Pubs Are for More than Drinking Quiz

Answer:

My own experiences in English pubs are from quite some time ago, but I believe they remain valid, at least historically.

My standard order (before I gave up alcohol) was a pint of mild and bitter, which made me the subject of amusement and/or derision, as women were 'supposed' to drink half-pints, possibly of lager, or a small glass of wine. Men drank pints of lager, ale, mild and bitter or whatever they chose. One of my cousins favoured 'lager top', which is a pint of lager with a dash of lemon (or lime) juice. This should not be confused with a shandy, to which I later switched, which is half lager and half lemonade.

Saying that whisky is from the top shelf, whether physically or metaphorically, indicates that it is of superior quality, commanding a suitable price.

A typical ploughman's lunch consists of cold meats, cheese, pickles and crusty bread, although variations exist. Although based on the type of meal a farm worker might carry with him for the midday meal, the pub version stems from a postwar promotion by the Cheese Bureau to boost sales after rationing came to an end.

The Sunday roast, often served at midday, is most definitely a main meal! The roast meat can be beef, pork, lamb or various other options, all served with a hearty helping of roast vegetables, and sauces and other accompaniments to suit the meat; Yorkshire pudding and horseradish with beef, applesauce with pork and mint sauce with lamb, for example. There's gravy too, of course.

Crisps, known as chips in North America, come in many wild and wonderful flavours, including cheese and onion, prawn cocktail, pickled onion or plain old ready-salted.

Quiz nights are pretty self-explanatory, especially to a group of quiz-playing fanatics. Teams of varying size vie for prizes of varying value, and fun is had by all, even if a few disputes may arise.

The oche is the line beyond which players may not step when throwing their darts. Darts can be played casually amongst friends, or more seriously as members of a team competing in a darts league. The idea is to throw your three darts at a round board that is marked off into sections that award different scores as indicated, working your way down from an agreed starting score (501 or 301 are often used) to zero before your opponent does.

Skittles actually has different variations. Bar skittles (or table skittles) involves a ball tethered to a post which is swung in an attempt to knock down pins arranged in a diamond shape near the post. Some pubs have a dedicated room for a different version of skittles, involving larger wooden pins (usually nine of them) and balls similar to five pin bowling balls (or possibly a lawn bowl) which one tosses toward the pins to knock them down. I've played the latter version, and can say that the 'alley' such as it is was much shorter than any bowling alley (five or ten pin) that I'd ever seen.

Known to exist since the 1440s, Morris dancing thrives in all parts of the UK and abroad as well, in a variety of regional styles. Groups are called sides, and traditional costumes are worn, with bells involved as part of the garb, and other props used during the performance, for keeping time or describing graceful movements.

Claimed to be hundreds of years old, but probably dating from the 1960s, dwile flonking (dwyle flunking) is basically a drinking game. Participants wear old-fashioned farmworkers' clothes. One team stands in a circle around a member of the other team, who attempts to hit them with a rag that has been soaked in beer. Lack of success calls for downing a half pint of said beer. You'd be most likely to find this game in Suffolk or Norfolk, where it has the most participants.

After all the fun, arriving home safely is the most important thing. Whether this is accomplished by having a sober designated driver, calling a cab or taking public transit doesn't matter, as long as this goal is accomplished.

Cheers!