“Everything has an opposite”

“Everything has an opposite” is a line that turns a pub crossword exchange into Peter’s sudden attempt to stop drinking. First offered as a general observation, it gives him a verbal route from the identity of champion pint drinker to the possibility of being champion of no pints at all. The idea matters not as an abstract maxim but as a change in what Peter asks of himself: he tells the barman to take his drink away and leaves with Mikey.

The Crossword Exchange

The expression emerges from an ordinary question. The barman, occupied with a crossword puzzle, asks Peter what is the opposite of “advance.” Peter answers “Retreat,” supplying the word the clue requires. The barman confirms the answer, then adds, “Everything has an opposite.” A small piece of wordplay thus supplies the scene’s governing thought: one term can be answered by its contrary.

Peter’s response gives the line a weight the crossword itself does not have. He reacts with “Mother o’ God,” and when the barman asks what is wrong, returns to the statement, asking him to repeat what he said before. The exchange is momentarily broken away from the routine of ordering and drinking. Peter has heard the maxim as something that may apply to him, and the repetition marks his effort to turn an incidental remark into a usable proposition.

From Champion Drinker to Champion of None

The barman tries to bring the conversation back to the pint and asks whether it is all right. Peter says it is grand and calls himself the champion of all pint drinkers; the barman agrees that no one can deny him that distinction. The exchange makes Peter’s drinking an identity publicly affirmed between the two men, not merely a private habit. His boast is matched by the barman’s friendly confirmation.

Peter then draws the opposite out of that boast. If he can be the champion of all pint drinkers, he reasons, he can also be the champion of no pints at all. The shift is carried by the same language of competition: abstinence is not framed as quietly giving something up, but as a new title that answers the old one. The phrase functions almost like a piece of reasoning Peter can act upon, taking the barman’s general statement and making it personal.

The Pint Is Taken Away

The barman doubts the turn, telling Peter he thinks he is going too far, and asks whether Peter’s wife is all right at home. Peter does not continue the debate. Instead, he tells the barman to take the pint away from him and repeats that he is the champion of no pints at all. His request converts the verbal reversal into an immediate action: the drink that had just confirmed his champion status is to be removed.

The scene closes with Peter turning and taking the glass from Mikey. He says they are going home to Mikey’s mother. The movement from the barman’s question to the glass being taken and the decision to leave gives the maxim a practical consequence: Peter breaks off the drinking occasion and heads home with Mikey. The passage establishes this choice in the moment; it does not establish how long it lasts or whether it becomes a lasting abstinence.

Significance of the Repeated Phrase

The line’s force comes from its repetition and its change of scale. The barman offers it casually after solving a crossword clue; Peter first reacts with surprise, then asks to hear it again, and finally uses its logic to imagine an opposite to his own celebrated drinking. The progression—from answer, to maxim, to self-description—makes language the hinge of the scene’s reversal.

The word “champion” also preserves an important tension. Peter does not step outside the competitive identity attached to drinking; he redirects it toward not drinking. The same boastful measure that makes him the champion of pints supplies the terms for his proposed opposite. Whether that declaration can endure remains unshown, but in this encounter it is enough to make him refuse the pint and leave the pub with Mikey.