“Is the Italian population NOISEinking?”

“Drinking???”

“No! Shrinking…mmm….declining!!!”

Ah, ok. I might have seemed dumb, but I really did not hear what my colleague was asking.

I was ready to explain that, differently from here, Italians don’t drink to get drunk. They in fact enjoy a glass of wine because it tastes good with food, or then they might have a pint of beer just while chatting with friends and having pizza (WINE + PIZZA: never). I was ready to say that I first tasted wine when I was around 3 and still I have never been drunk, that I can freely buy alcohol at the supermarket, that I have always had pizza and beer since I was a teenager, but I am not an alcoholic. However, the discussion touched other issues concerning migration, birth rates and so on. Indeed, I should go and test my hear.