On the Shelf – 10/15

Choosing the Right Bar

I noticed the other day that the St. Charles Place Saloon has a for-sale sign in the window. Regular readers of this column know that it doesn’t take a lot to get me thinking about words. So, those readers won’t be surprised that this for-sale sign did just that. The St. Charles is the local bar, here in Downieville. And, that is a most interesting word: bar.

“Bar” is one of those words that can be either a noun or a verb. And, in both configurations, it has several possible meanings. So, you have to be careful that you choose the correct “bar” when you’re using the word. Let’s take a look at some of the possibilities:

Bar (noun):

• a solid piece or block of material that is longer than it is wide, e.g., bar of gold

• a submerged or partly submerged bank (as of sand) along a shore or in a river, often obstructing navigation

• the railing in a courtroom that encloses the place about the judge where prisoners are stationed or where the business of the court is transacted in civil cases

• a particular system of courts, e.g., the California bar

• the whole body of lawyers qualified to practice in the courts of any jurisdiction

• the test that person must pass in order to become eligible to work as a lawyer

• a straight stripe, band, or line much longer than it is wide, e.g., horizontal stripes on a heraldic shield

• any of a series of small rectangular symbols used as an indication or measurement of signal strength, e.g., on a smartphone

• a counter at which food or especially alcoholic beverages are served

• a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks, and sometimes food, are served, e.g., St. Charles 

• a vertical line across the musical staff before the initial measure accent

• in textiles, a lace and embroidery joining covered with buttonhole stitch for connecting various parts of the pattern of needlepoint lace and cutwork

• standard, e.g., establishing a minimum criteria for approving new drugs

• a strip along the edge of a computer window that contains commonly used options or icons

• a chunk of soap

• a unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals {probably not Pedros}

Bar (verb):

• to fasten with a long, narrow piece of wood, metal, or other material, e.g., to bar the door

• to mark with straight stripes, bands, or lines that are much longer than they are wide, e.g., a feather barred with blue

• to confine or shut in by or as if by bars, e.g., barring prisoners in their cells

• to set aside, not take into consideration

• to keep out, exclude

• to prevent a party from bringing a claim or action

• to prevent, forbid, prohibit

• Bar (preposition): {Aha, yet another possibility!}

• except, e.g., the village’s most popular saloon, bar none

Bar — some other uses:

• set a low or high bar: to establish an expected, required, or desired standard of quality — either minimum or maximum expectations

• a low bar could also indicate a limbo contest

• a high bar could also reference a high jump or pole vault

• Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Crossing the Bar” (poem)