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Can British people pretend to speak like Americans?
Pub Lunch, Damian, and Uriel:
There is a website detailing pub etiquette; it must be worth its weight in gold! There were a few surprises for me, a Yank. To wit: http://www.sirc.org/publik/ptpchap1.html
That is a nice site Jasper and reading it made me realise that I was wrong when I said that there wasn't such a thing as 'pub etiquette'. The thing is, all that stuff is so natural to me that I did not even consider much of it. But basically everything it says is true.
I did say don't ask for Beer though!!!!! Like the site says you don't need to be an expert at all but asking for Beer is not going to get you anywhere (if it is a 'proper' pub that is). Like I said asking for beer in a pub is like going to the butcher's and asking for meat (I prefer my analogy to their wine one!!). Yep, buying a drink for the person that serves you is customary; you don't have to do this every time - once is enough. The Barman will tend to put this on a tab, let a few build up, and then when they have a day off they will come in and have a session. Oh, this only applies to pubs, forget bars, nightclubs etc. Queuing always seems dodgy but in pubs, like the site says, everyone knows who is next so don't worry. The real problem is when you are in a Bar and music is playing and you have some student who is just doing the job for the holidays - then you’ll see people waving money to get the attention of the barman & pretty soon pandemonium will ensue (I'm sure you lot have the same problem in the states). It seems to suggest that Americans tend to have have problems ordering Cider - is Cider not Cider in the US then??? Oh and a Martini really is 'just' a Martini. Anyway, cheers Jasper that was a nice read mate and I hope it help you (I really fancy a pint now).
Cider in the US is apple cider--a tart, non-alcoholic beverage that is becoming less and less common.
A Martini is a mixed drink with gin, vermouth, and a shot of Grenadine; it's become more popular in the last couple of years, but for the longest time, it was an old person's drink. Personally, I think it's nasty.
>>A Martini is a mixed drink with gin, vermouth, and a shot of Grenadine; it's become more popular in the last couple of years, but for the longest time, it was an old person's drink. Personally, I think it's nasty.<<
Actually, a martini proper has no Grenadine, it should be noted. Also, what seems to have become popular these days is the vodka martini, which has vodka instead of gin. Furthermore, it is quite common to throw all kinds of things other than vermouth in said vodka martinis, resulting in things such as cosmopolitans and wierder things such as "coffee martinis".
Holy cow, make getting a drink a little harder! This has only strengthened my resolve to be a teetotler forever. The tip thing was especially confusing. So much trouble to avoid looking like a server and avoid speaking of money. That must be one of the biggest difference between Americans and the British. When we are on the job, we expect to get a lot of flack and to be treated as inferiors and we take it with a smile because we expect to be paid for it. Of, course, disrespect often comes in a subtle way, but it's never a surprise to get a difficult person who wants to make your life hard.
Jasper -- good god, I would be flummoxed by all those rules!
I think in the US, at least in my experience, if you go up to the bar for a drink, it might be a long time before you have a beverage in your hand. I'm sure the bartenders must have some practice at figuring out who got there first, but with a mob of twenty people, my sympathy is with them. (One poor hopeful guy who went to get me a drink several years ago came back to find that in the very long time that it had taken him to secure the Purple Haze he wished to impress me with, I had struck up a flirtation with another guy, made the necessary arrangements, and was on my way out the door with him -- although I did pause to down the Purple Haze as I left -- poor gy #1; I've never forgotten the stricken look on his face! Cider is just fancy apple juice to us. The fermented version is called "hard cider". I don't know what the rule is for bartenders here, but I don't know if they are allowed to drink on the job. Most just keep a tip jar on the counter, and one way to win over the bartender and score some drinks that aren't so watered down is to make sure they see you tip them. Since bartenders and waitresses EXPECT to make the bulk of their money from tips vs their actual wages, there's absolutely no shame in taking them -- they expect to be tipped, and you're a cheap bastard if you don't, especially in a restaurant! Conversely, they know they also have to earn their tips, and the best ones go to great lengths to give you great service -- you know you've got a good waiter when your glass is never empty (most restaurants serve bottomless soft drinks, water, and iced tea), your conversation is never intruded on (masters of timing, some of those waiters!), and you never have to wait for the check. And we as customers tend to mentally deduct from the coming tip every time we find a glass full of nothing but ice when we go to take a sip, or have to twiddle our thumbs over an empty plate when we want to leave already. I've been known to leave nothing when I was particularly displeased with the service.
>>Cider is just fancy apple juice to us. The fermented version is called "hard cider". <<
It depends. Around here at least, "apple juice" is golden in color, completely clear, and has no pulp material in it at all. On the other hand, cider proper is brown, opaque (but still allows light to slightly filter through), and filled with particulate matter. "Apple juice" is almost always made by large agricorporations and comes in typical supermarket packaging, while cider is invariably made by individual small orchards and comes in un-corporate packaging.
Nice pub site, Jasper. Makes interesting reading even for us Brits who take the UK pub scene in our stride seeing that it is the very core of the social lives of the majority of us. Prohibition may have survived for 14 years or so in America (even though, by all accounts, it was flouted underground left right and centre). A similar ban on booze in Britland would not last even 14 minutes and that's for sure, not without a nuclear explosion nationwide!
Pub etiquette? It's not something we think about to any degree - we just have a bloody me whenever we go down the pub - as we've discussed before the British pub scene bears no resemblance at all to the American bar scene - no comparison as far as I can make out from what I've read, seen in films and from comments in this forum. I would imagine that Brits who become expats in the USA would probably put the British pub at the top of the list of things they would most miss from the UK, followed very closely by the healthcare issues. Pub opening hours as stated in that site are now a wee bit out of date. In theory pubs can remain open 24/7 - ie round the clock - but the vast majority don't quite stay open continuously!! It wouldn't be worth their while and in any case they have to apply to the local licensing authorities for permission to stay open 24/7 and this would apply only in very limited areas - like some parts of the city centres in metro areas where there would be a call for round the clock boozing. Much as I enjoy a pint (or two or three or more....) of my fave brew I don't think I fancy one at 6am or 9am or whatever, even if I was stranded overnight at Covent Garden...some chance of that! I understand that the UK (and London especially) is mega, mega expensive for Americans now - not only do you guys have a long way to come to get here (as is the case with the rest of Europe while for us it's just a hop, a skip and a jump to get to Gay Paree or Amorous Amsterdam or Passionate Prague) you know have to cope with a two dollar quid. I find Lodon incredibly expensive and I couldn't survive here or have the social life I do without my London weighting (additional allowances added to my monthly salary). I have to forgo that when I return home to Edinburgh in a month's time, but living in Edinburgh is much cheaper than living in London! Having fun has its price tag. Saturday afternoon - I must get ready for some of that pub etiquette we were chatting about......Cheers! :-)
***we just have a bloody me whenever we go down the pub***
typo. Bloody good time. I haven't been blooded yet. Anyone see a fox hunt before it became illegal? I never did, thankfully.
Actually, the two dollar pound is kinda nice -- makes the math that much easier when you're trying to mentally calculate exchange rates. Far better than when I has to remember that it was seven francs to the dollar or 120 yen to the dollar -- although I did enjoy the German mark being two to the dollar -- that was easy! Sadly, now there's the bland, boring euro....
All right, returning briefly to the topic: I just saw 3:10 to Yuma last night, and I can attest that both fake Americans (Bale and Crowe) did a perfectly acceptable job. The only minor quibble I might make is that Bale's character, while currently residing in Arizona, originally hails from Massachusetts, so it might not have been a bad idea to have a little New England coloring his GA. On the other hand, my dad was born and raised in Mass., and he has lost almost all trace of his accent, except for when he occasionally drops and R. And not all Massachusetters--Massachusettsans? -- okay, Bay Staters have the famous accent anyway. So Bale is forgiven. Proof that Uriel watches too many movies: I was amused to note that the action begins in Bisbee, Arizona, just across the NM state line, as Crowe's outlaw gang spectacularly (and successfully) holds up a stagecoach armed with not just the obligatory old fart riding shotgun, but a Gatling gun, dynamite, and two Pinkerton agents (one of whom is a cast-iron old bastard named Peter Fonda). Back in LA Confidential, Crowe's character falls in love with Kim Basinger's prostitute, and one of her poignant childhood mementos that she keeps in her "real" bedroom (not the working one) is a handmade pillow embroidered with the outline of Arizona and a star in one corner marked "Bisbee", which Crowe inquires about curiously, to discover that that is her original hometown.
How do British people pronounce NEVADA?
with the fAther sound or with the cAsh sound? |