It's my understanding that 'ladies' should not ask for a 'pint' in a pub - that it's uncouth and should order only a half pint at a time. True? Was true or still is? I realize, from watching Coronation Street, that perhaps women are more likely to order a mixed drink but if they like a beer what's the etiquette? Just curious.

I drank many pints while living and working in London and have near heard it was uncouth for a lady to drink pints.

Hi P,

On our various visits to England we have seen what appeared to be respectable women drinking pints.

That's what i thought. I got the idea from years ago when i led bike trips thru England and we were told more than once that 'ladies should only order half pints' - the gals on our trips ignored that advice, which perhaps could have been jesting. But it's one of those things that lingers in your mind and you wonder if it's true or not. Guess not at least now.

ira hit the nail on the head. Respectable women often do drink pints. Ladies do not.

The female/pint issue is still alive in some places. Quite recently the barmaid in a pub in Hull confused both my daughter and me by asking daughter if she wanted her pint in two glasses.

Michael

Surely the days of the discrete half-lager-and-lime or shandy are over? Are there truly pubs/barmaids that distinguish between ladies and women?

< British Pub Etiquette? >

Don't spill anyone else's pint

alanRow,

<i>Don't spill anyone else's pint</i>

These days that often has more to do with personal safety than etiquette.
;-)
Michael

&quot;It comes in PINTS !?!&quot;

J_Correa,

Yes. <u>Imperial</u> pints.

Michael

&lt; These days that often has more to do with personal safety than etiquette. &gt;

Personal safety is one of the reasons etiquette evolved

Imperial pints, too, (20fl.oz.)requiring frequent trips to the loo!

This is probably more thatn you want to know, but the Social Issues Research Centre has a site that will give you everything you need to know about surviving the British Pub scent. The URL for this well written guide is:

http://www.sirc.org/publik/pub.html

Hoist one for me!

I guess I am not a lady then since I drink my beer by the liter

My mother told me that the expression used in her world (just post war) was &quot;what would you like a half of?&quot;

J_Correa, I got it

Why do Americans have a different word for the international unit known as the &quot;litre&quot; or is the American &quot;liter&quot;, like the American &quot;gallon&quot; smaller than the real thing?

centre=center
theatre=theater (though now vogue for both centre and theatre in US)
litre=liter

why do Brits use the French word for litre?

re often is er in American - why? But litre=liter fits the pattern.

do Brits say metre? no i think meter, like Yanks.

No. In the UK, meter= what you measure things with, like an electricity meter, and metre=36.39 inches

I thought it was 39.37&quot;.

Michael