Last year I went out to a bar and met up with a friend who had just returned from a tour from Europe. She told me all about her trip, but then told me a brief story, or more of a lesson.

One night when she was in Dublin, she stumbled, and yes I mean stumbled, into a pub. Her and her friends were trying to think of a way to drink a lot in a short period of time, so she had the idea of ordering an “Irish car bomb” (which is when the bartender pours a pint of Guinness and gives you a shot of Jameson or Baileys, and you then subsequently drop the Jameson into the pint and chug the whole thing). This turned out to be a bad idea.

The bartender took a second, and then explained to my friend that they were fresh out of car-bombs but that he could make her a “9/11.”  Well, she was a little shocked, but explained to me that she learned never to order an Irish car bomb in Dublin.

Well Irish car bombs aren’t the only alcoholic endeavors to embody a political title. Back here in the Land of Liberty I have been to countless places where people play a gamed called “Beirut.”

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Here’s how it’s played: there are two teams with usually two people on each team. Each team sets up six or ten cups on both sides of a ping-pong table (or anything resembling one) in a diamond formation. Then the teams pour some beer into each cup, usually red solo cups but they did just come out with some funky white ones, filling it about one-third of the way. After this is done, the teams then both throw a ping-pong ball across the table, aiming to get the ball into one of the cups. Who ever gets it in first, goes first, and then the teams take turns throwing the balls, drinking the cups of beer when the other team gets them in.

I’ve actually had fun playing the game, I must admit. But when one thinks about why the game is called “Beirut” only one explanation seems plausible. Juan Cole explains the “Towers of Beirut” in the context of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982:

The horrible Israeli siege of Beirut in summer of 1982, which lasted for weeks, involved the brutal and indiscriminate bombing of the city. Many of the “towers” that were destroyed contained hundreds of innocent Beirutis.

The ping-pong balls represents the bombs, and the red Solo cups represent the buildings in Beirut. The game is over when the Paris of the Middle East is leveled. If people would be appalled if young adults were playing a 9/11 or a Jerusalem bus drinking game in other countries I think they should adopt a new name for their drinking game, why not just call it “Beer Pong”.

Sidenote: The Cole article is interesting, but since Sharon is doing something I find productive right now I don’t think it’s the time to really get into that. However, I think it’s important to bring up this ridiculous title for a casual drinking game, it’s called this all over New England, and I’ve heard it called the same down in D.C.

Cross Posted at the Daily Kos and My Left Wing