There is something rotten in Finland

[Gregoshi]

1) In a country name Finland, you'd figure they'd drink like fishes.

2) It would be a shame to let all that ice go to waste.

3) In winter those all night parties last much longer than elsewhere.

[Watchman]

That #1 cause of death figure just has to include derived rates like drunk driving and the classic party entertainment, drunken knife fight at 4 AM... And the summer standby, Mad Serpent Disease which is caused by an open zipper in a boat.

The most widely consumed alcoholic around here is beer, though.

[Fragony]

That #1 cause of death figure just has to include derived rates like drunk driving and the classic party entertainment, drunken knife fight at 4 AM... And the summer standby, Mad Serpent Disease which is caused by an open zipper in a boat.

Gotcha, it was too outragious te begin with.

[Watchman]

Saw it in a 'paper here today, though. The accompanying text sort of explained things. The gist is that various medical conditions related to alcohol - I don't quite know the English terminology, but apparently mainly dealing with blood vessels - are the single most common cause of death among Finnish males, usually becoming acute between late forties to mid-sixties in age.

I can believe that one. A major beer belly is rather common among Finnish men, especially by middle age, and obviously not exactly conductive to good overall health. The rather drunkennes-oriented Finnish drinking habits ("East European", we often sarcastically observe), primary through beer (lots of "empty" energy and calories) and "hard" distilled liquors (generally unhealthy in large dosages) plus generally little physical exercise and/or healthy eating, no doubt also contribute.

That the gov't taxes the snot out of booze is really only sensible, since it more or less has to foot the eventual medical bills anyway.


But speaking of unhealthy drinking, I've heard a story of a Migrations Period Germanic warlord who got so drunk during a feast he managed to drown in a large vat of mead. Another one then managed to pull off the same stunt - during the first guy's funeral feast...
Beats me if it's true, but it's a good story.

[Kagemusha]

Nope Fragony. Its well known fact that things are preserved in Alcohol. So nothing rotten here.
Like Watchman sayed its not the drink which kills us, but drinking. All those wonderfull short and long time effects.Overdose,fights,suicides,accidents and in the long term diseases caused by alcohol.Also heart and vascular related diseases are common here and when you get into middle age a bottle of Vodka can kill you. If nothing else then the hangover will Finish you off.
Another question is why Finns drink so heavily. I think there are many reasons, first ofcourse we are Nothern Barbarians and we are supposed to drink heavily. Second the Nature conditions here are pretty extreme and im pretty sure that it effects the psyche of inhabitants heavily. We have short Northern summer which lasts for about 3 months.During that time the sun shines almost 24 hours in a day and people feel like partying.Then there is the winter 5 months and in the middle winter the Sun hardly rises. So it gets pretty dull so people want to cheer up and they head to the bar. Then there are couple months of Autumn and Spring which are secondary.
But if we look the bright side of things something is pretty well in our healthcare when we die on diseases that come from high living standards and bad habbits.

[GoreBag]

I thought it was well-established that alcoholism is more prevalent the further north you go...Sweden, Norway, Russia, Finland, Canada...we all drink a little more than we 'should'.

Speaking of drunken, Finnish antics, though, has anyone here seen the Dudesons movie? I heard Jarppi lost a thumb to a bear while wrestling it.

[Kagemusha]

Ah the Extreme Duudsonit. Couple nutty Botnians, pretty much the jackass of Finland. I know that Jarppi doesnt have a thumb, but not so sure if it was a bear that took it.

[lars573]

I thought it was well-established that alcoholism is more prevalent the further north you go...Sweden, Norway, Russia, Finland, Canada...we all drink a little more than we 'should'.

Speaking of drunken, Finnish antics, though, has anyone here seen the Dudesons movie? I heard Jarppi lost a thumb to a bear while wrestling it.

They now have a TV show on Spike. And yeah Yarpi claims he lost his thumb to a polar bear. But to be fair they aren't drunk. Just morons. I watched two episodes. In which they burned their house out and Yarpi almost killed the other guy with a large fur tree. Morons not drunks.