Changes

'''Taverns''', (also called '''Saloons''', '''Bars''' or '''Inns''' or (in England and Australia, '''public houses''' and '''pubs''') serving food, beer and rum, performed a major social and communications role in many countries over the last 500 years.  

'''Taverns''', (also called '''saloons''', '''bars''' or '''inns''' or (in England and Australia, '''public houses''' and '''pubs''') serving food, beer and hard liquor, have performed a major social and communications role in many countries over the last 500 years.  

 

[[File:Tavern.jpg|thumb|380px]]

[[File:Tavern.jpg|thumb|380px]]

==North America==

==North America==

Americans drank heavily, for rum was cheap. In 1770 per capita consumption was 3.7 gallons of distilled spirits per year, or approximately seven shots a day, with the men consuming most of the quota for women and children. That 3.7 gallons does not include the beer or hard cider that colonists routinely drank in addition to rum, the most popular distilled beverage available in English America. Benjamin Franklin printed a "Drinker's Dictionary" in his ''Pennsylvania Gazette'' in 1737, listing some 228 slang terms used for drunkenness in Philadelphia.  

Americans drank heavily, for rum was cheap. In 1770 per capita consumption was 3.7 gallons of distilled spirits per year, or approximately seven shots a day, with the men consuming most of the quota for women and children. That 3.7 gallons does not include the beer or hard cider that colonists routinely drank in addition to rum, the most popular distilled beverage available in English America. Benjamin Franklin printed a "Drinker's Dictionary" in his ''Pennsylvania Gazette'' in 1737, listing some 228 slang terms used for drunkenness in Philadelphia.