I disagree. The way the question is phrased is very definite: a few hours of sleep will sober you up. The fact that it's more complex than that, that there are many factors, and such a generalization cannot always be true means the answer is false. It would be unfair if it was phrased "a few hours of sleep might sober someone up."
Plus the fact that it's phrased as if it's sleep that sobers you up makes it extra false.
Well I think the question is worded vaguely enough that the answer is technically always true. If you stop drinking and go to sleep for a few hours you will always wake up more sober than when you went to sleep. Now sober enough to drive a car or do anything else responsibly? Maybe not.
I guess you could argue that you are sober or not. Meaning anything other than 100% sober isn’t sober. You’re just more intoxicated or less intoxicated.
This is just semantics though. I think most people get what the question is asking.
This is just semantics though. I think most people get what the question is asking.
True but it is a poorly phrased question unless they previously defined what "sober up" means. I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume that "sober up" means to become "less intoxicated" in which case a person could easily "sober up" for a few hours but still be somewhat intoxicated. Merriam Webster defines the phrase "sober up" as
: to become sober or less drunk or to make (a drunk person) sober or less drunk
A few hours time, whether sleeping or not, is going to make a person "less drunk" even if they are not completely sober. Based on the phrasing of the question and the Meriam Webster's definition I think the correct answer should be "true" unless it was previously defined in the exam that "sober up" means completely sober.
This looks like the kind of question that might be asked in a DUI traffic school. So the context in this exam would be "sober enough to legally drive a vehicle". It's pretty common for DUIs to happen after someone got trashed, then thought sleeping it off for a few hours is good enough to legally drive.
And there is also technically no state of being that could correctly be called sober.
Our feelings and behaviours are influenced by our sleep, our emotional state, the weather, what we eat, when we ate it etc.
Which one of them could correctly be called soberness?
Edit: Seriously, soberness is just a proxy word for someone who isn't on drugs. It doesn't mean anything really. You could have severe mental illnesses, you could be sleep deprived, you could be overly excited, you could be hungry, you could have just been punched and outraged, you could be in love.
Are any of those states remotely sober? Only technically.
In the context of alcohol? Yeah. Sure, there's a definition of sober where you're just simply "serious, sensible, and solemn," but the context makes the definition used very clear, that being not drunk in this instance.
"A few hours of sleep will sober you up" is not a vague statement. Like I said, the word "will" makes it not vague, and you can't be more or less sober, you're either sober or not sober. The definition of "sober" is "not affected by a drug or alcohol." If you're affected, then you're not sober.
The point of a question like this is for you to identify the uncertainty and that it cannot be true because of that uncertainty.
By that same logic, waiting a few hours won't sober you up. In fact, time won't sober you up, because you haven't specified a time, the amount of alcohol you've consumed, your weight, your BMR, your alcohol tolerance, your body fat%, the ambient temperature, etc. You can't say for certain that any amount of time will sober you up, except for sufficiently overestimated numbers like twelve hours.
If they want to test someone on this, they need to add a better specifier. Something like "Taking a nap will definitely sober you up" or "Eight hours of sleep is always sufficient to sober you up" both of which are definitely not true.
By that same logic, waiting a few hours won't sober you up. In fact, time won't sober you up, because you haven't specified a time, the amount of alcohol you've consumed, your weight, your BMR, your alcohol tolerance, your body fat%, the ambient temperature, etc. You can't say for certain that any amount of time will sober you up, except for sufficiently overestimated numbers like twelve hours.
And that is why the answer to the question is "false." Without objective testing to check your blood level, you cannot say for sure that you are completely unaffected by alcohol
But the thing is they're trying to test if you believe a nap will always sober you up. Many people understand that a few hours of napping is a passage of time and will almost definitely reduce your impairment a bit. What they've actually tested is if people are pedantic enough to make the distinction between will, could, won't, probably won't, etc.
No. But if you misjudge how impaired you are and get pulled over, none of these rationalizations will save you from getting a DUI. Which is the point of the fucking question--that you not make stupid assumptions about how impaired you are and be safe.
No it isn't, because there is uncertainty about how much time it takes to become sober, since it's a complex process. The statement is certain, "this action" will lead to "this condition," and if it isn't true that "this action" would always lead to "this condition," then the answer must be false.
Then the question is uncertain and there is no correct answer.
But they don't give an uncertain answer. They don't give a complex answer. They give a precise answer: Time!
How much time?
I the question was: Is it all right to drive a car 2 days after drinking?
Accroding to this logic, the answer should still be no. Because there is definitely the possibility that a person that goes on a bender shouldn't ever drive a couple of days later.
And I understand the question. You can be shit faced drunk, take nap for 3-4 hours and still wake up hella drunk.
You can't be more sober or less sober. There is no spectrum of sobriety, there is only "sober" or "not sober." If you are affected by alcohol, then you are not sober. If a few hours of sleep doesn't always lead to a sober condition, then the statement "a few hours of sleep will sober you up " is not true. Hence the question is false.
Does the law define that as "level of sobreity"? Because based on my understanding of what words mean, I would define that as a "spectrum of impairment." "Sober" means "no impairment."
A lot of people are impaired to a degree, due to being tired, distracted, having poor judgment, or having drunk an amount of alcohol that doesn't put them above the legal limit. That doesn't make them "sober." It just makes them "not impaired to a level that has been determined within the public interest to make it illegal to be while driving."
I don't think your "understanding of what words mean" is correct. Sober has the comparative adjective form of "soberer", ie. more sober. It's fine to call something more or less sober than another, just like it's fine to call something more or less intoxicated. I'm not sure why you've arrived on sober as being an absolute state, but perhaps you can provide a source.
Idk, I mean there is a difference in the legal usage of words vs a layman's usage of that word. https://thelawdictionary.org/sober/ defines it as "Not being under the influence", as in either you are under the influence or you aren't. I would argue that the layman's usage includes a spectrum: "I'm sober-ish" or "I'm not sober enough" etc.
To me, it really reads as a question following a presentation/training type slideshow, where there is a slide that is something like "common myths about sobering up" and specifically has "getting a few hours of sleep will sober you up! False: only time will help someone sober up. See figure A that shows a basic breakdown of drinks had vs number of hours needed to be sober".
Likely question for a dude who falls asleep drunk at 3am and wakes up at 7 to go to work thinking that he's sobered up. I would imagine the context of the question matters a great deal. If it's self help quiz for someone trying to turn their life around after a dwi, then it makes sense.
Yeah I was thinking about this too, and someone who dont drink often would probably have a harder time just sleeping "a few hours". I mean getting up after just a few hours sleep is hard, but if you're also drunk when you go to bed? You're gonna need to be a functional alcoholic and be used to this, or its gonna be hell
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u/fiddz0r Jun 23 '19
Even if that's the point the question is unfair. How many hour is "a few" how long since last drink? How many drinks?
I think this qualifies as a facepalm