Who coined the term binge drinking?

[33girl]

Originally posted by aephi alum
It is a very unclear and arbitrary definition.

You are considered a binge drinker if you have 5 drinks (for men) or 4 drinks (for women) in a sitting at least once every two weeks. But what is a sitting??

If I have a leisurely dinner every other weekend, and I start off with a cocktail, have two glasses of wine with my meal, and then have an after-dinner drink, all over the course of three hours, by this definition I'm a binge drinker because I've had four drinks in one sitting. Never mind that the drinks are accompanied by a full meal and they're spaced out so that I'm never actually drunk.

On the other hand, if I'm bar-hopping, I'm not a binge drinker as long as I make sure I don't have more than three drinks at any one bar. Even though I'd be falling-down drunk after hitting six bars or so, I'm not a binge drinker, because going from one bar to another = new sitting.

Very arbitrary.

And what if you are standing up the whole time at the bar? LOL