Summary:
Do you ever use the term billiards parlor? Find out about the phrase and what id means to various individuals. What is the definition?
First of all, what is the definition of Billiards Parlor?
According the the online dictionary, it is a room where billiards is played.
This is a pretty self explanatory definition. The dictionary also referred to billiard room, billiard parlour, billiard hall and billiard saloon.
We here in Colorado never refer to it as a parlor. We will say let's go to the pool hall, or let's go to the bar and shoot some pool. Sometimes we will just refer to the billiards hall by name. (Let's go to Side Pocket or Let's go to Diamond Jim's.)
I guess it doesn't matter which name you use, they are all a room where billiards is played.
I came across the phrase or name billiards parlor while doing some billiards research. It is very interesting that there were 95,546 searches done for the phrase last month. This came in second to the search term billiards which was 416,838 searches for the month.
The name makes me picture an up scale pool hall. Maybe even a pool room that isn't a bar. You know the good old fashioned pool halls that only sell soda pop and charge for the tables by the hour. It seems we find these billiard rooms few and far between these days.
I owned a little non alcohol pool room back in the late 80's. We had some good action there. You could usually find a money game and we held Saturday weekly tournaments that filled the house.
When I saw the term billiards parlor, I just had to write an article about what that means to me. I typed the phrase into Google search and it returned 551,000 search results. There was one on the first page talking about pro player John Schmidt and his new pool room which is named "Nine Mile Billiards Parlor."
I guess even though the name is not as common as it once was, people still have it on the tip of their tongue when thinking about pool halls. I am just sitting here writing about it and I feel like shooting some pool now.
Wouldn't you say the term even adds a touch of class to the game of pocket billiards?
I have a league match tonight in a small tavern with one 7 foot Valley table. I would say that we can't refer to this as a parlor. Would you agree with that?
Post your comments questions and stories below. I would love to hear from you.
To Your Run Out Success.
Ted