Az ön egészségügyi!

Or something like that.

It's supposed to be "To your health" in Hungarian. But you know, I don't know you. Or better said, I know some of you better than others. So, assuming the subject line is approximately correct-- in a sort of gender-neutral, familial-neutral sense-- some of the characters will change, depending on how well I know you.

And people think American English is hard to learn.

~~

We had a lovely supper, Creative Cooking Sausage Rice Casserole, something we've never had before. I took some pics which I will soon post. have recently posted, along with the recipe. Before dinner, I treated myself to a Gospodin.

Aromatic drink for the afternoon
Rocks glass


1 ounce vodka
3/4 ounce apricot brandy


Mix the ingredients together, with ice, in the glass. Serve with a stirrer.

(From Peter Bohrmann's The Bartender's Guide, copyright 2001 and published by Salamander Books Limited, London.)

It was very good. On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best, I gave it a 4.5. The barack pàlinka (as the Hungarians call apricot brandy) was very aromatic. 

Poor image grabbed from the world wide web.

Before I slammed this drink back and went on to have many many many many many many many more,* I toasted Dr. Keith Ablow and his Team of Life Coaches. 

[*Sarcasm]

Two stipulations: 1) It is probably true that many college age kids drink more alcohol than they should; and 2) I am sympathetic with Ablow's claim-- the claim, not the hyperbole-- that 

... we as a nation are drinking, drugging, gambling, smoking, Facebooking, YouTubing, Marijuaning, Kardashianing, Adderalling, Bono-ing (as in thinking of Chaz’s sad flight from reality as good), Prozacking, Twittering, and Sexting ourselves into oblivion.

It's true, there are a lot of folks out there who are not paying attention. (More than in times past? How would you measure that?)

What I take issue with is Ablow's hypocrisy. To be fair, this is an opinion piece. (Source below) But it is not an opinion of the "I don't care for beets" type. It is an opinion-- titled "America's Drunk"-- that's presumably intended to sway others, to get America to "sober up." Once sober, of course, American's will be able to do a bunch of really great things including, I'm supposing, think more critically about others' expert opinions.

And so I will give it a try. Here is the second paragraph of Ablow's piece:

New data reveals that one in every six Americans downs eight mixed drinks within a few hours, four times a month. Twenty-eight percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 binge-drink five times a month, putting away seven drinks in one sitting. And 13 percent of those between the ages of 45 and 65 binge drink five times a month, too.

First of all, "data" is a plural noun. Dr. Ablow's expertise apparently does not extend into the realm of subject-verb agreement. Just sayin'.

More seriously, these are extraordinary data! (See how that works? Plural plural plural.)  But I have a few questions. What counts as a "mixed drink?" There's more alcohol in a Havana Banana than there is in a Bloody Mary. And by definition, "mixed" drink rules out a glass of bourbon without branch, doesn't it? What is a "few hours?" I had two Gospodins within a few hours and it's not clear to me how I could possibly have consumed eight. Is "binge drinking" by young people the same as eight mixed drinks in a few hours? No, it's only "seven drinks in one sitting." And are we still talking about mixed drinks? Because if so, these young people have a lot bigger alcohol budget than I did when I was that age.

All of my questions should be easily answered. All I have to do is look at the data myself. This is the entire first paragraph:

According to the Centers for Disease Control, we're becoming a nation of drunks. Booze hounds on benders.

Silly me. If the CDC says we're booze hounds on benders, who am I to challenge that conclusion? That's it, by the way. No link, no specific study cited. Nothing. Since I have no burning desire to search the CDC site, my questions will go unanswered. Might as well have a beer.

The next paragraph equates young people's alcohol consumption with "snorting half-a-gram of cocaine more than once-a-week or injecting heroin on that schedule."

Okay. Who knew seven drinks = 0.5g cocaine? Ablow's the psychiatrist, though, so I'll take his word for it. 

"Why is this happening?" Ablow asks. Well, it's because-- what with the economy, militant Muslims, Iran, state of marriage, national borders, healthcare, et cetera-- Americans want to put their heads in the sand, or the bottle, or one of the other awful things listed in the first quote. (How does smoking cigarettes create a "dramatically altered state[s] of consciousness?")

More questions. Is he here talking about Americans? Or young Americans? Most young Americans I've met recently (with the exception of the Young Americans for Liberty group) don't seem particularly concerned with this list of woes beyond their opinions that they personally aren't making enough money (that they'd just use to buy more booze anyway, I suppose).

You do see the hypocrisy, don't you? Ablow wants America to sober up because if she doesn't we're in for a world hurtin'. And you can take him at his word on that. Stop questioning the experts. 

Sober up, Dear Reader, and read the whole thing here.

Az ön egészségügyi, Dr. Ablow!