Informant: My informant, L.K., is 19 and was born in New York but raised in Dubrovnik, Croatia from age 5 to 18. L.K. father is working for a tourist agency and part time water polo referee and his mom is a financial manager for a restaurant in Croatia. He has a younger brother and sister with his family being fully Croatian, but has integrated small values from his time in the United States.

Folklore: “Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear. Beer before liquor, never been sicker.” L.K. heard this rule for drinking when he came to the United States his senior year in high school from one of his friends. He told me that everyone from his high school lives by this rule in order to avoid a rough night of blacking out or throwing up. L.K. claims that this rule isn’t actually true and has never affected him anytime he has drunk, but has seemed to work for the people he went to high school with.

Analysis: I have heard this rule when I started drinking in high school from a friend, but I have to agree with L.K. in saying that I don’t actually believe it’s true. Unfortunately, I have had a fair share of nights where I have blacked out, but I have tried to use the rule and have never really worked for me. For me, I believe that the only reason you black out is due to how much alcohol you drink as whole rather in what order you drink it in.