't walk in those bloody stilettos!!!! And I'm not gonna try it anymore...I really don't feel like falling flat on my face - literally... [/quote]
I know it's not given to anyone to walk with stilettos!
I trained myself since my youngest age. When I was 5, I already walked with my mum's heels (as many young girls do!)
Quote:
Besides, stilettos are not the most suitable footwear for my daily routine trip up (!) the never-ending cobblestone-covered street.
That one is somewhat pedestrian-friendly, though:
That's a bit tough:
That must be a treat to walk down such a street in stilettos.
That's not the worst thing! There is some streets in my town with such cobblestone-covered streets and I'm not too bothered by them.
For me, one of the worst places to walk on is this kind of grilling on the floor
Of course it's usually not that big, but even with smaller holes, it's really annoying to walk on it!
Liz
Yelina wrote:
That's not the worst thing! There is some streets in my town with such cobblestone-covered streets and I'm not too bothered by them.
For me, one of the worst places to walk on is this kind of grilling on the floor
Of course it's usually not that big, but even with smaller holes, it's really annoying to walk on it!
I hope so! Really, I don't look 
