ictionary,
one that cost ninepence, and is supposed to give you all words in
common use, does not include _Kneipe_ at all. As an instrument for
pinching, _Kneipe_ is certainly not common, except possibly amongst
people who use tools. As a word for a sort of beer club it is as
common as beer. It is not only students who go to the _Kneipe_. In
some parts of Germany men spend most of the evening drinking beer and
smoking with their friends, while the womenfolk are by themselves or
with the children at home. But the beer _Commang_ that the professor
thought had such educational value is the name for certain intricate
rites practised by university students at the _Kneiptafel_. Those who
sit at the table are called Beer Persons, and they are of various
ranks according to the time of membership and their position in the
Kneipe. Every Beer Person must drink beer and join in the songs,
unless he has special permission from the chairman. The Beer Persons
do not just sit round the table and drink as they please. If they did
there would be no _Comment_, and I suppose no educational value. They
have to invite their fellows to drink with them, and the quantity
drunk, the persons who may have challenged, and the exact number of
minutes that may elapse before a challenge is accepted and returned,
is all exactly laid down. Then there are various festive and ingenious
ways of drinking together, so as to turn the orgy into something like
a game. For instance, the glass "goes into the world," that is, it
circulates, and any Beer Person who seizes it with a different hand or
different fingers from his neighbour is fined. Or the glasses are
piled one on the top of another while the Beer Persons sing, and some
one man has to drink to each glass in the pile at the word of command.
Or the president orders a "Beer Galop" with the words "_Silentium fuer
einen Biergalopp: ich bitte den noetigen Stoff anzuschaffen._" At the
word of command everyone, beginning with the president, passes his
glass to his left-hand neighbour and empties the one he receives. Then
the glasses are refilled, passed to the right, and emptied again as
soon as possible. The president, it seems, has to exercise a good deal
of discretion and ingenuity, for if the _Kneipe_ seems flat it lies
with him to order the moves in the game that will make it lively and
stimulate beer, song, and conversation. There are various fines and
punishments inflicted according to strict rule on tho