Have you heard of the pub test?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (355680)
Rockingham, Australia
June 9, 2025 7:57pm CST
The photo is of the goat at our B&B. There isn’t much to say about it so it gets its 10 seconds of fame here.
Do your newspapers ever talk about ‘the pub test’? ‘Pub’ is short for ‘public house’ or ‘hotel’ and the word is very common in Australia.
On my newsfeed this morning, I read that a very senior West Australian public servant had employed a 17-year-old relative and then allowed him to jump the queue of people waiting for government-funded housing, assigning him a three-bedroom house intended for a family. When the Department of Housing received an anonymous tip-off, they allegedly conducted an internal review.
The ACCC (Australian Corruption and Crime Commission) investigated the claim and found the review ‘wholly inadequate’. It was mentioned that it didn’t ‘pass the pub test’. Something that passes the pub test means that the ordinary patron in a pub would understand any particular issue, controversy or scandal which was being discussed and would find it fair. Politicians may also be said to pass the pub test if they are perceived as authentic and likeable.
So, once again, do you talk about pub tests where you are?
20 people like this
19 responses
@FourWalls (75565)
• United States
10 Jun
Does the “pub test” mean they understand before or after drinking? 
That wouldn’t fly in America. Common sense is not very common here anymore.
That wouldn’t fly in America. Common sense is not very common here anymore.4 people like this
@DaddyEvil (150384)
• United States
10 Jun
No, that isn't a thing in the US... It seems like the more someone talks about something, the more "common" people should understand it but that isn't what happens. The more something is talked about here, the more confusing it tends to become until the "common" person is just left confused and unsure about the subject.
3 people like this
@DaddyEvil (150384)
• United States
10 Jun
@JudyEv The more confusing journalists and politicians can make something, the less trouble they have when someone starts saying it shouldn't be happening or we should do something about it. Keeping people confused benefits those running everything.
2 people like this
@allknowing (147143)
• India
11 Jun
Jumping queues is more a rule than an exception here in India - using 'influence'
2 people like this
@Ineeddentures (3936)
•
10 Jun
@JudyEv
Most are not lovely.
Publicans cannot afford to invest in them and as a result some look right out of the 80,s
2 people like this
@JudyEv (355680)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jun
@Ineeddentures I think tourists might like those that look like they've been there since the year dot.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (164105)
• United States
11 Jun
Nope, we sure do not. I do know that sometimes things are ranked by whether or not an average 8th grader, or 6th grade student would understand it.
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (49823)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
10 Jun
To me, "pub" first and foremost means publishing/publication, then drinking, which often are intrinsincly linked.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (191014)
• United States
11 Jun
Ni, but we have the smell test. If a deal is good, and isn't fishy it passes the smell test.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (85872)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10 Jun
I don't much know about this but I do see that at times the Mirror News I get online occasionally asks people to see how much they know by taking a Pub Test.
1 person likes this
@Traceyjayne (2222)
• United Kingdom
10 Jun
We say pub for public house but a hotel is something different. I have never heard the saying pass the pub test. I don't think we use that in the UK.
1 person likes this
@Dreamerby (8447)
• Calcutta, India
10 Jun
No I haven't heard of this test before.
1 person likes this
@Beestring (15474)
• Hong Kong
10 Jun
I think we do not have something like that here. For people living in public housing, they only have to meet certain income/assets requirements. They cannot have income or assets above certain level.
1 person likes this
