The Language of Addiction (Transcript)
How are you doing? My name is Kevin O’Hara.
Today, I’m doing a video talking about the language of addiction.
The Language of Addiction?
So what is the language of addiction? Well, it’s basically the structure, the words, the sentences and the meaning behind the words that we use when we’re trying to quit something.
In terms of people trying to quit drinking, it’s words like “alcoholic”, “alcoholism”, “relapse”, “recovery”, that kind of thing.
Hijacked For Life
In terms of what’s the best words to use, I think maybe “habitual drinker” or “habit drinker” – something like that. I think words like “alcoholic” and “alcoholism” have been sorta hijacked by organizations like the AA and they’re just taken to mean something now that is a disease or something that you can’t get away from, that you’re never gonna get away from. Something that’s gonna stick with you for the rest of your life.
Make Your Changes
So what I’m suggesting is that by changing the words that we use, by changing the phrases that we use, we’re giving ourselves a much better chance of getting free of alcohol. By using negative terms and phrases we’re only shackling ourselves to the condition for the rest of our lives.
The Drama of “Alcoholism”
I’ve spoken about this a few times before but by saying that we have a condition called “alcoholism” long after we’ve had our last drink is absolutely ridiculous! And who does it help? It doesn’t help us!
It might help the person who loves drama in their lives and loves to go out and go, “I can’t really do that because I’m an alcoholic you know”. It might help the doctor who when you go around to him he’s saying “You’re still drinking”, 2-3 years after you’ve stopped. It might help the guy who’s trying to decide whether to give you a job. Maybe he finds out that you’re an alcoholic and decides he won’t take into account the fact that you’ve quit and you’ve managed to overcome this bad habit. He’ll just take into account the word “alcoholic” and what it means to him.
A Smoker? Me?
I used to smoke a long time ago – a good few years ago now, 3-4 years ago. I wouldn’t dream of calling myself a smoker now. The simple reason is: I DON’T SMOKE!
I haven’t smoked for a long time. The idea of even smelling cigarette smoke now is bad enough, but the idea of putting one into my mouth and lighting it and smoking away on it…That’s just not on the cards at all. For me, smoking was a much bigger habit to give up than quitting alcohol ever was. That’s just me.
Snow Wonder We Get it Wrong
I think the reason why there’s so many different words for drinkers is because there’s so many people drinking. I once read somewhere that Eskimos have got over a hundred different words and phrases for snow [I don’t think it’s a correct statistic, but I haven’t checked the Eskimo dictionary lately]. Why? Because they’re surrounded by it. Is it a full year? They have all different types of snow. They need to know whether this snow they can walk on, that snow they can’t, whether can eat this snow…Yellow snow, all that kind of stuff. It is really the same reason for drinkers. There’s so many people that drink that you have to have different words.
Let’s put this another way.
Druggies, Druggies, Everywhere are Druggies!
They said in the West, that majority of people drink, the majority of people take in alcohol. So, the majority of people take in a toxic substance in order to get a hit. If you look at it from that perspective, it means that the majority of people in the West are druggies! Alcoholics, by the term and definition of an alcoholic.
The Wino vs The Connoisseur – Same Drink, Different Species
But that doesn’t really work, people are not gonna put up with that. People with plenty of money are not gonna be known as alcoholics. So you have alcoholics, you have winos, you have lowlifes, scumbags, who drink out of cans in the street. And then you’ve got this entirely different language for people who drink alcohol and they’ve got plenty of money. You call them “connoisseur,” “gourmet,” or “wine-taster”. What about water-taster or milk-taster? I bet you that there’s a group in the world that are trying to elevate Coca-Cola tasting into an art form…”Coca-Cola tasters”.
Oh To Be a Sommelier or Is It Wine Pusher!
I love the high-fluting, posh-sounding names that are made up by the professional wine industry. There’s a position in high class restaurants called the Sommelier. Basically his job is to match wines with different types of food, that kind of thing. In any other industry, if we were fair in these things, then all pubs would be known as drug-dealers. And so would be off-licenses, liquor stores, breweries, supermarkets…because that’s what they’re doing, they’re peddling drugs just as much as any crack dealer on the street, any heroine dealer.
Remember Prohibition?
We draw lines in certain areas but those lines are very blurry. And it all depends on when you live. If you lived 80 years ago during the depression, during the times of Al Capone, then you’d get arrested. You were risking getting shot, if you were dealing in alcohol.
Help Yourself!
Basically all these alcoholic sounding words are there for whatever reason, but they’re definitely not there to help you. You should choose words which are beneficial to you, that help you out, not your doctor or your brother or your sister or your friends…stuff that’s gonna help you out.
Make Your Journey Smooth Sailing
Really what you’re looking for are forward-thinking words. Words that are gonna energize you, that are gonna give you hope for your own future. They’re gonna bring you into this future.
The more you use these positive sounding words and the more you get rid of all the negative-sounding words the easier your journey into alcohol mastery is gonna be.
Anyway, I hope you got something out of that video. If you have any questions at all, then leave a comment on the website or down here on Youtube.
Until next time…
My name is Kevin OHara for alcohol mastery.
Onwards and upwards!
these so called wine tasters and so called experts make me laugh ,all wine tastes like shite basically ,and i think they all know it ,there just idiots