One of things that is often remarked upon in tourist guides to the pubs of Ireland is the peculiar quirk of asking for ‘a glass’ in this country when you want a half-pint of any beverage. This is something that most of us grew up with and never really questioned, although if you do think about it, it does seem strange to use this term when both pints and half-pints are served in glassware here, and have been for many years. So where did this term come from and why do we still use it?
To try an answer this question we need to wander across the Irish Sea and take a look at a few references to glasses, half-pints and debates about what actually constituted a ‘glass’ of beer in England in the past.
For example, The Weekly Chronicle (London) from April 1839 mentions in some medical notes on treatments that ‘A glass of ale (half a pint) per deim, be taken’ for a complaint, and although that ‘half a pint’ in brackets could be explaining the glass size required it could also be seen to describe the volume of a glass of ale.
A few decades later the Lancaster Guardian of May 1861 carries a report on short measures in Lancaster and neighbourhood with regard to the use of ‘glasses, earthenware mugs and other vessels.' It suggests that the use of a short measure for a half pint by using a smaller than half-pint glass was rife and pointed to the fact that glass wholesalers stocked large amounts of these smaller glasses for publicans’ use. The writer asks the question ‘Does a glass of ale mean half a pint, or is the former an arbitrary measure? It does not seem possible that there can be much doubt upon this point.’ This seems to imply that at least some of the population expected to receive a half-pint when they asked for a glass.
In August that same year, and also in the Lancaster Guardian, the landlord of the King’s Arms in Morecambe was summoned for ‘selling a glass of ale short of half a pint in measure’ perhaps again implying that a glass implies a half pint but if not it certainly highlights the use of a smaller measure.
In the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette in May 1867 the question ‘”Is a Glass a Measure?”’ was asked and again the content revolves around a court case of a landlord using glasses that did not hold a half pint, for which he was convicted and was then appealing. It was reported that ‘customers had said, “Of course we expect half a pint,” while others said, “A glass and half a pint are the same.”’ and it was also stated by the prosecutors that ‘when a person asked for a glass of ale, it was generally, but not universally, understood, that they expected half a pint.’ The conviction was quashed as it could not be completely proved that those asking for a glass of ale all expected to get a half pint, even though the content of the article suggests that most customers would expect such a measure
In The Halesworth Times and East Suffolk Advertiser in March 1870 a contributor asks, ‘Should a Glass of Ale be Half a Pint.’ This is regarding another court case involving three public houses in Wymondham. Seemingly it was customary in that town for a glass not to be a half-pint but clearly it was expected by those who enforced the law that a glass did mean a half pint, although the case was dismissed.
A few years later, the Liverpool Weekly Courier of February 1873 carries a report on sizes of publicans' glasses and states that ‘a “glass” is an unknown quantity, except so far as custom recognises it as the eight of a pint of spirits, or an equivalent for a half-pint in the case of beer.’ and also ‘As a rule, persons who ask for a “glass” of ale mean “half a pint,” looking upon the terms as equivalents.’
Jumping forward some years, The Leominster News and North West Herefordshire & Radnorshire Advertiser in November 1910 highlights the debate of what is a glass of beer and what is a half pint issue in another legal case and the defence came to the conclusion ‘that it was one of those cases where it might be said that the law was an ass.’ and implies that it was only an offence to serve an actual half-pint in an unverified half-pint glass but that if less than a half-pint was served in any size of glass, providing the customer just asked for ‘a glass’, than that was deemed okay. A similar case was also heard in 1930 in Morecambe - the legality around this custom seems a little dubious …
Even as late as 1947 a writeup in the Nottingham Evening Post in July of that year it was raised as a topic in that city’s council, and the blame for a short measure was put on the customer ‘for not asking what he wanted. If he asked for a glass he would get a glass, but if he asked for a half-pint the licensee was supposed to serve it in an imperial half-pint stamped measure.’ Although it was decided that the case and legalities would ideed need to be investigated.
There are many more mentions of this irregularity in English papers over that whole period too but there appears to be no real consensus as to what a ‘glass’ really meant as you can see, with contradictions coming from all sides of the argument - the customer, the publican and the authorities. Some of these references seem to imply that there was in certain locations a size called a glass of beer and that this was known to be less than a half pint. Although it also appears quite common that the customer may have assumed a glass was a half pint but the publicans believed a glass to be less than that, or perhaps was being a bit cheeky with their perception of what the term actually meant in order to suit themselves and their pockets, or perhaps to suit the pockets of their customers if they were selling a measure on price and not volume regardless of the legalities of such practice.
And perhaps due to all of this confusion - and how much it was widely reported in many papers - the customer changed their terminology for clarity and started to call for ‘a half’ instead of ‘a glass’? Is this how the term died out across the sea from us? (Although comments on my timeline when I mooted writing this article suggests that it still might exist in certain areas as a term for a half-pint or did until quite recently.) It is certainly interesting that it was originally so common-place over there.
So what is the connection with all of this and its continued use in Ireland is probably what many of ye are thinking? That is indeed a good question - and one I am not entirely sure I have gotten close to a definitive answer but I will let you know my thoughts on the subject - and there area couple of hints in the wording used in this paragraph.
But first, what about references like those above in Irish newspapers and publications? Well, those are quite scarce…
Up north we have a writer from Sydney to The Northern Whig in November 1886 on the drinking customs of Australians says the following, ‘There are no half-ones here. “A glass” means a glass of beer. A modest quencher of the “half-one” kind would be wholly misunderstood in Sydney, unless, perchance, the assistant behind the counter came from the North of Ireland, and recognised the old measure of his early days.’ This implies that the term was common before this date at least in this island.
Down south The Irish Times from November 1873 carries an advertisement for the bottlers John Bebe & Co. which mentions a report in the Medical Press and Circular from 1869 that uses the term ‘a glass of porter (1/2 pint)’ that could be taken to imply that a glass was known as a half-pint at this time here, although I am pretty sure that the medical publication referenced is English so it probably is meaningless in more ways than one.
There are just a few reports of the controversies and cases that happened over in England and there are no mentions that I can find of similar issues here. That could mean that ‘a glass’ was taken to mean a half-pint here, or that drinkers did not care, or that the term was not in use here at all! There are mentions of glasses of drink generally but I could find no proper references as to what the term implied here in the past - if anything.
But then again we never really get over exited about sizes here, as my posts on bottle sizes and the famous ‘Meejum’ have shown, although as you can see the issues with those sizes were well recorded and reported whereas any issues with a glass as a unit of measurement are not mentioned as far as I can see.
So this leads me to perhaps believe that we inherited the meaning for ‘a glass’ meaning half a pint from England at some point and that here it did not change into something less than that, leading to confusion and public exposure as it did in England. For this and probably various other reasons it just clung on here in the same way we still use ‘gotten’ or ‘ye’ - or at least some of us do - even though those words have fallen out of favour over there.
All of this is pure conjecture of course, but it seems like a reasonable premise; that the term glass fell out of use in England due to under-served customers and over-zealous regulators, issues that we didn’t have over here to instigate a change in terminology.
Another factor more common to Ireland and which might have some bearing on the issue is our dependence in much of the country in the past on the bottle of beer in public houses, which meant that as long as that bottle was the correct size then the volume of the glass did not matter quite so much, and when kegged beer became more commonplace then maybe the word ‘glass’ for a half pint that had clung on without much controversy became more important, used and indeed useful.
It might also be worth noting that this period in the sixties and seventies where kegged beers became more ubiquitous coincided with the use here of pint glass tankards, and although there were also half-pint tankards it is possible that those who required a half pint wanted it in a glass and not in an undersized tankard - many of which do seem a little odd to drink out of in truth - and so the term had a rebirth. There could be an argument made that it was actually in this period that ‘a glass’ became a meaning for a half-pint and everything I have posted up to this point is meaningless! Could it be that recent?
I would be okay with that too, as I do feel there is more to the story than the suggestions I have put across here …
Liam
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