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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect barman to know what a lemon and lime is.

317 replies

girlfriend44 · 09/04/2025 19:57

Couldn't believe it today. Had this drink loads with no problem.

Barman had no clue what a lemon and lime was. Gave up and ordered something else, a coffee instead.

OP posts:
Latenightreader · 09/04/2025 20:12

Needmorelego · 09/04/2025 20:08

@Latenightreader What is the difference between Ginger Ale and Beer?

Ginger beer is cloudy and has a strong ginger taste. It is sometimes fizzier too. Ginger ale is clear and a sort of golden brown colour with a milder ginger flavour. Both delicious!

CyberStrider · 09/04/2025 20:12

xxlostxx · 09/04/2025 20:09

Lime and soda it would be referred to in these parts and is very commonly known. Did nobody ever order it phrased as that?

Show quote history

Lime and soda is lime and soda water not lemonade

Original poster
girlfriend44 · 09/04/2025 20:13

DuskyPink1984 · 09/04/2025 20:02

I don’t know anyone who’s ordered one of those since 1993.

So, dosent mean it dosent exist.

OP posts:
Dougt · 09/04/2025 20:14

85 year old mum regularly orders this and she’s never had a problem. I must admit if I order for her I say lemonade and lime, because when I worked in pubs and hotels I really can’t remember many people ordering it that way, so I expect the servers to be confused.

rookiemere · 09/04/2025 20:14

I have never heard of a lemon and lime and I am mid 50s and partial to a lime and soda. Why not just tell him what you wanted, rather than this baffled incredulity that someone possibly on minimum wage has never heard of some colloquial random drink name.

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 09/04/2025 20:15

I've never heard of it either. What is it?

Lemonade with lime flavour? Bitter lemon with a piece of lime?

Original poster
girlfriend44 · 09/04/2025 20:15

rookiemere · 09/04/2025 20:14

I have never heard of a lemon and lime and I am mid 50s and partial to a lime and soda. Why not just tell him what you wanted, rather than this baffled incredulity that someone possibly on minimum wage has never heard of some colloquial random drink name.

Read the thread I did.

OP posts:
HeddaGarbled · 09/04/2025 20:16

So snotty: did you know everything about your job when you first started?

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 09/04/2025 20:17

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 09/04/2025 20:15

I've never heard of it either. What is it?

Lemonade with lime flavour? Bitter lemon with a piece of lime?

Oh, I see you've answered. (Sounds gross btw!)

Next time you know - it's not as well known as you thought, so just describe what you want rather than giving it a nickname.

heartsinvisiblefury · 09/04/2025 20:17

If you had just explained to him what it was then maybe that could have solved the problem?

TroysMammy · 09/04/2025 20:17

Thank goodness you didn't ask for 'alf a lager lemon top. Would have sent him into a spin. I've heard of lemon and lime.

DelurkingFromTheShadows · 09/04/2025 20:17

I order it all the time across London with no issue so I don’t think is going out of fashion - my mum used to make it for me as a kid and still drinking it now at 36.

i do order it as “lime and lemonade” though. Dunno why it only sounds right to me that way round rather than “lemonade and lime”

Needmorelego · 09/04/2025 20:18

@Latenightreader thanks.
I have always assumed they would be the same thing.
To be honest the only Ginger Beer I have ever had it probably the cans made by Barrs.

Basketslipper · 09/04/2025 20:18

He didn't know what lemonade with lime cordial was? If you specifically asked for that yanbu, but "lemon and lime" is ambiguous, there are loads of possibilities of what that might actually mean.

AirFryerCrumpet · 09/04/2025 20:18

So you explained you wanted a lemonade with some lime cordial in it, and a fully functioning English-speaking barman didn't understand you?

despairdespair · 09/04/2025 20:20

I genuinely wouldn’t know how to make this drink and I am many decades old .

DappledThings · 09/04/2025 20:20

Never heard of lemon and lime. Even if you said lemonade and lime it would be a bit clearer.

CandidExpert · 09/04/2025 20:20

I would have thought it was lemonade with a slice of lime in it to be honest.

When I've ordered this, as I do now and again, I'd order, "lime cordial made up with lemonade instead of water, please." or "lemonade with a dash of lime cordial". I also often order ginger ale and lemonade or orange squash with lemonade and call both just that. Not "Lemon and Ginger" or "Lemon and Orange". I think this is on you, to be honest.

GallifreyGirl · 09/04/2025 20:21

I worked in a pub for 14 years and have never been asked for that. Is it lime cordial and soda or lemonade and lime cordial?

Thestarsinthesky · 09/04/2025 20:23

I’ve not heard of it- I assumed you meant lime and soda which I think is common? But I may stand corrected that lime and soda isn’t common

Bramble25 · 09/04/2025 20:23

Ha-I know this drink, OP. Team lemon and lime! Maybe it’s regional? I was thinking the other day about how you do t hear much or cider and black, or guiness and black these days.

AprilShowers25 · 09/04/2025 20:23

Lemon and lime is not clear. Lime and lemonade is what it’s called. You probably annoyed him with your incredulous tone then he couldn’t be arsed with listening to your explanation.

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice · 09/04/2025 20:23

Where I live at least, the gentrification of most food and drink places has meant that any drink 'with lime ' is going to come with a slice of the fruit in it rather than a squirt of cordial. Compared to say 20 years ago when cordial would've been the default.

nocoolnamesleft · 09/04/2025 20:24

I've certainly heard of it before, and knew what it was, even though I've never ordered it.

TallAndSkinnyWithAnUnusuallyLargePelvis · 09/04/2025 20:24

So you asked for a 'lemon and lime', he said "What's that?" (as I would, because I've never heard of it), and you said "a lemonade with some lime cordial and ice", and he still didn't understand what that was, so you said "never mind, I'll have a coffee?"

He sounds spectacularly thick.