酒吧里的交谈艺术
Pub-talk 酒吧里的交谈艺术
By Chuck Kaufman ■唯真 选注
酒吧里的交流方式因人而异，而了解一些不成文的规则会让你成为受欢迎的“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: 酒吧里的规范、规矩。
2. regular: 这里是名词，<口>常客，老顾客。
3. address sb. by...: 用……称呼某人。
4. follow a formula: 遵守惯例、常规。
5. 酒吧里的规范并不规定在对话中实际使用的语言，你可能会听到一些有创意、随心所欲的不同的语言。inventive: 显示创造力的的。idiosyncratic:/;idi2si9#kr*tik/ 别具风格的。
6. buy one's round: 某人请客。round：（分发给在座者的）一份。
7. 对大部分本地人来说，这样做会得到自然的、本能的回应， 即使只是点一点头。
8. reserved: 有所保留的；有节制的。
9. 虽然这不能使你成为一个“速成常客”，但别人会注意到（你的问候），你随后主动接触的举动也会更好地被接受。
10. 这个准则建立在酒吧法则的第一诫上：别太当真了。thou: <诗><古>汝，尔， 你。shalt: <古><方>=shall（只用于现在式第二人称单数）。 The First Commandment:（基督教十诫中的）第一诫。
11. 酒吧的辩论规则反映了不成文的、支配酒吧中所有社会交往的“法则”中珍藏的原则：即平等、互惠、追求亲密关系和非进攻性的默契。reciprocity/;resi#pr=s2ti/:互惠。pact: 契约，协定。
12. social bonding: 社会的亲密关系。
13. 热烈的争论中不一定包括有分量的观点和坚定的信念。
14. therapeutic/;8er2#pju:tik/: 治疗的，有疗效的。
15. 酒吧中，原本矜持谨慎的当地人摆脱了禁忌，说出偶然出现在脑海的想法。
16. choreograph/;k=ri2gra:f/: 设计。
17. establish: 确定。
18. pun: 双关诙谐语。wit: 风趣的话语，妙语。banter: （善意的）取笑，戏谑，逗弄。 backchat: 争辩，激烈的争论。
19. undercurrent: <喻>潜流，暗流。
20. bawdy: （言谈等）猥亵的，低级下流的。
21. 酒吧里的大部分幽默是微妙的——偶尔达到晦涩费解的地步—一些参与者的冷嘲热讽的能力甚至能打动简·奥斯丁。obscurity:晦涩，费解。Jane Austen: 简·奥斯丁（1775—1817），英国女小说家，以善于描绘中产阶级家庭生活著称，著有长篇小说《傲慢与偏见》、《爱玛》。
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