For Beer-Friendly Debates, Belly Up to 'Barguments'

Three beers is a wonderful amount. That perfect point at the end of the week when regular Joes sitting in their favorite after-work watering hole start getting that warm and fuzzy feeling in their toes.

It is also the point when deep philosophical quandaries arise and culminate in contentious debates. As in: Which would win in a battle between a bear and a lion?

Easy, says Doug Hanks, author of "Barguments" (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $9.99): A lion would emerge victorious.

We all have had those arguments, but unlike most of us, Hanks remembered them in the morning and wrote them down. All 274 of them, including such head scratchers as "Would you rather give up music or alcohol?" and "If you could be free from one task for life, would it be shaving or laundry?"

Hanks's book, published this month, doesn't strive to be preachy or to offer the definitive answer in barroom disputes. He is more of a guide than a guru. He proffers the questions. The rest is up to you, dear drinker, to figure out.

The questions are loosely drawn from five subjects: TV shows, movies, drinking, sports and sex. Sorry, Washingtonians, anything political is out. But be warned: These are bar guments, not drunk-at-a-frat-party keggerguments. You have to be sober enough to conduct a legitimate debate or it isn't any fun. Stick to the three-beer rule, and the book is most enjoyable.

And if you go well beyond that rule, hold on to the book anyway; it makes a handy coaster.

-- Amy Orndorff