As this will likely be my last chance to blog this side of the pond, I thought it fitting to end the Yorkshireology series will the 'drinks' section.  As you may well know, beer is the favorite drink of the British people and they like to drink a ton of it.  What is most interesting about their beer is the massive variety and the varying types.  Typically, what we Americans call beer is a slightly fizzy, cold pale substance that you might equate with a Budweiser.  The English call this lager.  That is only one type of beer.  Lagers are plentiful and representative brews from all over Europe daily refresh the pallets of working men and women.  Some of the most popular are Carling (British), Carlsberg (Danish), Staropromen (Czech Rep.), and Stella Artois (Belgium - aka the wife beater beer, because of the tendency to make one crazy with rage).  The most important thing to remember when sitting down to a cold lager is the alcohol content.  In America the average beer is around 3-3.5% in alcohol volume, but in Europe you cannot take this for granted.  Stella gives you an almost two to one buzz at 5.2% apv and other Belgium beers can weigh in at 10% apv.  These are usually served in a short glass almost wine-like.  One local brewery that we visited called Black Sheep (which brews bitters not lager) serves a 5.9% variety known as Riggwelter, which is an Old Norse word for overturned sheep.  If you drink too many of these, you will be the one overturned!  Carling on the other hand is under 3% apv and is considered the 'working mans beer' since you can have a pint for lunch and still function well in the afternoon.  Beers from Indian and Japan are common as well especially in specialty restaurants.  Last but not least, you can enjoy a regular or extra cold Guinness just about anywhere.  In fact, since Guinness has been shown to have natural vitamin and minerals the old slogan for the Irish beer maker was to have two pints for breakfast to kick off your day.  Hmmm....

While the British do serve beer in bottles and cans, the preferred method of service is a pint.  Most restaurants or bars in America have turned to small or large draughts of beer that are anywhere between 12 and 22 ounces, but the pint is a staple of the British pub scene and is equivalent to about 19 1/5 US ounces. 

The other type of beer served in England, which is more prevalent in the North is the "bitter."  Please remove the images of "bitter beer face" from you mind as this is nothing like a Keystone Light commercial.  A bitters is a British term for a type of beer or pale ale. The expression first appeared in the UK in the early 19th century as part of the development and spread of pale ale (Wikipedia).  There are many different types of bitters served year around, but some are seasonal only.  Generally, they are fairly low in alcohol volume with a few exceptions.  The best part of an English pub is seeing the bitter beer drawn from casks, not poured out of a tap.  The barman or maid "pumps" the beer out of the keg by moving the handle back and forth creating suction.  When the bitter pours into the glass it is cloudy and any serious beer drinker will let it settle before taking a drink.  These beers are also served at room temperature, which may sound horrible, but in fact is amazingly refreshing.  Sarah and I use to live on what is know in Leeds as "The Brewery Wharf" because it is by the river and backs up to the Tetley Brewery.  Tetley is a smooth bitter low in alcohol volume and brewed right behind our old flat.

England certainly has other drinks at its disposal with many varieties of local and imported wine and spirits, but the culture is highly enamored with its beer,  and why not.  There are so many options and it is impossible to truly experience the culture here without taking the time to sit and drink a Landlord (my favorite bitter) or other brew and take in the local people coming to mix and mingle with their mates.  Each pub seems to have its own little community with many regulars to its name.  If you come to Leeds I would suggest going to one of the following fine establishments:  The Grove (one of the first pubs we visited in Leeds, but be careful of the little Yorkshire Terrier, Doughnut, he bites.), The Adelphi (Our local pub when we lived on the Brewery Wharf.  It was about a 2 minute walk and always had Landlord ready to drink.  Sean and I had our regular Sunday "man talks" at this fantastic old pub), and Whitlock's (I haven't spent a lot of time at this one, but it is the oldest pub in Leeds dating back to the early 1700's and is an experience just to see it.)

I hope this series has given you a bit of a glimpse into the culture of the North.  Leeds has now been our home for over a year and it seems somewhat sad to be leaving.  It is a fantastic thing to understand a unique culture different to your own.  It stretches your thinking and reinforces your beliefs at the same time.  I will always remember with great fondness my time here in England.  See you in the States!

Since I am now back in the north of England, it is time to talk about the food here in Yorkshire and the whole of the UK.  The second stirring edition of Yorkshireology.  It is widely accepted that fish and chips is the main diet of the English and while they do eat this old time favorite, the British diet has progressed in many different directions.  While I would argue that they still have a ways to go to rival the great culinary cultures throughout the world, strides have been made to bring British food to an elevated state of taste.

First of all, it is important to note that "chips" in the UK are not potato chips as we know them in the States.  Chips are like steak fries; large bulky cut potatoes fried like most of the classic English cuisine.  And what we call potato chips are known as "crisps" to these islanders.  For a traditional taste, take your fresh fried fish and chips and smother them in vinegar and salt.  Or be an American and bring along some ketchup and horseradish.

Just like the vocabulary section of Yorshireology, the food section has some unique and charming names as well.  Spotted dick is not an horrible STD, but rather is a steamed pudding, containing dried fruits, usually currants.  Bangers and mash are simply sausage and mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding is not desert at all, but a pot pie sort of concoction with beef, potatoes, and vegetables with gravy.  Toad-in-the-Hole is sausages covered in batter and roasted and not a racy club in San Francisco, while Bubble & Squeak are typically made from cold vegetables that have been left over from a previous meal, often the Sunday roast.  Only the British would dare charge for left overs!

My favorite English creation by far is the Bacon Butty.  This simple breakfast or elevensees meal is just a bun with bacon rashers and butter on the top; very simple but very tastey.  The poor cousin of the bacon butty is the chip butty, which as you should know by putting two and two together is a bun with thick steak fries in the middle.  Whoever came up with this must have been the most unhealthy soul in all of the UK, however it caught on and can be found sliding down the gullets of many Britons.  I haven't asked, but I imagine they blame this "healthful" food on the Scottish.

All kidding aside, Leeds does have some fine cuisine.  We have enjoyed the curry immensely since arriving here.  Indian curry is actually the favorite food of the British replacing their time honored fish and chips.  The spice is cooled down on the island with some "ingrish" creations such as Chicken Tiki Masala that you will not find in the sub-continent.  Thai food is also well represented with one of our favorites, Chaophraya, that is not just a meal, but a cultural experience.  This restaurant also boasts some of the best service we have found in England as they do not tend to cater to the expression, "the customer is always right," as much as we do in the US.  Italian, Chinese, and American food (in the form of fast food and some chains like TJI Fridays) also crowd the small city centre, but provide a great deal of choice when fish and chips just wont do the job.

For any or all of you who are considering visiting or living in Northern England, I have decided to present you with an educational tool I am dubbing, Yorkshireology.  It will be a multi-course module that will cover issues such as language, food, drinks, and transportation.  I'm going to keep it lite so hopefully it will be as fun to read as it is informational.  Also, for the those of you who cannot make it over or have no desire to, this may help you understand what is like to be from Yorkshire.

Yorkshire, is the region or county that I now live in.  It is famous for the beer, the Yorkshire Dales, and more traditionally mills & cotton.  However, Leeds in particular has moved away from its traditional roots to a much more cosmopolitan financial and services sector.  It has been said that Leeds is the finanacial center of the north.  Yorkshire received its name from the city of York that was first settled by the Romans in AD43 and later traded hands to the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings before entering the medievel period.  I promise that is the last bit of dry historical data I will put into this!

If anyone tells you that we share a common language with the British, they are lying to you.  And often it is not so much an issue of words, but of accents.  For a country that has only 93,000 square miles of land that is roughly 1/38 the size of the US there are an innumerable number of accents.  From cockny to geordie to scouse to mancunian to yorkshire you can't drive 20 minutes without encountering some abomination of the English language.  As the name of this course implies, we will focus on the local dialect.  The Yorkshire accent is broad and rough and requires you to conjure up sounds from the depths of your bowels to speak it properly.  I have lived here for 10 months and I still have trouble with the thickest of Yorkshire brogue.

Tombs could be written about all the different words that the British use that Americans will not recognize, but I'll try to stick to the basics.

Cheers - Cheers is certainly used to toast with drinks as we do, but it is also used for any social interaction you can imagine.  Hello, goodbye, thanks, sorry, etc.  It is a lot like "aloha."

Ta - this means thanks and is routinely combined with "love" or "my darling" as a term of endearment.  Don't ask me why.

Pissed - This does not mean that your are mad, it means that you are drunk which must be described frequently here.  This word will feature in the drinks section of Yorkshire.  Pissed can also be used in other ways such as:  on the piss - out drinking, piss and vinegar - someone who is being a jerk, or "taking the piss" which is making fun of someone until they react.

Knackered - If you say you are knackered, you are tired.  Nackered and pissed frequently go together.

Lift - The elevator

Trolley - Everything from a cart at the airport to a shopping cart.  If you are expecting a ride on the trolley you will be sorely disappointed.

Fizzy Drinks - This is pop, soda, or carbonated beverages depending on your area of the country.  The debate is settled in the UK with two very descriptive words.

Chesty Coughs - This is cold medicine, but I bet you already figured that out.

Till - You can't pay for things here at the cash register, you must go to the till.

Cash Point - ATM

All singing All dancing - You may hear this on an info-mercial or on a home shopping network.  If you hear this phrase it is either the greatest product ever invented or you are being ripped off.

Motorway - Freeway

Car park - Parking lot.  Not that there is a lot of parking anywhere in this country.

Boot - Not something you wear on your feet, but where you put the luggage in your car.  A.K.A. trunk.

Bonnet - You know it as the hood of the car.

Mobile - You may be thinking of Alabama or pictures hanging over a baby's crib, but you'd be wrong.  This my friends is a cell phone.

Rubbish Bin - Easy enough to decipher, this is a trash can.  Rubbish may also be used to contradict a statement that you don't agree with such as:  The Florida Gators have the greatest College Football & Basketball teams ever...  RUBBISH!

Bits and Bobs - Odds and ends.

Jumper - If you hear someone yell "Jumper!"  Don't look up.  Someone is not about to plunge to their death, it more likely a someone in a shop that just found a great deal on a sweater.

Pants - Please don't use this to address someones trousers in the UK.  Pants are underwear.  Saying "nice pants" to a woman will either get you slapped or a date.

Bloke - If you have watched "Crocadile Dundee" or have eaten at Outback Steakhouse you know that this is a name for a man.

Bird - This is the name for a woman.  Some of them actually look like it and occasionally sound like it.

Randy - This is not a typical name for man; it means that you are sexually aroused.  There was a guy at DePuy named Randy Manuel and the British found it odd that we had a guide book for such a thing.

Fit - If someone is 'fit' then they are attractive not in good shape.

Well that is all for today class.  I hope you enjoyed this journey into the crazy vocabulary of the British.  I also hope that you can now effectively communicate when you come to visit.  Next time we will focus on the wonderful world of British cuisine.

Cheers!