If you see the publican or bar staff pouring a drink for a person and handing it over without any order being given, you know that person is a regular. Bar staff will sometimes start pouring a regular s drink as soon as he or she comes through the door. In fact, you may notice that names are used rather more often than is strictly necessary, emphasising the familiarity and personal connections between members of the pub tribe. Nicknames You will also hear a lot of nicknames - names which are not real names, such as Shorty or Doc or Yorkshire . Anyone addressed by a nickname is almost certainly a regular.
Nicknames are another key element of the tribal-bonding process.
To call someone by a nickname indicates a much higher degree of intimacy than using their real name. Normally, only family and close friends use nicknames. The frequent use of nicknames between regulars, bar staff and publican gives them a sense of belonging and gives passing anthropologists a helpful insight into the nature of relationships between members of the pub tribe. This ritual exchange of mock-insults and backchat is common practice between bar staff, publicans and regulars in many pubs, and is again a means of expressing intimacy. Initiating contact To initiate contact with these various members of the pub tribe, you need to know the correct etiquette of introduction the best places and times to strike up a conversation with a regular or publican, and the appropriate forms of address.