Baize Information
Baize is a coarse woollen (or in cheaper variants cotton) cloth.
Usage
Baize is most often used on snooker and billiards tables to cover the slate and cushions, and is often used on other kinds of gaming tables such as those for blackjack, baccarat, craps and other casino games.
The surface finish of baize is not very fine (and thus increases friction, perceptibly slowing the balls down, from a player's perspective). Baize is available with and without a perceptible nap. Snooker, in which understanding of the effects of the nap is part of the game, uses the nappy variety, while pool (pocket billiards) and carom billiards use the napless type. Table baize is available in many grades, with pool halls preferring smooth, "fast" worsted woollen baize, while rather more fuzzy, "slow" cloth is commonly used for bar/pub pool.
At one time, "the green baize door" (a door to which cloth had been tacked to deaden noise) in a house separated the servants' quarters from the family's living quarters;[1] thus the phrase's usage as a general metonymy, for domestic service.
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A baize-covered snooker table.
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A similar cloth sample as in the previous image, from farther away and with an American-sized pool ball for scale.
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Introduction in England
A mid-17th century English ditty (a short, simple popular song)—much quoted in histories of ale and beer brewing in England—refers to 1525 as the year:
Hops, heresies, bays, and beer;
Came into England all in one year.
Heresies refers to the Protestant Reformation, while bays is the Elizabethan spelling for baize.[2]
See also
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References
- ^ See Graham Greene, The Fallen Idol (originally The Basement Room; Penguin; 1976; page 125)
- ^ Life in Elizabethan England; Good English Ale; accessed 20 February 2011.
External links
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