I don't see Severus as a drinker. I think he's one of those people that heavy drinkers scorn and scoff at for wanting to be "in control": I believe the idea of being "out of it" would absolutely horrify him. You may say "yes, but he's not that well controlled, is he?" but I still say that restraint and control are things he values highly. Plus, people who drink too much often do really dumb things and wind up with everyone laughing at them. Someone like Severus, with his background of bullying, with his obsessive need to be in control, in charge and to have power over people, and with his lack of popularity and probable terror of becoming the butt of someone's joke, would probably be repulsed, quite literally, at the very idea of getting trollied for "fun".
Plus, I do rather suspect that connecting Severus and absinthe is along the lines of connecting Severus and glamourous Byronic dandies who compose witty bon mots while supping at their highly potent liquor and no doubt planning an evening of further debauchery in and out of a frilly shirt. Anyone is welcome to whatever interpretation of Severus they feel is right, but I just can't see the glamour inherent within him.
I do think, however, that he smokes. It would explain the yellowish tone to his skin and teeth (and I'm sure canon says he's got yellow fingers too). And he smokes roll-ups, and confiscates tobacco off kids when he finds them smoking, then smokes it himself later. He's annoyed at his addiction to tobacco, and has tried to give up. And I think he's tried cannabis back when he was a teenager, because a group of his friends were smoking the stuff. However, I don't think he did it again, because he's one of the last people in canon that ought to be on the humourous cigarettes. Cannabis is a mood-enhancing drug, and there are some moods that really don't need enhancing.
There is also caffine, and I have no doubt that Severus is a Serious Coffee man. By which I mean, no "tall skinny lattes" or "cinnamon-sprinkled moccachino" or whatever they serve at the fashionable coffee-houses. None of that namby-pamby milk and sugar nonsense. Serious Coffee worth the capitals is thick, black and with a personality of its own. It could almost walk across the table and pour itself into the mug. And the mug is the last unbroken one from a set of four, badly chipped and stained brown on the inside, possibly the outside too. Severus and a number of the other men in canon are probably Serious Coffee men in this manner, using vile strong coffee to keep them awake through work, heroics or just life in general.
As for the other canon characters, I think Sirius is a heavy drinker (but not much of a smoker; I like the idea of he and Severus having complimentary/opposing vices and wildly differing moral values on the subject) and I think James et al probably followed suit in their younger days, although perhaps not Remus so much. I also think Ron's shaping up to be potentially quite a heavy drinker. After all, who is it in their circle who is the first to suggest underage drinking? I think that as soon as he gets his hands on enough alcohol, he's going to go crazy for a while. Harry will probably gamely try to keep up, but he won't be putting it away like Ron. Not in public, anyway: I can possibly see Harry becoming a sad secret drinker, but Ron will be one of those "wild" party guys.
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timeasmymeasure
Here from quickquote
Date: 2004-10-29 03:20 pm (UTC)Plus, I do rather suspect that connecting Severus and absinthe is along the lines of connecting Severus and glamourous Byronic dandies who compose witty bon mots while supping at their highly potent liquor and no doubt planning an evening of further debauchery in and out of a frilly shirt. Anyone is welcome to whatever interpretation of Severus they feel is right, but I just can't see the glamour inherent within him.
I do think, however, that he smokes. It would explain the yellowish tone to his skin and teeth (and I'm sure canon says he's got yellow fingers too). And he smokes roll-ups, and confiscates tobacco off kids when he finds them smoking, then smokes it himself later. He's annoyed at his addiction to tobacco, and has tried to give up. And I think he's tried cannabis back when he was a teenager, because a group of his friends were smoking the stuff. However, I don't think he did it again, because he's one of the last people in canon that ought to be on the humourous cigarettes. Cannabis is a mood-enhancing drug, and there are some moods that really don't need enhancing.
There is also caffine, and I have no doubt that Severus is a Serious Coffee man. By which I mean, no "tall skinny lattes" or "cinnamon-sprinkled moccachino" or whatever they serve at the fashionable coffee-houses. None of that namby-pamby milk and sugar nonsense. Serious Coffee worth the capitals is thick, black and with a personality of its own. It could almost walk across the table and pour itself into the mug. And the mug is the last unbroken one from a set of four, badly chipped and stained brown on the inside, possibly the outside too. Severus and a number of the other men in canon are probably Serious Coffee men in this manner, using vile strong coffee to keep them awake through work, heroics or just life in general.
As for the other canon characters, I think Sirius is a heavy drinker (but not much of a smoker; I like the idea of he and Severus having complimentary/opposing vices and wildly differing moral values on the subject) and I think James et al probably followed suit in their younger days, although perhaps not Remus so much. I also think Ron's shaping up to be potentially quite a heavy drinker. After all, who is it in their circle who is the first to suggest underage drinking? I think that as soon as he gets his hands on enough alcohol, he's going to go crazy for a while. Harry will probably gamely try to keep up, but he won't be putting it away like Ron. Not in public, anyway: I can possibly see Harry becoming a sad secret drinker, but Ron will be one of those "wild" party guys.