ewp (02/19/83)
Order "regular coffee" and what do you get?
"In the United States," reports Phil Shea, public relations director of
Sheraton hotels, "with only one exception, an order for 'regular coffee'
would produce plain coffee with sugar and cream on the side.
"The exception is Boston. An order for 'regular coffee' in the
coffee shop would produce coffee with cream already added, and sugar
on the side. In the hotel restaurant, the waiter would question the guest
to clarify the order."
Since Americans drink about 460 million cups of java on a winter's
day, it may be helpful to examine other regional language distinctions
in the ordering of coffee. I put the question to the president of the
National Coffee Association, who started talking about a study of
"preferences for creaming agents." I could tell he was not my man;
to me, a "creaming agent" is a hit man.
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This is a very short excerpt form a book titled, "On Language" by William
Safire (copyright 1980, published by Times Books, NY, NY). The book
is a collection of articles and replies from the New York Times Magazine
on the same subject as this newsgroup. Some of the people out in net.land
may have already read these but, if not, I highly reccommend this book. The
articles are very amusing and cover many topics which have been discussed
in this group, and some that undoubtably will appear.
(People at BTL can find it in the library with number 164767 but you'll have
to wait till I'm done with it.)
not afraid to read off-line,
Ed Pawlak
ihuxb!ewpcrs (02/22/83)
For another point of view (with which I don't wholly agree) see American Tongue and Cheek ------ by Jim Quinn _____ Pantheon Books