Different cultures and their quirks/food/customs/drink 5

[ziggi]

This is a continuation of a post on a hijacked thread, which was primarily about booze (the post not the thread), but then evolved, but then I forgot where it went, so I'm making a new one.

For those of you who wonder why this is in the self-improvement section. The next time you end up in Poland overpaying a restaurant meal by $80 b/c you gave the waitress $100 for a $20 meal and said thank you, you'll be glad you read this post.

To start us off, when in Poland and at a restaurant, first off pay in cash (credit scams are rife) and secondly don't say anything to the waitress/waiter when paying, saying "Thank you" denotes that you want the waitress/waiter to keep the change.
Also Croatians tend to stare right into your eyes when talking to you, that may creep out the introverts out there....pretty much most engineers ;-) .

 

[HDS]

The best thing about sweet tea is that it is real sucrose sugar and is fresh brewed. The Cokes and other mass produced drinks in the US use corn syrup instead of sugar because our government has decided that communism is good for the agriculture industry and keeps the price of sugar high and the price of corn low. The corn syrup isn't as sweet and leaves an aftertaste. The Mexicans living in the US. will pay extra to import Coke from Mexico because it uses Sucrose and tastes much better.

davidbeach. I have almost never seen a restaurant that only served sweet tea. If they have sweet tea there is usually an unsweet as well.

 

[fewfish]

When we go out in Croatia someone pays for the first round of drinks, someone pays for the second and so on. If you don't pay one time for the drinks you'll pay the next time.

When traveling in western Europe everyone is paying for oneself, and when I get to pay the whole round of drinks no one ever follows.

I hope I am not beeing rude.

 

[ScottyUK]

England - the civilised bit in the North at least - getting a round in is not just normal, it's expected! I can't speak for the Southerners. They're a queer breed!


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Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

 

[GregLocock]

Same in southern Britain, and Australia, where it is called a shout. However, if you go out for a couple after work often people don't bother with shouts as people drift around too much, or have to leave to look after children etc.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[SomptingGuy]

There are two basic forms of group drinking in Britain: "rounds" or "kitty". The former means that you all drink at the pace of the slowest drinker; the latter means that you all drink at the pace of the fastest drinker ... and the beers can mount up. I can recall kitty sessions where I've had to slurp 3 pints before moving onto the next pub!

 

[KENAT]

I'm with Sompting.

Back in the day my friends and I mostly did rounds. However, I'd often buy myself an extra pint or two in between to keep me lubricated. This was in the South but several contributors where from the grim part up north.

With rounds I always found it rude that many couples would treat themselves as a single unit in the round buying system, they only bought one round per cycle but when you bought the round they got two drinks.

fewfish If people aren't wanting to buy rounds they should make that clear up front and not accept your drink.

 

[SomptingGuy]

A couple more "drinking in rounds" details:

1) The double-ender. When you're in a round with your in-laws (or other po-faced shandy drinkers) you buy your pint first. Then while ordering the inevitable ports/sherries/etc you down your own pint as fast as you can. Then you add another pint to the end, which is your "official" pint.

2) The opposite. When drinking with youngsters your round doesn't necessarily include a pint for yourself. Nobody gets ripped off and you get home safely.

 

[KENAT]

Would this be a good time to bring up yards of Ale.

Guinness is difficult but do able.

Ale, preferably the real 'flat' kind but not too strong is probably favorite.

I dread to think about lager or cider.

Also drinking games, Bombing chasers etc...

Good times.

 

[ScottyUK]

Yards of ale are great! I finshed one when I was about 19 or 20. The last bit wouldn't come out at first, then I started rotating the glass and it started coming faster and faster. It was difficult not to laugh with all the people shouting encouragement and trying to tickle me. It must have looked quite impressive. At least, I thought so: I'm not sure my then girlfriend was so impressed.


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Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

 

[SomptingGuy]

Yards of ale...

When I worked in America, one of those great big "Irish pubs" opened up around the corner from the office. And then one year it did something I've never seen in England - a St George's day bash. And what a treat: a free St George and the Dragon tee shirt with your first half-yard of Double Diamond. And you got to keep the (plastic) half-yard.

Apart from the sheer tackiness of it all, the bit that really made it funny for me was all those people gently sipping from their half-yards. I suggested a boat race but nobody wanted to join in.

 

[KENAT]

I've done full yard of Guinness. It bounced.

I've done full yard of some indeterminate bitter from the Hall of residence bar at Uni. It stayed down for a few hours but the multiple poorly stored Murphys I had afterwards caused an upset.

I’ve done several half yards of Guinness in around 12 seconds or so with minimal spillage no problems with retention.

No wonder I struggled at Uni!

 

[kchayfie]

My arms weren't long enough to support the yard and master the art of turning it while drinking. With a bit of help from some willing "friends" I ended up wearing most of the ale. Thankfully it was an indeterminate bitter from the students union - Guiness would have been too hard to wash out!