The original measure of binge drinking  became popular in the early 
1990s (JAMA, 12/7/94) when Henry Wechsler and team reported on their 
research on college student drinking.  They "operationalized" binge 
drinking as five drinks for a male in the last two weeks at one event 
and four drinks for a female in the last two weeks at one event.  They 
also created measures of  frequent binge drinking and  infrequent binge 
drinking, later changed to occasional binge drinker.  A drink was 
defined as 12 oz beer, 4 0z wine, 12 oz wine cooler and 1.25 oz of 
spirits.  The initial reaction to the research was an explosion of  
publicity and has led to the idea that "binge drinking" is a proxie for 
any drinking considered too much, ill-advised, dangerous or just plain 
stupid.  You are right, David, in that binge drinking used to refer to 
someone on a bender, a toot, a prolonged drinking bout over several 
days,  It is interesting that the Journal of Studies on Alcohol 
instructs its authors that if they want to use the term it must be 
defined in the traditional manner.  There seems to be a disconnect 
between the definition and the empirical measure of binge drinking.   
cheers, Jim

-- 
James R. McIntosh
Professor & Chair
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Lehigh University
681 Taylor Street
Tel. 610 758 3809
Fax: 610 758 6552