Doreen Burke
Staff Writer
On the 18th of October this year, pre drinking went national. Pat Kenny and his reporter Brian O’ Connell delved into the world of “prinking” in a RTÉ Radio 1 special which focused on the social scene of students. The main topic of the discussion was centred on Alchemy Night Club, Temple Bar and the recent controversy surrounding them where pictures emerged of some of the student clientele getting a “little too intimate”. O’ Connell went on to discuss how many of the students he was talking outside the club had just finished “pre-drinking”. Pat Kenny alluded to the fact that this new social phenomenon, shortened to “prinking” (or slurred by those who had prank too much) is now a normal part of a night out for many college students around the country.
Gone are the days when the pub always came before the club. In these recessionary times students are getting ‘locko’ at home on the cheapest, most potent alcohol available before heading out for the night. Some people interviewed even admitted to “pre-drinking before pre-drinks”. Pre-pre-drinking is common if prinks are being held by someone you don’t know very well, or if you are tagging along to the gaff of a friend’s friend. Going sober to “pres” at some stranger’s place? Don’t be ridick! So what is the appeal of prinking, apart from the obvious money saving factor?
Prinking originated (probably) around the time that the Lehman Brother’s Bank in the US collapsed and spun the world into financial turmoil. Our generation, barely out of the Celtic Tiger Cub era suffered badly with high expense of buying drinks in pubs and clubs and general lack of funds. But the Irish have some sort of inbuilt ability to still get sloshed on less than a tenner. Cheap naggins, even cheaper beer and the infamous €4 bottle of Tesco’s Not-So-Finest wine all make the price of prinking very student friendly. The hip flask has also made a flashy comeback in the recent era of prinking. No longer associated with alcoholic old men or Western movies, it has become a handbag/stuffed in your bra/back pocket staple of many a young one about town. The hipflask is a kind of pre-drinking on-the-run implement, a discreet enough size to allow one to continue prinking in the taxi, on the bus, or while leggin’ it down to the club before they start charging in after 11 PM.
So what did Pat Kenny have to say on the issue? Although the report was mainly about the raunchy goings-on of Alchemy Club bar, O’ Connell spoke about this new “prinking” culture and to a group of students who were just finishing their cans around the corner from the club. When questioning students about their choice of venue many referred to the price of the night, they wanted the cheapest, most banter-filled night money could buy. And prinking is, for many people, the best money saver going.
A group of girls interviewed by O’ Connell described what prinking drinks they were finishing off on their way to the club; “This is vodka and WKD, I wouldn’t mix vodka with non-alcoholic beverages…” She went on to say that using another type of alcohol as a mixer gets one more “langers”. An ingenious cost saver, don’t you think?
So what happens if one gets too “langered” while prinking? I questioned some of Trinity’s finest on their experiences of prinking…
Mary* spoke of her experience when she “tried to chug vodka and lemonade…threw up before I went out (strategic vom?) and told my platonic friend I loved him, tried to play footsie with him in McDonalds and then came back to a kitchen full of smoke…” Is this the definition of pre-drinking perfection?
Another student, Jane* spoke of how she pre drank before her debs ; “skulling a bottle of champagne on a bus because we had no glasses and then being too drunk to eat the meal” Mary goes on to indicate that pre-drinking becomes trans-national when a pro pre-drinker takes things to foreign climes… ”I have decanted a bottle of wine into orange juice cartons in a 5 star hotel bathroom in Spain so we could pre-drink on the beach…on the same trip a friend and I followed two strange men to an underground car park to use their corkscrew” .
Facebook has captured the essence of the prinking phenomenon with a plethora of pre-drinks related “like” groups such as : “Pre-drinking saves you money but costs you your dignity”, “Pre-drinking: the real recession buster”, “Pre-drinking even before pre-drinks because you’re just that keen”, “Pre-drinking loads before going [to] town because you’re a skint bastard”, “Pre drinking every day because you never know when there will be a party” Pre-drinking is the BEST part of a night out…FACT”, “Pre-drinking before your AA meeting”.
I think it is safe to say that we are prink-obsessed. Even our own classy Trinity has Pre-drinks Radio, the soundtrack to pre drinks all over campus and beyond.
Pre-drinks is not the end of the alcoholic beverages of a night out however; “post-drinks” is yet another layer in the onion of the obstreperous night out in student-ville. “Post-drinks” is the best way of letting the lad or lass that you were shifting at prinks that you are well up for the full-Monty. “Post-drinks in mine if you’re up for it, I’ve a bottle of Baileys/ Polish vodka/ a few left over, and probably warm cans…” The rest is history.
There is no doubt that pre-drinking is a part of the youth drinking culture that will be around for quite some time, and while we all have different reasons for prinking that rational adults will never understand, the most important thing to remember is always pre-drink responsibly. Yeah right.
