Hmmm, was thinking about this... For the most part, there are two 'basic' types of drunks.. There are the mean drunks
and there are the happy drunks.. Why does alchohol affect them in two majorly different ways?? Is it a physiological or phsycological change that causes this to happen..
I have rarely(if ever) met the 'mediocer drunk' It causes people to fall one way or the other.. Usually to there baser instinct, but not allways...
I guess(in typeing this) have changed it to passive or aggressive behaviour.. It happens in both male and female folk.. So gender has nothing to do with it..

your thoughts.....

I supose it depends how the person was feeling before they got drunk. alcohol lowers your inhibitions (spelling?) so they are more likley to act based on how they are really feeling. just a thought

feelings before you are drunk, that could be a case yet there are times i myself got drunk for the sake of distancing myself from reality (i.e. pain, nervousness, etc) but i am always a happy drunk.......people i know who are mean drunks seem to all share similiar lives, such as neglectful parents and rough transtitions through life.....i myself have kick ass parents and have had an easy life, albeit a very emotional one, but i am a happy drunk.....god i love alcohol!

i always thought there was a third type, the sad drunk. the person who cries and gets all depressed and everything. I'm usually a happy drunk, but one time I got really drunk with my girlfriend and we just sat around and talked about how we hated ourselves and wanted to die. we were both bawling like babies, it was funny to look back on later.

That would be because alchohol is a depressant.. says so right on the label...
I went through a really shitey upbringing. But i too am a happy drunk.. So much for that theory..~scratches it off list~ darn..
Next theory?
Oh, and Quantum, i have started drinking in all kinds of moods, always a happy drunk..
~scratches that off list too~

I agree that current mood may have an affect on post alcohol states of mind. Though I have to say I have encountered more than just two "types". It also depends on whether someone is a habitual drinker, enviroment can play a big part too. (As in venue/place of drinking). Some people have two drinks and practically fall asleep standing up, others get very active and energetic. Then you get those who go all silent, and those who unleash a Pandora's Box of wildness (Usually shy when sober types). And I know a couple of people who seem utterly unaffected by alcohol at all.

though you seem to contradict it, i believe how you are feeling before you are intoxicated has a lot to do as to how you act while you are drunk. I havent been drunk or severly intoxicated to be able to tell you what class i fit into. also, i believe that who you are drinking with has an effect on how you act, or at least it seems to with me. also, i think the reason WHY the person is drunk has a bit to do with it as well. if they are drinking simply for recreation they will try to have fun while under the influence. when people are drowning their sorrows i think they act different also. i believe that its all based on their initial feelings before and during their use of alcohol. Hence why you can give someone a drink without alcohol in it, tell them it is alcohol and they will act drunk due to the placebo affect.

I don't think how you are feeling before you start drinking has any bearing on what kind of drunk you are... I think the categories are wrong... The two types of drunks I have noticed are the people who are still predictable when they're drunk, and the "Jekyll and Hyde" drunk...

By that, I mean that you get certain people who will get drunk, and you can still be sure how they will talk and act, and you get the other set of people who will start drinking, and Christ knows what will happen...

I think mood before you get drunk can have a bearing on how you'll act, but I don't think it's as simple as saying, "I wrecked a pub and got into a brawl because I was in a bad mood when I started drinking."

I don't believe the addage about people showing their true nature when drunk either... When people are sober, that is when they show their true nature. If someone is a loose cannon when they get drunk, I don't think they should drink...

I used to tend more toward the melancholy drunk, but then switched to the happy drunk, and now I just don't drink..

"oh barkeep... one rufferita!"

but wether they are predictable "look he/she's getting drunk, watch for the fight" or jekyll/hyde "i wonder how this night's gonna turn out"
Most all people wether hyper or relaxed, those being physiology not psychology, good or bad to start the night... They end up (i'll go with 90% of the time) either a happy drunk, talkative or not, or a mean drunk, a fight waiting to be triggered..
My question is why does it happen.. physiological or psycological causes...

But what about the melancholic drunks? They're not happy and certainly not much into any physical violence?!

they are a RARE group, most often depressive at the time.
most often they are that way due to the depressive nature of alchohol..

Everyone probably experiences much the same sensation when they are drunk, it's a matter of how you react to what's going on around you, but you cannot predict someone's behaviour when drunk by watching them when sober...

I have a friend who destroyed a dog by caving it's skull in with a blunt instrument on the way home from the pub one fine night. When he woke up sober the next day, he cried like baby for a week every time he thought about it... A persons character when sober has no bearing on what kind of drunk to expect them to be...

What about the horny drunk??????

LOL are you in that classification?

aren't we all?

*nods in agreement*

*Kisses Iamevil*

Gimme your irish money

i am a happy drunk, and pughy is fun to mess with whens hes drunk.