I’ve seen several references to barley water in books about the Royal Family. What is it, exactly? Is it something you mix yourself? Do you buy it in cans, like Coke or Pepsi? Is it still (or was it ever) a popular drink in Britain? What’s the stereotypical barley water quaffer? Do you drink it or like it?
Off the top of my head:
It’s a sweetened fruit (usually citrus) drink that you dilute. It comes in a plastic bottle and you keep it on the shelf.
The classic barley water is Robertson’s, and it appears to be a major sponsor of Wimbledon - the players are given it to rehydrate with.
As for the stereotype, dunno. It seems a very old-fashioned drink to me. The kind of thing a kindly grandfather would offer his seven-year-old grandson on a hot day. Together with a Werther’s Original.
Robinsons, not Robertson’s.
So where does the actual barley enter into things? I’ll have to look for that stuff at the import shop.
Wiki to the rescue!
Apparently, it’s very important that British nannies not smell of it.
Why, I wonder? That would be like asking that a Georgian nanny not smell of Coca-Cola. Any reason for this, Brit-Dopers?
Lemon barley water is probably not dissimilar to lemonade (as it is known to Americans - because I grew up with lemonade being the equivalent of 7-Up/Sprite).
What the hell?
Ha! It actually makes your teeth feel a bit furry, like they haven’t been brushed for a while, probably because it’s loaded with sticky sugar
On an uninteresting aside, I used to think that the umpire at Wimbledon shouting ‘deuce’ was his call for the players to sit down and have a glass of Barley Water.
ALRIGHT ALRIGHT I WAS, LIKE, FIVE OR SOMETHING
While we’re talking about Brits’ bizarre ways of consuming sugar – what are “boiled sweets”? Are they like hard candy or something?
Synonymous.
Why are they called “boiled”? Is that how they are (still) made, or is this a vestigal term?
I don’t know about Brits, but my grandma certainly boiled her hard candy.
Dissolve sugar in water, then boil until all the water is gone. Liquid sugar without burning(unless you wanted carmel, then a little bit of burning 
).
What wolfman said: sugar and water (with appropriate colouring and flavouring), boiled to a thick syrup and left to set hard. How did you think they were made?
I make candy myself, but the odd thing is that a lot of candy is boiled. Toffee, caramel, honeycomb candy, and soft fondant (like you get in a chocolate bonbon) is also boiled, so why are hard candies called boiled sweets when everything else is boiled too? (Well, maybe not gummi. I don’t know how to make gummi, but I bet boiling comes in somewhere.)
Because that’s what they’re called.
I expect it’s something to do with being one of the earliest kinds of sweets available to the public, and at that time being boiled was a more unique element. Maybe.
I want to know what ratafia is --the Georgette Heyer characters are always drinking it. It seems to be some kind of substitute for liquer, but not a soft drink like lemonade. It is preferred by women of a certain age who don’t touch alcohol (fussy old maids).
I take it that “fairy cakes” are our cupcakes, yes?
And what is spag bol? Is it spaghetti bolognese? What the hell is that?
Fairy cakes are cupcakes, yes. And Spag Bol is indeed shorthand for Spaghetti Bolognese. What else would it be?