Talk:List of teetotalers

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[edit] Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Elisabeth Hasselbeck of The View; has celiac disease

Why is her coeliac disease mentioned? To the best of my knowledge, as somebody who has been diagnosed as having coeliac disease for more than 22 years, there is no connection between coeliac disease and teetotalism. The only possible link is that coeliacs shouldn't drink beer. Spirits derived from gluten-containing grains are allowed because they don't contain gluten. Just not drinking beer doesn't make somebody teetotal. I am tempted to remove the offending words!--Oxonian2006 01:05, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Agreed, I was going to make the same point. I'll remove it. --86.29.89.228 (talk) 11:24, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Rob Halford

Rob "Metal God" Halford, frontman and vocalist of heavy metal band Judas Priest has abstained form alcohol for 21 years as of January 2007.

Source: http://www.robhalford.com/quorum/showthread.php?t=78523

Matt714 01:12, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Definition and who it applies to

  • hitler was a severe amphetamine abuser. he took them most everyday. i would suggest taking his name off the list (another possibility: leave in the list but add this information)


  • I suggest we disambiguate non-drinkers who were essentially lifelong non-drinkers (e.g. Carrie Nation) and those who quit for moral reasons, and those who quit due to a history of alcohol abuse or alcoholism (e.g. George W. Bush). It could be argued that the latter does not strictly meet the definition of "teetotaler."

--67.171.28.197 18:39, 10 Jul 2004 (UTC)

  • I think it's difficult to determine the reasons one turns away from alcohol. One brings up George W Bush, for example, but there was a strong moral element too in that he turned to re-born Christianity when he also gave up alcohol.

I think that this list should distiguish between lifelong non-drinkers and people that were heavy drinkers but thereafter quit drinking, and this independently from the the reason they quit. For instance, listing George W Bush as a teetotaler, without saying that he was heavy drinker or alcoholist, is simply an incomplete an misleading information.

At the very least we should identify who was a teetotaller their entire life and who was a teetotaller only part of their life. Possibly with a brief note with their age and possible reasons for becoming teetotallers.

  • I find it impossible to believe that 50 Cent is a teetotaler. We all know that both him and his mother sold drugs. I would like to see some permanent proof that he has stopped drinking alchohol. --Later!!! Chili14 (Talk) 20:26, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References

  • This page would be more useful and believable if it included references. As it stands it is useless unless it can be confirmed. --WibblyLeMoende 1 July 2005 12:09 (UTC)
I agree, especialy considering that I can remember some years ago David Letterman, who's included in the list, expressed an affinity for a specific brand of beer on his show (I think it was Heineken, but I can't remember for sure), and then convinced them to give him a few free cases in exchange for his "promotion". - Ugliness Man 10:51, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Julian Casablancas is said her eto have 'cut back' on alcohol - that does not make you a teetotaler.
'Cutting back' sure doesn't make one a teetotaler. That listing should be removed.

[edit] David Livingstone (Explorer & Missionary)

I've read that David Livingstone was a strict teetotaler in his early life, but drank moderately in his later years. Could/should he be added to the list?

[edit] Mel Gibson removed

According to the article on Mel Gibson, he is a lifelong alcoholic. By his own admission he had been drinking the day of his recent arrest, and by his own admission he is an alcoholic. Whether or not it is technically classified as an "alleged DUI" is beside the point. Also it is material that is ON the page (not off the page) that must be verifiable. There is no controversy that an admitted alcoholic who admitted to being drunk recently does not belong in a list of verifiable teetotalers.JeffStickney 22:05, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Splitting up lifelong teetotalers and the teetotalers who used to drink [heavily]

This could be very difficult because of the lack of references in this article...

But it would be a good idea. It seems to me that there is a fundamental difference between somebody who abstains purely on principle (like John Benn, William Wedgwood Benn, Tony Benn, Hilary Benn, and similar British socialist non-conformists) and somebody who abstains as the result of a drink problem (like George W. Bush).--Oxonian2006 01:22, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Typical left-wing bias from that last contributor. Don't forget people who who quit for religious reasons, or the many ex-alcoholics in showbiz - Russell Brand and Eric Clapton jump out as examples. If someone can also be cited as a recovering alcoholic, by all means mention that, but only mentioning Bush is giving undue weight.--MartinUK (talk) 11:32, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Ken Jennings

He's Mormon. Mormon's abstain from the consumption of alcohol. What more of a citation do you need?

an actual citation. like from supporting material. just because he is mormon doesn't mean that he subscribes to all mormon beliefs, all of the time. 192.223.226.6 16:52, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
I believe when he was on Jeopardy he did well at an alcohol category, which he conceded was funny as he doesn't drink per his beliefs. I'll look it up though.--T. Anthony (talk) 10:18, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
even if you did it would be considerd 'personal research' and therefore would violate wiki policy...i kick ass,1/28/8,1:57pm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Otis66Driftwood (talk • contribs) 18:56, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Lovie Smith

Heya. Just added Lovie to the list after reading that he was a teetotaler in today's Chicago Tribune. Don't know how to add a proper citation for that. 64.81.138.223 19:36, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Are Scientologists allowed to drink? I don't think they are, then John Travolta etc. should all be added to the list.

  • no, they shouldn't be - you need an actual citation stating something like, "John Travolta abstains from drinking alcohol." 192.223.226.5 15:25, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
    • I haven't been able to find anything about Scientology forbidding alcohol. As far as I can tell they have no position. You might be thinking of Christian Scientists, who aren't allowed to drink. In either case, it can't be assumed that someone is a teetotaler just based on their religion.Gartner 19:15, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] encyclopedic worth?

there are around 230 individuals listed as teetotalers, and over 150 of them need citations - nearly two-thirds don't have citations! this article needs some serious work. at the very least, all of the individuals listed as teetotalers in need of a citation should be commented out, and put back in as supporting material is found. the encyclopedic worth of an entry that is mostly made up of unsupported statements is pretty low... 192.223.226.6 16:50, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

There are things like the Prohibition Party and Temperance movement, which make the topic of some historical interest. Granted Temperance was mostly about reducing consumption, but a fair number of them favored personal abstention. I hope the article's problems are eventually resolved as this is one of the few things Wikipedia can do few places would. (Lists are probably one of the best things about Wikipedia. If you want good articles on history or society you generally should not make this your third or nineteenth stop)--T. Anthony (talk) 10:32, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hitler

He was a drinker as well as a big druggie. I'm going to remove his name. Nbruschi 19:14, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

  • I found another page with a citation stating that Hitler was indeed a teetotaler, so I have added him back to the list. If anyone can find better citations that are contrary to this, fair enough.

--Duckflesh 19:44, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

There are a lot of disputed "facts" about Hitler, including this. Even our own articles contradict each other with Vegetarianism of Adolf Hitler stating that he was teetotal (using the source you used) but Adolf Hitler's medical health saying that he "more or less eschewed alcohol until the war went badly (when he used it to aid his sleep)". I think it would be best to remove him until further sources are found, but even then it could be problematic as we will find contradictory sources too. violet/riga (t) 20:55, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
He liked the image of being a teetotaler, but I've seen film clips of his drinking wine so I'm skeptical. I do believe there were Nazi teetotalers though.--T. Anthony (talk) 10:34, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] major problem with citations

okay, i dont know if anyone has checked the citations, i began to when i realized that several of them linked to a blog at the school newspaper of the university of illinois at urbana-champaign. this blog lists teetotalers, yes, but it actually uses this very page as its own source. i dont know if the citation was done in jest or in malice but it's entirely inappropriate for the only source for some of this information to be this page. - 68.79.16.129 15:54, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

I agree, it is totally inappropriate. I've removed all the references to http://blogs.dailyillini.com/opinions/2007/04/ 149.159.131.131 00:26, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] citation issues and original research/inferences

this article needs a major cleanup - there are way too many people listed as teetotalers without proper citations. additionally, some of the citations that are given to show people are teetotalers are simply inferences that the original poster made on their own. For example:

  • Ben Affleck is said to be a teetotaler, when in fact the citation merely states that he has "sett[led] down."
  • Elizabeth Hasselbeck is said to be a teetotaler, merely through the fact that she has celiac disease (the fact that she has celiac disease is also uncited)

I'd like to flag this article for review - there are simply too many uncited references, and i'd feel a whole lot better about this page if another unbiased set of eyes looked at it. if no one objects, i'll put the following templates at the top:

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)
This article or section may contain inappropriate or misinterpreted citations that do not verify the text.
Please help improve this article by checking for inaccuracies. (September 2007) (help, talk, get involved!)

Theroyalweman (talk|user|contribs) 18:44, 20 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Fictional Teetotalers

It seems that someone has totally removed the list of fictional teetotalers without even mentioning it here. That seems very abrupt, and I would argue that said section was very relevant to the article. Is there any way to restore it?

--Duckflesh 19:44, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

It was a pointless section and contrary to WP:TRIVIA. This list shouldn't go into Batman and MacGyver's drinking habits. It was too small and brief to be useful anyway. violet/riga (t) 20:58, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Doesn't the absence of fictional people make the heading "Real People" superfluous? Gr8white (talk) 19:49, 5 April 2008 (UTC)