Drinking Games

[steepholm]

"The sun's over the yardarm," I heard myself say to my mother the other day. Worse, analysis showed that when I said it my irony levels were at critical level - below 25%. I plead our family's nautical heritage as a partial excuse, but still.

Which got me to wondering...


[Poll #1994683]

Comments

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

I would say "fancy a snifter" as well, only snifters are irrevocably associated with brandy in my head, and I rarely have any brandy to offer people.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

"Fancy a snorter?" in this household, which is apparently composed entirely of doe-skin britched 17th Century squires.

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I have never heard 'the sun's over the yardarm' but I will commence using it immediately.

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I figured! I'll use it on the housemate soon; he's from Portsmouth.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

For lunchtime drinking, the equivalent is "The noonday gun has sounded." Also very useful...

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

This is excellent information! I shall add them both to the arsenal at once.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

I wish I had known "I think it's wine o'clock" before but will start using it immediately. Especially today.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I could help.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That's a new one on me.

[splanky.livejournal.com]

I might have used one of those to justify the fact that I was already drinking. *looks embarassed*

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

You're not alone.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Our current version is,"The sun has passed the yardarm [so no more caffeine today]."

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That's admirably abstemious!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I've rarely used any of these, but I think it's partly for the simple logistical reason that since having reached the income bracket which means I can afford to drink at home whenever I like, I have always lived alone. So for me, suggesting drinks to other people usually means either suggesting going to the pub together (which most of those phrases don't quite cover), or offering drinks to guests (which is also a slightly different thing). Most of the phrases above strike me as mock-conspiratorial ways of suggesting to someone whom you spend a lot of time with when you aren't drinking that it's time to shift to a different mode.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I think that's a fair analysis!

[lilliburlero.livejournal.com]

I have a variety of facetious variants on 'the sun's over the yardarm' that I'm sure make me quite insufferable.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I'm sure they are all said with the ironic self-awareness that is such a sturdy buckler against all charges of naffness.

[lilliburlero.livejournal.com]

And, indeed, sometimes with actual air quotes.

[wosny.livejournal.com]

Often we say "Well it's after six somewhere in the world."
I am quite ashamed.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I am quite ashamed.

A toast! To abstinence!

[ms-chatelaine.livejournal.com]

None of the above, although my mother and grandmother said 'sun's over the yardarm'. I think it was because of the sailors in the family. For me, 'beer o'clock', and 'it's five o'clock somewhere', from the song don'ty'know.

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I have definitely said both "the suns's over the yardarm" and "it's five o'clock somewhere" on more than one occasion. For the former, I shall blame growing up in Southampton. While I wouldn't go as far as air quotes, I will claim at least to have used the phrases in a somewhat light-hearted and facetious manner!