Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on July 10, 2012 at 7:10pm

Not for me- I am golden too!

Permalink Reply by Paula T. on July 10, 2012 at 7:19pm

Wow, surprisingly, I am golden, too!

Now, if you were to choose "Where churches outnumber bars AND grocery stores", that would be Detroit :/ It's ridiculous how many store front churches there are around here.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on July 10, 2012 at 8:28pm

I haven't seen a map like that, but yes.

Permalink Reply by The Flying Atheist on July 10, 2012 at 7:25pm

Damn!!  Look at Illinois and Wisconsin.  Kind of embarrassing.  Lots and lots of bars.  At least the metro-Chicago area is golden.  And I guess there's not much to do in North Dakota either but go to bars.     

Permalink Reply by Pat on July 10, 2012 at 8:18pm

Red for my area. The real question is this. Is there a map that shows the number of bars compared to the number of churches? (If so, hope I'm still in the red).

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on July 10, 2012 at 8:31pm

This is the closest I've found, the number of tweets for "beer" versus "church"

Permalink Reply by Pat on July 11, 2012 at 9:16am

Hurray! My county is slightly  "more beer than church". Thanks, Ruth.

Permalink Reply by Paula T. on July 10, 2012 at 8:29pm

Actually, Pat, for my area, it might be more like the number of party stores compared to the number of churches.

Permalink Reply by Paula T. on July 10, 2012 at 9:23pm

I'm somewhat surprised, yet I'm not. My county in Michigan is red, meaning more churches, but they must surpass bars/grocers by a slim margin...

Ruth, thanks for the graphics :)

Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on July 10, 2012 at 10:48pm

Loved the quip about the bar numbers not corresponding to the heaviest drinking, which is obviously in the South and Southwest.  Do you suppose this has anything to do with the fact that this is the Bible Belt?  Around here, we have a saying: Show me four Baptists and I'll show you a fifth.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on July 11, 2012 at 12:06am

Maybe they just Tweet more about beer in the South and Southwest, while those in Michigan are too busy drinking it.

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on July 11, 2012 at 12:44am

Are there still states that have various forms of "county option"?  When I was on the road more than 50 years ago, it could be very confusing...where you could drink, where you could be served only 3.2 beer, and where any alcohol was totally forbidden.  Oh, and there were places where you had to buy anything stronger than beer or wine at state-run liquor stores, and then take the bottle to a private club where they would open it, and store it with your name on it.  You weren't allowed to take an opened bottle to your own home or hotel room.

We got "busted" once in Amarillo for having a party in the wrong wing of the hotel where we stayed...the building straddled the boundary between city and county.  [shrugs] Nobody told us.

I also noticed that in places like Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (where there are a lot of ethnic Germans, Danish, etc.), that there were a lot of small neighborhood taverns that also served as social clubs...did those count as "bars" with whoever did the counting?  I've always thought of a bar as a place that served everything, and a tavern as "beer only."  I also wonder if the "census" included restaurants that serve beer and/or wine with meals. 

Oh.  There was another funny incident when we were on a train that had to lock up the bar car when we were going through a small patch of Canada on the way from NY to Detroit.  It was only for an hour or so, and we thought it was silly.

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