Emblazon the flavour of crisps on the inside of the packet, too. That way, when two jalapeno and sour cream, two sea salt and balsamic vinegar and two mustard and cress are opened out flat on the pub table providing friendly access for all, one can easily see which is which is which is which.
Boy, I love the pub.-- theNakedApiarist, Apr 09 2008 Things can go badly if you don't know your British pub etiquette. http://www.youtube....cvI&feature=relatedBeware the moon, lads. [Amos Kito, Apr 10 2008] For [UnaBubba} http://www.griffins...upName=Potato+chipsThere's more than just Lamb and Mint... [neutrinos_shadow, Apr 14 2008] mine. http://www.slashfoo...s-slowly-addictive/ [jaksplat, Apr 14 2008] It's just... so... obvious. [+]
Do you think this crisp-sharing tactic is widespread across the globe or is it a UK- centric social norm?-- theleopard, Apr 09 2008 get your dirty hands off me cheese n onion.-- po, Apr 09 2008 Based solely on this idea alone I want to move to the UK. Something about a table, in a bar, laden with communal, multi-flavored potato chips sounds warm and cozy.
Oh yeah, and why aren't the packages labeled on the inside? [+]-- Noexit, Apr 09 2008 Given that crisps (chips) are often served on plates or in bowls, entirely devoid of wrappers, then shouldn't they each be labelled directly? Little picture icons of the flavor, printed on each crisp (chip) would be fun.-- DrCurry, Apr 09 2008 I have never been to UK, but from this idea I imagine that the potato chip bags there are either (a) turned inside out when you open them, or (b) shaped like the bell of a French horn, completely preventing you from seeing the sides of the package over the flared mouth of the bag. Quite bizarre, I reckon.-- phundug, Apr 09 2008 Or maybe it's that the bar tables are much higher in England than elsewhere, causing patrons to have to stare UP at the bags of crisps, therefore preventing them from seeing over the bag but still allowing them to see inside the upper edge of the bag. That's probably it.-- phundug, Apr 09 2008 What does a potato flavoured crisp entail? Is it just a plain fried slice of potato, or is it dusted with extra potato flavouring (i.e. Smash) ?-- Srimech, Apr 09 2008 [phundung], the bags are just like those in the US of A, but on the pub table they are opened fully; flattened out. Open at the top, bottom and torn along one side. Thus, only the inside of the bag is visible.
Otherwise, if it's opened in the 'solo' style, each drinker has to wait their turn to root around through the neck of a three-quarters empty bag of crisps that's already been enjoyed by six other people.-- theNakedApiarist, Apr 09 2008 What happens if you eat an inadequately labeled crisp?-- Amos Kito, Apr 09 2008 Thanks for the explanation! Well, the idea makes sense to me now, so why not. Croissant.-- phundug, Apr 09 2008 [amos k], eating the wrong crisps can cause whooping cough, depression, genital rashes, and in some cases, death.-- theNakedApiarist, Apr 09 2008 //eating the wrong crisps can cause whooping cough, depression, genital rashes, and in some cases, death.//
I got fired for an email like that [beeman]. It read:
RE: Lift safety
Please refrain from closing the lift doors on your colleagues. This can cause internal bleeding, amnesia and, in some cases, cancer of the larynx.
Apparently it sounded threatening, as if I was going to maliciously give the recipient cancer of the larynx for banging my elbow on the lift door and not apologising.-- theleopard, Apr 09 2008 Wow, sensitive. Who was your employer? Something in the public service?-- Texticle, Apr 09 2008 Barclays. My brother and best friend have also both been fired from the same place, during entirely different tenures of service. They're just monkeys basically.-- theleopard, Apr 09 2008 [Not sure I'm ever going to get those images of Mr. Tindale drinking beer from a flattened crisp packet out of my head.]-- DrCurry, Apr 09 2008 Don't worry, [theleopard]. Employers like that would have fired you eventually for having the wrong sort of hair or using slang or something.
The Norwegians open the top of the crisp packet, then clasp it from underneath with one hand - the fingertips about halfway up the packet. They then fold the top down around the outside of their fingers until is is level with the bottom so that it looks a bit like an 'M' in profile, with the crisps sitting in the middle dip. This then becomes a self-supporting bowl which can be placed in the centre of the table. Genius.
This method would likewise benefit from internal labelling.-- wagster, Apr 09 2008 I keep my bag to myself - its like sharing needles.
I've heard those tales of the stuff that gets left on bowls of nuts...
imprint the flavour *on* the crisp.-- po, Apr 09 2008 what if you cant read, can you have a scratch and sniff alternative to the writing-- clartsonly, Apr 10 2008 Cunning.-- wagster, Apr 10 2008 How about a cunning flavour barcode on the crisp that can be read by a handheld scanner that most people happen to have these days (i.e. in a mobile phone).-- DenholmRicshaw, Apr 10 2008 //What happens if you eat an inadequately labeled crisp?//
You'd get myxomacrispies.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 10 2008 I've never come across this - opening bags of crisps thing and sharing habit.
it has to be a yuppie thing.
like I say - get yer dirty hands of my cheese n onion.
-1-- po, Apr 10 2008 It's a bloke thing, you wouldn't understand ....-- 8th of 7, Apr 10 2008 A place where I used to work - the Hispanic workers would bring in two bags of corn chips, and a 1-liter bottle of hot sauce. Open the bag most of the way down one side, pour in the hot sauce, and everybody dive in. That part of the shop could get to 115 degrees, and the water fountain was at the opposite end of the building.-- lurch, Apr 10 2008 //I've never come across this - opening bags of crisps thing and sharing habit.//[po], I'm surprised to learn that although British pub attendees will partake of communal bags, they can't be bothered to point out which pile is which. "That's the Steak 'N Kippers, that's Custard 'N Onion. I've had to say it twice tonight, what am I the blinkin Bureau of Information!"-- Amos Kito, Apr 10 2008 We have that here, too.-- Texticle, Apr 14 2008 [UnaBubba] - see <link>. The Honey Soy Chicken are quite nice, too. I thought there were more flavours than that, though. Eh, what do I know...?-- neutrinos_shadow, Apr 14 2008 Since they are colour-coded on the outside, maybe they should be colour-coded on the inside using food dye?-- Ling, Apr 14 2008 Two gangs, here in So Cal, the Bloods and the Crips. Across the room, on my display, thought I saw "Crips Labeled On The Inside".
It would make it easier for the coroner.-- normzone, Apr 14 2008 Excellent idea - although of course the writing would have to be printed in a variety of orientations so that people all around the table could read it. You could however do without writing if there was an ISO-mandated schema of pictograms to represent the various crisp flavours.-- hippo, Apr 15 2008 I'm not sure whether you can still get Hedgehog flavour.-- mecotterill, May 12 2008 random, halfbakery