CONFESSIONS OF A NONDRINKER.

• Date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Farsad, Negin
• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Farsad, Negin

I'm one of those people who hardly ever drinks alcohol. I've probably had one glass of wine in the last three months. When I'm offered a drink at a bar or a party, I usually just say, "No, thanks, I don't drink."

Whenever I don't say "I don't drink" and just say "No, thanks," there are a lot of follow-up questions, like "Will you have a drink later?" or "Did you just have a drink?" or "Are you pregnant?" People have a lot of surprising logistical and procreative queries when you refuse a drink. So saying "I don't drink" just clarifies the whole thing, right?

Actually, what it usually does is prompt other kinds of questions that people are less comfortable asking. They may hesitantly say, "Oh, right, because you're Muslim?" (No, I don't drink because I get headaches that sometimes trigger migraines. Maybe Allah just didn't want people to get migraines?)

The most common misunderstanding is that people think I'm a...