酒吧里的交談藝術
Pub-talk 酒吧里的交談藝術
By Chuck Kaufman ■唯真 選注
酒吧里的交流方式因人而異，而了解一些不成文的規則會讓你成為受歡迎的“酒吧一族”。
Pub-talk, the most popular activity in all pubs, is a native dialect with its own distinctive grammar. There are very few restrictions on what you can talk about in pubs: pub etiquette1 is concerned mainly with the form of your conversation, not the content.
The greeting ritual
When a regular2 enters the pub, you will often hear a chorus of friendly greetings from other regulars, the publican and bar staff. The regular responds to each greeting, usually addressing the greeter by name or nickname.3 No one is conscious of obeying a rule or following a formula,4 yet you will hear the same greeting ritual in every pub in the country.
Pub etiquette does not dictate the actual words to be used in this exchange—and you may hear some inventive and idiosyncratic variations.5 The words may not even be particularly polite: a regular may be greeted with "Back again, Joe?—haven't you got a home to go to?" or "Ah, just in time to buy your round,6 Joe!".
When you first enter a pub, don't just order a drink — start by saying "Good evening" or "Good morning", with a friendly nod and a smile, to the bar staff and the regulars at the bar counter. For most natives, this will trigger an automatic, reflex greeting-response, even if it is only a nod.7 Don't worry if the initial response is somewhat reserved.8 By greeting before ordering, you have communicated friendly intentions. Although this does not make you an 'instant regular', it will be noticed, and your subsequent attempts to initiate contact will be received more favorably.9
The pub-argument
You may well hear a lot of arguments in pubs — arguing is the most popular pastime of regular pubgoers — and some may seem to be quite heated. But pub-arguments are not like arguments in the real world. They are conducted in accordance with a strict code of etiquette. This code is based on the First Commandment of pub law: "Thou shalt not take things too seriously".10
The etiquette of pub-arguments reflects the principles enshrined in the unwritten 'constitution' governing all social interaction in the pub: the constitution prescribes equality, reciprocity, the pursuit of intimacy and a tacit non-aggression pact.11 Any student of human relations will recognise these principles as the essential foundation of all social bonding,12 and social bonding is what pub-arguments are all about.
Rule number one: The pub-argument is an enjoyable game—no strong views or deeply held convictions are necessary to engage in a lively dispute.13 Pub regulars will often start an argument about anything, just for the fun of it.
By the end, everyone may have forgotten what the argument was supposed to be about. No one ever wins, no one ever surrenders. When participants become bored or tired, the accepted formula for terminating the argument is to finish a sentence with " — and anyway, it's your round". Opponents remain the best of mates, and a good time has been had by all.
Free-association
Listen carefully, and you will realise that most pub-talk is also a form of free-association —which may help to explain its socially therapeutic14 effects. In the pub, the naturally reserved and cautious natives shed their inhibitions, and give voice to whatever passing thought that happens to occur to them.15 You will notice that pub-conversations rarely progress in any kind of logical manner; they do not stick to the point, nor do they reach a conclusion.
Free-association is the easiest form of choreographed16 pub-talk to join in. Having established17 that the conversation is 'public', you just say whatever happens to come into your head in connection with the current topic of conversation.
Pub humour
Jokes, puns, teasing, wit, banter and backchat18 are all essential ingredients of pub-talk. In fact, you will notice that most pub-talk has an undercurrent19 of humour, never far below the surface.
Pub humour can sometimes be bold and bawdy,20 but the stereotype of loud, beer-bellied males exchanging dirty jokes is inaccurate and unfair. Most pub humour is quite subtle—occasionally to the point of obscurity —and some participants have a command of irony that would impress Jane Austen.21
Rule number two: Be prepared to laugh at yourself, as you will almost certainly be teased.
1. pub etiquette: 酒吧里的規范、規矩。
2. regular: 這里是名詞，<口>常客，老顧客。
3. address sb. by...: 用……稱呼某人。
4. follow a formula: 遵守慣例、常規。
5. 酒吧里的規范并不規定在對話中實際使用的語言，你可能會聽到一些有創意、隨心所欲的不同的語言。inventive: 顯示創造力的的。idiosyncratic:/;idi2si9#kr*tik/ 別具風格的。
6. buy one's round: 某人請客。round：（分發給在座者的）一份。
7. 對大部分本地人來說，這樣做會得到自然的、本能的回應， 即使只是點一點頭。
8. reserved: 有所保留的；有節制的。
9. 雖然這不能使你成為一個“速成常客”，但別人會注意到（你的問候），你隨后主動接觸的舉動也會更好地被接受。
10. 這個準則建立在酒吧法則的第一誡上：別太當真了。thou: <詩><古>汝，爾， 你。shalt: <古><方>=shall（只用于現在式第二人稱單數）。 The First Commandment:（基督教十誡中的）第一誡。
11. 酒吧的辯論規則反映了不成文的、支配酒吧中所有社會交往的“法則”中珍藏的原則：即平等、互惠、追求親密關系和非進攻性的默契。reciprocity/;resi#pr=s2ti/:互惠。pact: 契約，協定。
12. social bonding: 社會的親密關系。
13. 熱烈的爭論中不一定包括有分量的觀點和堅定的信念。
14. therapeutic/;8er2#pju:tik/: 治療的，有療效的。
15. 酒吧中，原本矜持謹慎的當地人擺脫了禁忌，說出偶然出現在腦海的想法。
16. choreograph/;k=ri2gra:f/: 設計。
17. establish: 確定。
18. pun: 雙關詼諧語。wit: 風趣的話語，妙語。banter: （善意的）取笑，戲謔，逗弄。 backchat: 爭辯，激烈的爭論。
19. undercurrent: <喻>潛流，暗流。
20. bawdy: （言談等）猥褻的，低級下流的。
21. 酒吧里的大部分幽默是微妙的——偶爾達到晦澀費解的地步—一些參與者的冷嘲熱諷的能力甚至能打動簡·奧斯丁。obscurity:晦澀，費解。Jane Austen: 簡·奧斯丁（1775—1817），英國女小說家，以善于描繪中產階級家庭生活著稱，著有長篇小說《傲慢與偏見》、《愛瑪》。
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