The shade of Thorstein Veblen hovers, waiting for an economic sociologist to extend The Theory of the Leisure Class into this discussion (as David has already done, implicitly).  And while I have the floor, briefly, a note on the earlier question of why people drink: shouldn't we distinguish three forms of the question -- (1) why human beings in general make use of the particular forms of intoxicants we call alcoholic and fermented malt beverages (etc.) -- meaning, essentially, what are the origins of "drinking"? (2) why peoples/ cultures/societies drink (see Heath's DRINKING OCCASIONS or examples in MacAndrew and Edgerton DRUNKEN COMPORTMENT 1969)?  (3) why particular individuals drink (as, e.g., "alcoholics" because they are "alcoholic")?  When we ask the question, which question are we asking? -- Jared Lobdell

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> John Burnett, Liquid Pleasures (1999), notes the irony that a
> commercial market in bottled drinking water flourishes at a time and in
> places where safe drinking water is available from the tap. We can
> debate why, but at least part of the explanation has to be that the
> consumers of bottled water have the means to pay for it. People with
> money seem anxious to find ways to spend it in ways that confirm their
> status. At least in the USA, smoking is unfashionable, maybe the only
> legal drug that is dismissed as lower class.
>
> On Mar 28, 2005, at 3:17 PM, Jon Miller wrote:
>
> > My wife and I had a nice meal at an area restaurant with an extensive
> > menu of "martinis" which rarely included gin. They were mainly vodka
> > with sweet and colorful things such as juices, syrups, or liqueurs.
> > All served in martini glasses. My wife compared these "martinis" to
> > the "coffees" offered at Starbuck's. It seems to me that most any
> > indulgence at Starbuck's is permissible because the beverage is
> > coffee, which Americans associate with overworking, industry,
> > brainwork, and other good industrious connotations. A milkshake at
> > Starbuck's is still a coffee drink in the eyes of most people. I
> > wonder if the word "martini" is not evolving in a similar fashion to
> > give an edge to drinks that are heavily fortified with alcohol and
> > sugar. Jon
> >