MetaChat - At what duration

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16 October 2010

At what duration does a night of drinking turn into a 'bender'?

post by: youngergirl44 at: 21:28 | 11 comments

Defined in the lexicon of drinking slang, a bender is a period of at least three days of continued drunkenness. Why three? Because the weekend is two days long. It's that third day (quite possibly a workday) that all bets are off, when eyebrows start to raise, when tongues start to cluck, when the amused laughter turns into whispers of concern.

posted by amro 16 October | 21:31

That means that my previous 36 hour bender was not a bender. I dislike this definition.

posted by youngergirl44 16 October | 21:33

When you start to look like this guy.

posted by amyms 16 October | 21:57

To me a bender is a weekday social function that ends in fuzzy, possibly not-remembered territory. It's one where you can go to work the next day, but you will definitely feel foggy.

posted by BoringPostcards 16 October | 22:08

I definitely think of it as a multi-day drunk, as well. Possibly because I've almost always heard it used in the phrase "X-day bender." I have some sort of weird intuitive feeling that it should always be a three-, five-, or seven-day bender.

posted by occhiblu 16 October | 23:50

When I had the first taste of the first drink. Then, for me, there was no going back.

posted by Senyar 17 October | 03:44

I have some sort of weird intuitive feeling that it should always be a three-, five-, or seven-day bender

Even-tempered people just don't do that, I guess. For some odd reason.

posted by tangerine 17 October | 03:47

But some in their prime do.

posted by D.C. 17 October | 10:38

To me, what BoPo describes is more of a hangover than a bender.

posted by amro 17 October | 10:56

If you wake up feeling like a squirrel died in your mouth after dropping an anvil on your head and the first thing you do is reach for a beer, that's a bender.

And when you are at a bar near closing time and shots of Jagermeister seem like the best idea ever, you are venturing into potential bender territory.

posted by BitterOldPunk 17 October | 13:40

From amro's link:

Howard Hughes used to watch his favorite movie “Ice Station Zebra” over and over again, for years on end. Wouldn't you like to be that deranged?

I certainly would. You understand me so well, Modern Drunkard magazine!

posted by enn 17 October | 19:26

← I take it back, this my favorite picture of myself ever. || Mr. Almond Bread dies. →

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