Category Archives: Yanks vs. Brits

Done up like a kipper

Simon Cowell, on discovering recently that he’s going to be a daddy, is said by Britain’s Sunday Mirror to feel as though “he’s been done up like a kipper in all of this.” (The newspaper actually wrote that he “feels like he’s been done up like a kipper”, but that’s for another conversation.)

“Done [or stitched] up like a kipper”: now there’s a quaint British expression — meaning “fitted up or framed”, “used or betrayed” — that you probably won’t often hear on the other side of the Atlantic, which Mr. Cowell has a habit of crossing. No-one’s really sure where it originates from, and although there are several theories floating around about fish being cut, gutted and hung out to dry or smoke — which seem vaguely plausible — there is one suggestion by slang lexicographer Jonathon Green on Quora that doesn’t seem too fishy:

“Done up like a kipper dates back at least to the early 1980s. The general meaning is defeated, put at a total disadvantage, plus a specific sense of ‘caught red-handed’. Given the process of kippering herrings, it seems to be a play on gutted, i.e. deeply disappointed, sick and tired, fed up, utterly depressed, very upset. The slang use of kipper seems never to be positive, e.g. the post 1940s Australian definition of an English immigrant as a kipper: ‘they’re two-faced and got no guts’.”

Another fashionable theory is that it relates to a particular type and shape of tie popular in the 1960s: here’s how Phrase Finder explains it:

“In the 1960s, according to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the extra wide tie called the ‘kipper’ was in vogue. Kipper ties were introduced by the British fashion designer Michael Fish. The term ‘kipper’ was a pun on his last name ‘Fish.’ Another source ‘The A-Z of Food & Drink’ by noted lexicographer John Ayto says, in addition, that tie was also named partly for its shape (the kipper).”

Here are some other British phrases that might bemuse or bewilder in the U.S. (with links to sites that either explain or suggest their respective origins):

“All mouth and [no] trousers”: originating in northern England, the phrase is defined by Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of Catchphrases American and British as “noisy and worthless stuff,” applied to “a loud-mouthed, blustering fellow”. The nearest modern phrase is probably “all talk and no action”. (Fraser’s Phrases)

“Bent as a nine bob note”: meaning dishonest or corrupt. There is and was no such thing as a nine-shilling note (bob is slang for shilling), so any such item would have to be counterfeit. (Phrase Finder)

“Bob’s your uncle”: meaning “And there you have it!”. (World Wide Words)

“Sweet Fanny Adams”: meaning basically nothing. This expression has a strangely tragic origin. It isn’t, as many believe, a polite euphemistic alternative to “f*** all and its initials, but actually dates back to a Victorian murder victim with this name, which the British Navy — so often at the heart of quirky British slang — hijacked and used to describe certain food items. (Fraser’s Phrases)

“To queer the pitch”: meaning to spoil the business at hand (see Glossophilia’s earlier post on the word queer and a history of this phrase)

“Picking up fag ends”: meaning to eavesdrop on or try and enter a conversation that is nearing its end. The “fag-end” was a term used to describe an end section of cloth or yarn in weaving (and is also an informal British term for cigarette butts).

“Give ’em what for”: meaning to punish, scold or reprimand someone; eg. from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Drums of the Fore and Aft” (a short story in Indian Tales in 1890): “‘Now,’ gasped Jakin, ‘I’ll give you what-for.’ He proceeded to pound the man’s features while Lew stamped on the outlying portions of his anatomy.” (Phrase Finder)

“Remember me to her/them”: meaning to pass on greetings in the form of a mention or reminder; eg. from Scarborough Fair, a traditional English ballad: “Remember me to one who lives there, / She once was a true love of mine.” (StackExchange)

Which or that: the ongoing debate (and a Brit-Yank divider?)

I stumbled on something interesting in the Oxford English Dictionary. It contradicts itself on the subject of which and that, using the relative pronoun which in a definition for which it (the OED) — in its own definitions of which and that — prescribes that. This seems to be symptomatic of a larger ongoing debate about the two relative pronouns that divides not just individual grammar commentators (both lay and professional) but also, apparently, two nations.

First, here’s a brief primer on the original (but now sometimes disputed or diluted) difference between which and that. According to the dictionary mentioned above — specifically the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (the 1993 edition): which (when used as a relative pronoun) is defined as “introducing a clause describing or stating something additional about the antecedent, the sense of the main clause being complete without the relative clause.” The same dictionary gives the relative pronoun that a different role in the sentence, “introducing a clause defining or restricting the antecedent, especially a clause essential to the identification of the antecedent (and thus completing its sense).”

An earlier Glossophilia post explains and illustrates this difference a little more simply: “‘That’ … qualifies or identifies the noun preceding it, pinpointing which one of two or more nouns is being referred to. ‘Which’ … simply adds extra but non-identifying information about the preceding noun. A good rule of thumb is this: if the that/which clause can be taken away and you still understand the reference, it must be a which. If you take it away and you’re unsure about what is being referenced, it must be a that.” (See the earlier post for examples.)

Now let’s go to the iffy definition in question: here is the noun prequel defined by the NSOED quoted above:

“A book, film, etc., portraying events which precede those of an existing work.”

According to its own definition of which, the “which clause” presented here about prequel (“which precede those of an existing work”) should be additional to the main clause (“a book, film, etc., portraying events”) and the sense of that main clause should be complete without it. So, technically, “a book, film, etc., portraying events” should stand alone as a complete and understandable clause in its own right. Hmmm … I don’t think so. That second clause is absolutely necessary to complete the definition, and therefore should be started by the word that, which (according to the OED, as noted above) introduces a clause “essential to the identification of the antecedent (and thus completing its sense)”. The definition should therefore read: “A book, film, etc., portraying events that precede those of an existing work.” At least that’s as prescribed by the historical/original respective uses of which and that, which have in the last century become rather murky — especially on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

I have noticed especially in recent years that the British (but not the Americans — at least not to the same extent) have shown a tendency to substitute that with which, as the OED has done in the prequel definition above. And almost as if to justify the switch (or what some might regard as the error), they remove the comma that normally precedes which in its traditional role as a non-identifying pronoun. Curiously it’s never done the other way around: ie. that is never used instead of which. Let’s look at the following examples:

“I gave him the red coat, which my mother had worn earlier.” Here, the which clause is not defining, and the main clause is therefore complete in itself: “I gave him the red coat.”

“I gave him the coat that suited him best.” The that clause is defining (ie. it is identifying the coat in question), so the clause is essential for the sentence to make sense; without the that clause, it wouldn’t be clear which coat is being referred to.

Now the Brits might well write: “I gave him the coat which suited him best.” They are using which instead of that to start the defining clause (“which suited him best”) and removing the comma before it to make the substitution easier on the ear. But they would be unlikely to write: “I gave him the red coat, that my mother had worn earlier.”

This interchangeability or substitution is heard much less frequently on American shores, where that and which tend to retain their traditional respective identifying and non-identifying roles.

My father, Brian Barder (a staunch Brit linguistically as well as in other ways), argues that both Robert Burchfield and Roger Fowler, two of the world’s most respected authorities on language usage, were tolerant of and relaxed about what and that being interchangeable, with both of them noting that some of the best writers tend to disregard any historical difference between the relative pronouns. Here is what Barder explains:

“Burchfield/Fowler (MEU 3rd ed.) in section 3 of the that entry says that most of the time which and that are interchangeable without any “offence to any rule of syntax”, and quotes the original Fowler as ‘wisely’ observing in 1926 that ‘if writers would agree to regard that as the defining relative pronoun and which as the non-defining, there would be much gain in lucidity and in ease. Some there are who follow this principle now; but it would be idle to pretend that it is the practice either of most or of the best writers.’

“I am pretty sure that the distinction has been much further eroded since 1926.

“Burchfield continues with a longish piece about additional complications when either relative pronoun is preceded by a comma, the fact that that can’t idiomatically be preceded by a preposition whereas which can, that that has no possessive form (unlike which), circs in which that is leading a defining clause can often be omitted and understood, but not when it leads a non-defining clause … and more. It’s on p 774 of my edition.”

But I think it’s safe to argue that Americans are just different from the British on this particular issue of tolerance and acceptability. Curiously, in this case it’s the Americans who are being the traditionalists — when it’s so often the other way round. It’s also a clear indication to me that I’ve truly joined the ranks of the Americans, at least on this one usage issue.

The rain in Spain …

I read somewhere recently (but can’t remember where) that one of the most common areas of complaint directed towards the BBC from viewers and listeners around the world is not what you might think it might be. It’s not claims of bias or prejudice, inaccuracy, prurience or falsehood that have people shaking their fists: it’s the far more serious crime of mispronunciation that has people raising their voices in anger — whether the word in question comes out sounding sloppy or just plain wrong. And I’m sure these complaints are the bane of many radio hosts’ professional lives.

Don’t blame the radio guy. There are many everyday words whose pronunciations are almost universally incorrect – or at least sloppy – simply because of the spelling and construction of the words themselves. It often boils down to too many voiced consonants being near or next door to each other in the word, making it difficult for the mouth, tongue, lips and soft palate to wrap themselves around the complex sounds and resulting in lazy annunciation. A second “r” that follows too soon after the first is a good example of this: February more often than not comes out as “Feb-ry” or “Feb-you-ary”; surprise as “suh-prise”; berserk as “buh-serk”; governor as “guv-uh-ner” or “guv-ner”; and library as “libe-ry” or “libe-ery”. Other common consonant clashes that twist the tongue (especially in the middle of words or after particular vowel sounds) are “cl”, “ct”, “dn”, “sthm”, “sk”, “lfth”, and “gn”: see some examples of these below.

nuclear comes out as nyu-cue-ler (well, if you’re George Bush it does)
Antarctic — as Ant-ar-tic
Wednesday — as Wens-day
asthmatic — as as-ma-tic
twelfths — as twelths
recognize — as re-co-nize
ask — as ax
asterisk — as as-ter-ix

But sometimes it’s about more than just lingual laziness. There are several words that are commonly mispronounced because the word simply doesn’t look like the way it should be pronounced, especially when its spelling points the reader towards a more obvious or regular pattern of pronunciation. This is sometimes the case with words that are more often seen in print than heard spoken aloud; highly literate and educated people can go whole lifetimes before realizing that the slightly obscure word they’ve been reading on the page (and imagined articulated a certain way) is actually the same as another unusual word they’ve heard pronounced differently. See if you’re surprised by any of these commonly mispronounced gems:

Hyperbole — often mispronounced “HYper-bowl” — is actually “hy-PER-bol-lee”

Segue — not “seeg” but ‘SEG-way”

Victuals — not “VICK-chewals” but “VITT-uhls”

Epitome — not “EPI-tome” but “eh-PITT-uh-mee”

Omnipotent — not “OM-ni-poh-tent” but “om-NIP-oh-tent”

Superfluous — not “SOUP-er-floo-us” but “soup-ER-floo-us”

Here are a couple of words that seem to have a strange but common American pronunciation — at least they do to my British ear:

mischievous — pronounced with four syllables: “mis-CHEE-vee-us”. Where did that extra “vee” syllable come from?

pianist — pronounced with just two syllables: “PEEN-ist”. A bit too close to another word for comfort; where did that third syllable, that includes the ‘a’, disappear to?

The next post will be about differences between American and British pronunciations of foreign loan words. You say ‘erb and I say herb: Let’s call the thing off…

Wacky English pronunciations

In the first of three posts about tricky pronunciations, let’s look at some proper nouns — mainly of the English or British variety — that don’t sound quite the way they look.

Names of titles:

Boatswain — pronounced BOH-sun

Colonel — KER-nel

Lieutenant — Lef-TEN-ant

Viscount – VIE-count

Names of places (in the UK):

Beauchamp — Beechum

Bicester — Bisster

Blenheim — Blennum

Gloucester — Glosster

Greenwich — Grennitch

Leicester — Lester

Leominster — Lemster

Magdalen — Maudlin

Warwick — Worrick

Worcester — Wooster

Weymiss — Weemz

Surnames:

Cholmondeley — Chumley

Featherstonehaugh — Fanshaw

Mainwaring — Mannering

Marjoribanks — Marchbanks

First names:

Aoife (Irish) — EE-fa

Naomh (Irish) — Neeve

Siobhan (Irish) — Shuh-VAUN

Saoirse (Irish) — SEER-shuh

St John (first name or surname) — SIN-juhn

And here are some weird American place names thrown in for good measure:

Arkansas — AHR-can-saw

Boise, ID — BOY-zee

Cairo, IL — KAY-row (not KIE-row)

Leominster, MA — Le-MON-ster

Ojai, CA — OH-high

Versailles, KY — Vair-SAILS (not Vair-SIGH)

Here’s what the English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist William Cobbett wrote about pronunciation in his grammar treatise of 1818: “Pronunciation is learned as birds learn to chirp and sing. In some counties of England many words are pronounced in a manner different from that in which they are pronounced in other counties; and, between the pronunciation of Scotland and that of Hampshire the difference is very great indeed. But, while all inquiries into the causes of these differences are useless, and all attempts to remove them are vain, the differences are of very little real consequence. For instance, though the Scotch say coorn, the Londoners cawn, and the Hampshire folks carn, we know they all mean to say corn. Children will pronounce as their fathers and mothers pronounce; and if, in common conversation, or in speeches, the matter be good and judiciously arranged, the facts clearly stated, the arguments conclusive, the words well chosen and properly placed, hearers whose approbation is worth having will pay very little attention to the accent. In short, it is sense, and not sound, which is the object of your pursuit.”

— William Cobbett, A Grammar of the English Language in a Series of Letters: Intended for the Use of Schools and of Young Persons in General, but More Especially for the Use of Soldiers, Sailors, Apprentices, and Plough-Boys, 1818

Is “to the manor born” an eggcorn?

From Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 1, scene 4:
HORATIO: Is it a custom?
HAMLET: Ay, marry, is’t:
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honour’d in the breach than the observance.

When Hamlet described himself as “to the manner born”, what he meant was that he was destined to be suited to the custom in question by virtue of his birth (“I am native here”). Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in about 1600, and he probably coined (or at least first popularized) this phrase. Note, however, that there is no suggestion of high class or nobility in the original meaning of the expression; at that time, “to the manner born” could just as easily refer to someone of lowly status accustomed to the practices of his family business, or indeed to anyone destined by dint of their birth to certain thoughts or practices common to their circumstances. Thomas Hardy, writing about his hero the sheep-farmer Gabriel Oak in Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), noted that “if occasion demanded he could do or think a thing with as mercurial a dash as can the men of towns who are more to the manner born.”

Class or status did creep in, however, when a similar expression, “to the manor born”, entered standard English in the mid-19th century. It means more or less the same as Shakespeare’s phrase, but the emphasis is on one’s nobility — rather than simply one’s birth — making you destined for a certain suitability, usually to the comforts or advantages of a privileged class. Whereas manner denoted simply customs or habit, its homophone manor signifies a mansion or estate associated with the wealthy or upper classes. The second phrase seems to have become more common and more standard than the original, at least in colloquial usage (and of course they’re more or less identical in spoken form), with the result that the two expressions have become virtually indistinguishable in their meaning; both now convey the sense of loftiness that was inherent only in the younger, newer expression.

Linguists and etymologists have long argued about the relationship between the two sayings: was the second one introduced as a spin-off of the first by accident or by design? Was it a deliberate play on words, with someone changing the spelling of “manner” to “manor” in order to introduce an extra element to the phrase, or even just as a pun? Or was this an example of what modern linguists call an “eggcorn”: an erroneous misspelling that comes into its own and eventually assumes its own slightly different meaning?

An eggcorn differs from a pun in that it begins as an error; much like its cousins the mondegreen and the malapropism, an eggcorn arises when someone hears and perceives a spoken word as either a homophone or a combination of words that sound similar, and the resulting misspelling assumes its own — often slightly eccentric — meaning. A classic eggcorn is the phrase “duck tape”, which sounds just like “duct tape” but can easily be — and evidently was — misheard at some point, taking on a new life of its own with its inadvertent new spelling.

To the Manor Born was a popular BBC sitcom broadcast in 1979. That it had such high ratings and was so apparent in the English culture of the time might help explain why this version of the phrase has became more standard in the vernacular than Shakespeare’s original — perhaps even more so in England than in the US?

Well, that’s my excuse, because I have to admit it: I thought that this was the original and only spelling and meaning of the phrase (and I watched the TV show). I was unaware that I’ve been using a pun or an eggcorn all these years, when I could have been quoting Shakespeare …

Know your coffees

As Frank Sinatra sang, “They’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil”. Well, we’ve got an awful lot of coffee brews in the world — hot and cold, black and brown, frothy and smooth, strong and weak, bitter and sweet — and they are named variously and sometimes exotically: after the ingredients they contain, the countries they originate in, the way they’re made, or simply the way they look.

Here, courtesy of Wikipedia (with some Glossophilia edits), is a fairly comprehensive dictionary of coffees; please add any more in the comments section below.

Affogato

An affogato

An affogato (Italian for “drowned”) is a coffee-based beverage or dessert. “Affogato style”, which refers to the act of topping a drink or dessert with espresso, may also incorporate caramel sauce or chocolate sauce.

Antoccino

An Antoccino is a single shot of espresso with steamed milk in a 1:1 ratio, served in an espresso cup.

Black Eye

A Black Eye is dripped coffee with a double shot of espresso. It has a strong taste.

Breve

Beverage made with steamed half-and-half cream.

Caffè Americano

A Caffè Americano

Caffè Americano or simply Americano (the name is also spelled with varying capitalization and use of diacritics: e.g. Café Americano, Cafe Americano, etc.) is a style of coffee prepared by adding hot water to espresso, giving a similar strength to but different flavor from regular drip coffee. The drink consists of a single or double-shot of espresso combined with between 1 and 16 fluid ounces (30 – 470ml) of hot water. The strength of an Americano varies with the number of shots of espresso added. In the United States, “Americano” is used broadly to mean combining hot water and espresso in either order, but in a narrower definition it refers to adding water to espresso (espresso on the bottom), while adding espresso to water (espresso on the top) is instead referred to as a “long black”.

Variations include: long black, lungo, red eye, and Tors Hammer (from Norway)

Café au lait

Café au lait as being served in Oslo, Norway; espresso and steamed milk, served in a bowl

A café au lait is traditionally the French way of preparing ‘coffee with milk’ both at home and in cafés in Europe. “Café au lait” stems from the same continental tradition as “caffè latte” in Italy, “café con leche” in Spain, “kawa biała” (“white coffee”) in Poland, “Milchkaffee” in Germany, “Mèlange” in Austria, “koffie verkeerd” in Netherlands, and “café com leite” in Portugal, meaning simply “coffee with milk”.

In northern Europe, café au lait is the name most often used in coffee shops for what other places call a ‘caffè latte’.

The term ‘café au lait’ has been used for espresso + milk since the 1950s in (among other places) the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

In the U.S., ‘café au lait’ is defined as a coffee beverage consisting of strong or bold coffee (sometimes espresso) mixed with scalded milk in approximately a 1:1 ratio.

Café Bombón

Café bombón

Cafe Bombon was made popular in Valencia, Spain, and spread gradually to the rest of the country. It might have been re-created and modified to suit European tastebuds as in many parts of Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore the same recipe for coffee which is called “Kopi Susu Panas” (Malaysia) or “Gafeh Rorn” [lit: hot coffee] (Thailand) has already been around for decades and is very popular in “mamak” stalls and “kopitiams” in Malaysia. A café bombón, however uses espresso served with sweetened condensed milk in a 1:1 ratio whereas the Asian version uses ground coffee and sweetened condensed milk at the same ratio. For café bombón, the condensed milk is added to the espresso. For visual effect, a glass is used, and the condensed milk is added slowly to sink underneath the coffee and create two separate bands of contrasting colour – though these layers are customarily stirred together before consumption. Some establishments merely serve an espresso with a sachet of condensed milk for patrons to make themselves.

Café Cubano

Café Cubano (Cuban coffee, Cuban espresso, cafecito, Cuban pull, Cuban shot) is a type of espresso that originated in Cuba after espresso machines were first imported there from Italy. Specifically, it refers to an espresso shot which is sweetened with demerara sugar as it is being brewed, but the name covers other drinks that use Cuban espresso as their base. Drinking café cubano remains a prominent social and cultural activity within Cuba, Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa and the Keys, as well as the Cuban exile community. Café Cubano is available in almost all coffee shops in Miami, making it a staple of local cuisine and tradition.

Caffè crema

Caffè crema (Italian: cream coffee) refers to two different coffee drinks: 1) An old name for espresso (1940s and 50s), and 2) a long espresso drink primarily served in Switzerland and Austria and northern Italy (1980s onwards), along the Italian/ Swiss and Italian/ Austrian border.

As a colorful term it generally means “espresso”, while in technical discussions, referring to the long drink, it may more narrowly be referred to as Swiss caffè crema.

Variant terms include “crema caffè” and the hyperforeignism “café crema” – “café” is French, while “caffè” and “crema” are Italian, thus “café crema” mixes French and Italian.

Café de olla

Café de olla or pot coffee is a traditional coffee-based drink prepared using earthen clay pots or jars in Mexico and other Latin American countries. It is flavored with cinammon and piloncillo. Consumed primarily in colder weathers, usually with the merienda meal, and accompanied with pan dulce pastries.

Caffè latte

A Caffè latte

Similar to the Portuguese Galão, a latte is a portion of espresso and steamed milk, generally in a 1:3 to 1:5 ratio of espresso to milk, with a little foam on top.

Caffè Marocchino

The Marocchino is made from espresso, steamed milk, and a dusting of cocoa powder, similar to the espressino.

Caffè Medici

A Caffè Medici is a doppio poured over chocolate syrup and orange peel, usually topped with whipped cream. The drink originated at Seattle’s historic Last Exit on Brooklyn coffeehouse.

Café miel

A café miel has a shot of espresso, steamed milk, cinnamon, and honey. The name comes from the French word for honey, miel.

Cafe mocha

A mocha latte in Costa Rica

A café mocha is a variant of a caffè latte. Like a latte, it is typically one third espresso and two thirds steamed milk, but a portion of chocolate is added, typically in the form of a chocolate syrup, although other vending systems use instant chocolate powder. Mochas can contain dark or milk chocolate.

The term moccaccino is used in some regions of Europe and the Middle East to describe caffè latte with cocoa or chocolate. In the U.S. it usually refers to a cappuccino made with chocolate.

A “cafe borgia” is a mocha with orange rind and sometimes orange flavoring added. Often served with whipped cream and topped with cinnamon.

Caffè Tobio

Caffè Tobio is an espresso drink with an equal amount of regular coffee. This combination simultaneously helps the flavor of weak coffee and hides the bitter flavor of espresso. Useful in chain coffee bars.

Café Touba

Café Touba is the spiritual beverage of Senegal, named for the holy city of Touba. During the roasting process, the coffee beans are mixed with grains of selim, and sometimes other spices, and ground into powder after roasting. The drink is prepared using a filter, similar to plain coffee. Sugar is often added before drinking.

Cafe Zorro

A Cafe Zorro is a double espresso, or doppio, added to hot water with a 1:1 ratio.

Ca phe sua da

A Cà phê sữa đá

Cà phê sữa đá, also known as, cafe sua da (Vietnamese: Cà phê sữa đá) or “V-caf”, is a unique Vietnamese coffee recipe. Literally, ca phe sua da means “iced milk coffee”. Ca phe sua da can be made simply by mixing black coffee with about a quarter to a half as much sweetened condensed milk and then pouring it over ice. A substitute made by many Vietnamese immigrants in the Southern U.S., particularly in Louisiana is a dark French roast, often with chicory; otherwise an imported Vietnamese-grown and roasted coffee is used when it is available. The coffee is traditionally brewed with a small metal Vietnamese drip filter into a cup containing the condensed milk. The condensed milk and coffee are stirred together and then poured over the ice. Ca phe sua nong (Vietnamese: ‘cà phê sữa nóng’) — literally, “hot milk coffee” — is made by excluding the ice.

In Spain, there is a similar beverage called Café del Tiempo ([Summer] Weather Coffee) or Café con Hielo (Coffee with Ice). Similarly, Café Bombón can be served with ice. The coffee is served in a small cup and an empty small glass with ices cubes. Sugar or condensed milk is added in the small cup while the coffee is still hot, and then the coffee is poured in the small glass with ices. When the coffee is cooled, the remaining ice is removed with the help of a spoon.

Cappuccino

Cappuccino

Cappuccino is a coffee-based drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed milk foam. A cappuccino differs from a caffè latte in that it is prepared with much less steamed or textured milk than the caffè latte with the total of espresso and milk/foam making up between approximately 150 and 180 millilitres (5 and 6 US fluid ounces). A cappuccino usually exceeds the height of the cup, making the foam visible above the side of the cup. A cappuccino is traditionally served in a porcelain cup, which has far better heat retention characteristics than glass or paper. The foam on top of the cappuccino acts as an insulator and helps retain the heat of the liquid, allowing it to stay hotter longer.

Chai Latte

Numerous houses use the term chai latte to indicate that the steamed milk of a normal cafè latte is being flavoured with a spiced tea concentrate instead of with espresso. Add espresso shots for a “Dirty Chai Latte”.

Chocolate Dalmation

A Chocolate Dalmatian is a white chocolate mocha topped with java chip and chocolate chip.

Coffee milk

A coffee milk is a drink similar to chocolate milk; however, instead of chocolate syrup, coffee syrup is used. It is the official state drink of Rhode Island in the United States.

Cortado

A café cortado, served in Barcelona

A cortado is an espresso (also known as “Pingo” or “Garoto”) “cut” (from the Spanish and Portuguese cortar) with a small amount of warm milk to reduce the acidity. The ratio of milk to coffee is between 1:1 – 1:2, and the milk is added after the espresso. The steamed milk hasn’t much foam, but many baristas make some micro foam to make latte art. It is popular in Spain and Portugal, in Norway as well as throughout Latin America, where it is drunk in the afternoon. In Cuba, it is known as a cortadito. It’s usually served in a special glass, often with a metal ring base and a metal wire handle. There are several variations, including cortado condensada (espresso with condensed milk) and leche y leche (with condensed milk and cream on top). In the United States it is sometimes known as a “Gibraltar”. Differs from Cappuccino with little or no milk foam, and from Flat White in that the Flat White is always prepared with a double espresso and no foam.

Decaf

A coffee beverage made with decaffeinated beans.

Dirty Chai

Chai tea with a single shot of espresso. In addition, 1-2 tablespoons of instant Espresso may be brewed while simultaneously steeping Chai in the same container; a small amount of a dairy or non-dairy beverage of choice is usually added to complete the drink.

Doppio

Extracting a doppio

Doppio in espresso is a double shot, extracted using a double filter basket in the portafilter.

Eiskaffee

Eiskaffee, literally “ice cream coffee”, is a popular German drink consisting of chilled coffee, milk, sweetener, vanilla ice cream, and sometimes whipped cream.

Espressino

An espressino is made from espresso, steamed milk, and cocoa powder, similar to the Marocchino

Espresso

Espresso

Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water — about 86 to 95 °C (187 to 203 °F) — under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso often has a thicker consistency than coffee brewed by other methods, a higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids, and crema (meaning cream, but being a reference to the foam with a creamy texture that forms as a result of the pressure). As a result of the pressurized brewing process the flavours and chemicals in a typical cup of coffee are very concentrated. Espresso is the base for other drinks, such as a latte, cappuccino, macchiato, mocha, or americano. Espresso has more caffeine per unit volume than most beverages, but the usual serving size is smaller—a typical 60 mL (2 US fluid ounce) of espresso has 80 to 150 mg of caffeine, little less than the 95 to 200 mg of a standard 240 mL (8 US fluid ounces) cup of drip-brewed coffee.

Espresso Romano

An Espresso Romano is a shot of espresso with a small rind of lemon and sugar added to it.

Flat white

A flat white with latte art

A flat white is an espresso coffee with a similar proportion of coffee to milk as a caffè latte and a cappuccino, the main difference being the texture of the milk and (in some regions) the number of espresso shots.

The drink originated in Australia and New Zealand in the late 1970s as alternative to the frothier cappuccino. It has since spread to the UK, where it first began to be served by independent cafes in London like Department of Coffee and Social affairs and Speak Easy, Where Owners and staff are from New Zealand bring the style of coffee into the UK before being adopted by chains Costa and Starbucks. It is rarely found in continental Europe or the United States.

In New Zealand it is traditionally made with two shots of espresso topped with stretched and texturised milk. The milk is prepared by steaming air into the milk and folding the top layer into the lower layers. To achieve the “flat”, non-frothy texture the steamed milk is poured from the bottom of the jug, holding back the lighter froth on the top in order to access milk with smaller bubbles, making the drink smooth and velvety in texture. This leads to a white coffee with the crema on top still intact. The drink was traditionally served in a ceramic cup used for cappuccinos (approximately 220-260ml in capacity), though present-day speciality cafes are more likely to serve it in smaller (150-160ml) cups with two Ristretto shots used, resulting in a drink noticeably stronger and less milky than a caffè latte.

Outside New Zealand, the milk is prepared in a manner more similar to that of a caffè latte; the milk is stretched and texturised but is poured freely rather than the froth being held back with a spoon or knife. This results in a thicker density of milk with more froth.

In Australia the drink more closely resembles a caffè latte as it tends to be served with a single shot of coffee, resulting in a weaker and milkier drink.

In the United Kingdom the drink has a similar strength to the New Zealand version. It is made in a small cup (150-160ml), contains two espresso (often ristretto) shots, and is often finished with latte art. The skill needed in preparing ristretto shots and latte art means that it is viewed as something of a speciality product in the UK.

Galão

Galão is a hot drink from Portugal made of espresso and foamed milk. In all similar to caffè latte or café au lait, it comes in a tall glass with about one quarter coffee, 3 quarters foamed milk. When the proportion is 1:1 it is called “meia de leite” (Chinesa in Madeira) and it comes in a coffee cup.

Guillermo

Originally, one or two shots of hot espresso, poured over slices of lime it can also be served on ice, sometimes with a touch of milk.

Greek frappé coffee

A Café frappé

Greek frappé (Café frappé) (Greek: φραπές) is a foam-covered iced coffee drink made from spray-dried instant coffee. It is very popular in Greece especially during summer, but has now spread on to other countries. In French, when describing a drink, the word frappé means shaken and/or chilled; however, in popular Greek culture, the word frappé is predominantly taken to refer to the shaking associated with the preparation of a café frappé.

Green Eye

A Green Eye (also known as “Triple Death”) is dripped coffee with a triple shot of espresso.

Half-caf

Beverage made with half and half parts caffeinated beans and decaffeinated beans.

Iced coffee

Iced coffee is a cold variant of the normally hot beverage coffee.

Indian filter coffee

South Indian Coffee, also known as Madras Filter Coffee or Kaapi (Tamil phonetic rendering of “coffee’) is a sweet milky coffee made from dark roasted coffee beans (70%–80%) and chicory (20%–30%), especially popular in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The most commonly used coffee beans are Peaberry (preferred), Arabica, Malabar and Robusta grown in the hills of Kerala (Malabar region), Karnataka (Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru) and Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris District,Yercaud and Kodaikanal).

Instant coffee

Instant coffee

Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans. Through various manufacturing processes the coffee is dehydrated into the form of powder or granules. These can be rehydrated with hot water to provide a drink similar (though not identical) to conventional coffee. At least one brand of instant coffee is also available in concentrated liquid form.

Irish Coffee

Irish coffee is coffee combined with whiskey and cream, often further sweetened with sugar. Also available as a flavor of ice cream.

Kopi susu

Kopi susu is found in (at least) Malaysia, Borneo and Indonesia and very similar to the preceding entry for Ca phe sua nong. Literally, kopi susu means “milk coffee”. Served in a glass, kopi susu can be made simply by mixing black coffee (arabica) with about a quarter to half a glass of sweetened condensed milk then let stand to cool and allow the grounds to sink to the bottom. You should not drink this to the end unless you want to “eat” the ground coffee. Kopi Turbruk is as above but uses sugar instead of sweetened condensed milk.

Latte macchiato

Latte macchiato literally means stained milk. This refers to the method of preparation, wherein the milk gets “stained” by the addition of espresso. It differs significantly from caffè latte firstly in that espresso is added to milk (rather than milk to espresso), secondly that it features more foam, rather than simply hot milk, thirdly in that often only ½ (or less) of an espresso shot is used, and fourthly in that it is often a “layered” drink, rather than being mixed as in a caffè latte. Simply, in a caffè latte, the emphasis is on the coffee, while in a latte macchiato, the emphasis is on the milk.

Macchiato

A Caffè macchiato

Caffè macchiato – Macchiato, meaning ‘stained’, is an Espresso with a dash of foamed milk. At first sight it resembles a small Cappuccino but even if the ingredients are the same as those used for Cappuccino a Macchiato has a much stronger and aromatic taste.The milk is foamed directly into the espresso cup, which is then put under the coffee outlet. The espresso is then drawn into the cup. Cocoa is then sprinkled over the drink (optional). Often the process is reversed and milk foam is floated on top of extracted coffee. A long Macchiato will have two shots of espresso and a small amount of hot water (as per long black). A short Macchiato will usually have one shot of coffee and less water (as per short black).

Mélange

Mélange is popular in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and is traditionally similar to caffè latte and cappuccino (and more a mix of the two), a large cup with (today) espresso and steamed milk with some milk foam. Mélange and its ‘cousin’ cappuccino both have variations with whipped cream atop the blend of milk and coffee. Outside Vienna this is sometimes referred to as ‘Wienermelange’, although that name does not exist there. The origin of Mèlange goes back to the 1700s as a Café drink (you wouldn’t call it that at home) in Austria.

Mocha (see Cafe mocha above)

Mazagran

Mazagran (sometimes misspelled as Mazagrin) is a long cold coffee beverage usual in Portugal and served in a tall glass. It is made with at least strong coffee – usually espresso – lemon and ice, though sometimes sugar, rum or water is added. Sometimes a fast version is achieved by pouring a previously sweetened espresso in a cup with ice cubes and a slice of lemon.

Palazzo

A Palazzo is an iced coffee variant, popular in Southern California. It is two shots of espresso, chilled immediately after brewing and mixed with sweetened cream. A Palazzo is typically made using a moka pot.

Pharisäer

A Pharisäer, meaning a Pharisee, is an alcoholic coffee beverage that is popular in the Nordfriesland district of Germany. It consists of a mug of black coffee, a double shot of rum, and a topping of whipped cream. In 1981, a court in Flensburg ruled that 2 centilitres (0.70 imp fl oz; 0.68 US fl oz) of rum were not sufficient for preparing a genuine Pharisäer.

Pocillo

A shot or small portion of unsweetened coffee, now usually made either using an espresso machine or a moka pot, but traditionally made using a cloth drip, usually served in cups made for the purpose (called “tazitas de pocillo“). It is widely-drunk in Latin America, usually as an afternoon or after-dinner coffee. The defining feature is the size, usually half size to a quarter size of the usual ~8 US fluid ounces (240 ml) coffee cups. There are a number of small-sized drinks that use tazitas de pocillo, including sweetened (such as café cubano and café cortado), but these are usually not called a pocillo; rather, the Spanish diminutive suffix “-ito” is usually added to the name of the drink wanted in a pocillo size cup. For example, a pocillo-sized cortado is usually called a cortadito.

Red Eye

A Red Eye is dripped coffee with a single shot of espresso. This drink is also known as a Shot in the Dark.

Red Tie

A traditional Thai Iced Tea, which is a spicy and sweet mixture of chilled black tea, orange blossom water, star anise, crushed tamarind, sugar and condensed milk or cream, with a single shot of espresso.

Red Tux

A Zebra Mocha combined with raspberry flavoring.

Regular coffee

In New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia, a regular coffee is one with milk (or cream) and sugar. A variant phrasing is coffee regular.

Ristretto

Ristretto is a very “short” shot of espresso coffee. Originally this meant pulling a hand press faster than usual using the same amount of water as a regular shot of espresso. Since the water came in contact with the grinds for a much shorter time the caffeine is extracted in reduced ratio to the flavorful coffee oils. The resultant shot could be described as bolder, fuller, with more body and less bitterness. All of these flavors are usually attributed to espresso in general, but are more pronounced in ristretto. Today, with the hand press out of favor and modern automated machines generally less controllable, ristretto usually just means less water; a double espresso shot is typically around 60 ml (2 fl oz), while a double ristretto is typically 45 ml (1–1.5 fl oz).

Rüdesheimer kaffee

Rüdesheimer kaffee is an alcoholic coffee drink from Rüdesheim in Germany invented in 1957 by Hans Karl Adam. It is made with Asbach Uralt brandy with coffee and sugar, and is topped with whipped cream.

Skinny Latte

A reduced calorie latte made with steamed non-fat milk.

Turkish coffee

Beans for Turkish coffee are ground or pounded to the finest possible powder, finer than for any other way of preparation. Preparation of Turkish coffee consists of immersing the coffee grounds in water which is most of the time hot but not boiling for long enough to dissolve the flavoursome compounds. While prolonged boiling of coffee gives it an unpleasant “cooked” or “burnt” taste, very brief boiling does not, and bringing it to the boil shows without guesswork that it has reached the appropriate temperature.

In Turkey, four degrees of sweetness are used. The Turkish terms and approximate amounts are as follows: sade (plain; no sugar), az şekerli (little sugar; half a level teaspoon of sugar), orta şekerli (medium sugar; one level teaspoon), and çok şekerli (a lot of sugar; one and a half or two level teaspoons). The coffee and the desired amount of sugar are stirred until all coffee sinks and the sugar is dissolved. Following this, the spoon is removed and the pot is put on moderate heat; if too high, the coffee comes to the boil too quickly, without time to extract the flavour. No stirring is done beyond this point, as it would dissolve the foam. Just as the coffee comes to the boil the pot is removed from the heat. It is usually kept off the heat for a short time, then brought to the boil a second and a third time, then the coffee is poured into the cups. Getting the thickest possible layer of foam is considered the peak of the coffee maker’s art. One way to maximise this is to pour slowly and try to lift the pot higher and higher as the pouring continues. Regardless of these techniques, getting the same amount of foam into all cups is hard to achieve, and the cup with the most foam is considered the best of the lot.

Vienna coffee

A “Vienna coffee” is the name of a popular traditional cream based coffee beverage. It is made by preparing two shots of espresso in a standard sized coffee cup and infusing the coffee with whipped cream (as a replacement for milk and sugar) until the cup is full. Then the cream is twirled and optionally topped off with chocolate sprinklings. The coffee is drunk through the cream top.

White Coffee

Ipoh “White” Coffee is a popular coffee drink which originated in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. The coffee beans are roasted with palm-oil margarine, and the resulting coffee is served with condensed milk. The taste is smooth and sweet, and is often served iced.

“White coffee” is also a common nickname in the UK for coffee with milk.

Wiener Melange

A Wiener Melange

A Wiener Melange is a specialty coffee drink similar to a cappuccino. The difference is sometimes assumed to be that the Melange is made with milder coffee but the Viennese coffee company Julius Meinl describes a Wiener Melange as “one small espresso served in a large cup of coffee. Steam milk and add milk foam to coffee (=small milk coffee)”. Cafe Sabarsky in Manhattan concurs. At Cafe Sperl in Vienna, the Melange is 1/2 cup “black coffee” and 1/2 cup creamy milk, completed by milk foam.

Yuanyang

Yuanyang, sometimes also called Ying Yong, is a popular beverage in Hong Kong, made of a mixture of coffee and Hong Kong-style milk tea. It was originally served at dai pai dangs (open space food vendors) and cha chaan tengs (cafe), but is now available in various types of restaurants. It can be served hot or cold. The name yuanyang, which refers to mandarin ducks, is a symbol of conjugal love in Chinese culture, as the birds usually appear in pairs and the male and female look very different. This same connotation of “pair” of two unlike items is used to name this drink.

Zebra Mocha

A Zebra Mocha, sometimes known as a “Black Tux” or a “Black and White”, is a mixture of regular mocha with a white chocolate mocha

* Liqueur coffee, as its name suggests, is a coffee brew with a 25 ml shot of liqueur. This brew is usually served in a clear, clean, pre-heated, liqueur coffee glass with the coffee and cream separated for good visual and taste effect. The liqueur of choice is added first with a teaspoon of raw cane sugar mixed in. The glass is then filled to within an inch of the top with good, strong, fresh filter coffee. Fresh, chilled, additive free, slightly whipped cream is then poured carefully over the back of a cold teaspoon, so that it floats on top of the coffee and liqueur mixture. The sugar is required in the coffee mixture to help the cream float.

Names of specific liqueur coffees:

Gaelic coffee (Drambuie or Glayva)
Irish Coffee (Whiskey)
Brandy Coffee (Brandy)
Keoke Coffee (Brandy and Kahlúa)
English Coffee (Gin)
Calypso Coffee (Tia Maria or Kahlúa and Rum)
Jamaican Coffee (Tia Maria & Rum)
Shin Shin Coffee (Rum)
Baileys Irish Cream Coffee
Monk’s Coffee (Bénédictine)
Seville Coffee (Cointreau)
Witch’s Coffee (Strega)
Russian Coffee (Vodka)
Priest Coffee (Brennivín)
Corfu Coffee (Koum Quat liquor)
Kaffee Fertig (coffee with Swiss prune schnapps)
Caffè corretto (that is an Italian beverage, consists of a shot of espresso “corrected” with a shot of liquor, usually grappa, brandy or sambuca.)
Coffee liqueurs (ex. Kahlúa, Kamora)

The American entree: a menu misnomer?

While we’re on the subject of food — and British-American differences in naming — let’s not forget meal parts and their monikers. In the UK, you can expect your restaurant menu to go something like this: first a starter, then a main (course), and finally a dessert, pudding, or sweet — or even afters. But an Englishman in an American restaurant might be forgiven for being confused by the entrée coming between the appetizer and the dessert: could this be a misnomer or mistranslation? (Entrée is a French word meaning “entry”, so it stands to reason that it should name the first, introductory, part of a multi-course meal.) No, there’s a perfectly good explanation for this menu curiosity …

Dan Jurafsky, on his Language of Food blog, gives a potted history of the entrée, explaining how when the word entered the English language (with the meaning of a meal part) in the mid-17th century, it actually represented the second or third dish served, not the first.

“The word entrée first appears in France in 1555. In the 16th century, a banquet began with a course called entrée de table (“entering to/of the table”) and ends with one called issue de table (“exiting the table”). … The entrée is the first course of the meal, there can be multiple entrées, and after the entrée comes the soup, one or more roasts, and then a final course.

“Over the next hundred years, this sequence began to shift slightly, with the most significant change being that by 1650 the soup was the first course, followed by the entrée.

“Let’s look at Le cuisinier françois, the famous 1651 cookbook that helped introduce modern French cuisine, to see what the word entrée meant at this time. An entrée was a hot meat dish, distinguished from the roast course. The roast course was a spit roast, usually of fowl or rabbit, while the entree was a more complicated ‘made dish’ of meat, often with a sauce, and something requiring some effort in the kitchen. The cookbook, recently translated as The French Cook, gives such lovely entrees as Ducks in Ragout, Sausages of Partridge White-Meat, a Daube of a Leg of Mutton, and Fricaseed Chicken. An entrée was not cold, nor was it composed of vegetables or eggs. (Dishes that were cold, or composed of vegetable, or eggs were called entremets, but that’s a story for another day). So the entrée in 1651 is a hot meat course eaten after the soup and before the roast.”

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We’re still hungry: what’s for pudding (or ‘pud’ for short)? And, more to the point, what is pudding?

Nowadays the word pudding describes mainly desserts, or the final (sweet) course of a meal, but it didn’t start out that way. Originally the name of a sausage made mostly of blood, it then denoted a range of savory dishes created the way the sausage was — with meat and other ingredients in a semi-liquid form encased and then steamed or boiled to solidify the contents. Only a few of those original savory puddings are still made and eaten today: black pudding (also known as blood sausage in the US) is eaten in Asia, Europe and the Americas; haggis, regarded as Scotland’s national dish, is banned in the U.S. but is still enjoyed in Scotland and by Scots around the world.

Eventually the word pudding (thought to be derived from the French word boudin, in turn from the Latin botellus, meaning “small sausage”) came to describe dessert items similar to their savory forebears in terms of their texture, presentation and cooking process; still scoffed down today are a range of stodgy items from treacle pudding to Christmas pudding. And let’s not forget that most infamous of British dessert puddings: the Spotted Dick …

In North America, pudding describes a milk-based “sweet” (that’s another British synonym for dessert, as well as being the Brits’ name for the confectionery that the Americans call candy), which resembles custards or mousses set with eggs or gelatin. Vanilla and chocolate puddings are U.S. dessert staples.

British pudding American pudding

Finally, here are a few menu miscellanies to note for kicks:

“with au jus (sauce)” (an Americanism): au jus is a French term meaning “with juice”, so “with au jus” means “with with juice”

“rice pilaf” (or “pilaf rice”): pilaf (pronounced pee-lahv, not pee-laff) means rice, so “rice pilaf” means “rice rice”

“shrimp scampi”: scampi means shrimp or prawns, so “shrimp scampi” means “shrimp shrimp”

“paninis”: the plural of panino (the Italian word for small bread roll) is panini. So there can’t be a plural of panini, which is already a plural in itself.

Finally, slightly off-topic, there’s a restaurant in Winnipeg called “Unburger” (sic). “UnBurger … sources only LOCAL meat and never freezes it.” I guess that makes it an “unburger”, right?

You say biscuit, I say cookie

Brits say jelly, Americans say jello … Here’s a list of foodstuffs and beverages that have different names depending on which side of the Atlantic you’re on.

Please add any further examples in the comments section below. (Note that some words are used by both the English and the Americans, but in each case at least one of the names is exclusive to just one country.)

Brits Yanks

Jelly Jello

Jam Jelly

Biscuit Cookie

Griddle cake/Scotch pancake Pancake

Fairy cake Cupcake

Bun (Chelsea, sticky, currant) Pastry, or (cinnamon) roll

Bap Hamburger bun

Crisps Chips

Chips (French) fries

Jacket potato Baked potato

Sausage Breakfast sausage

Salami Sausage

Mince Ground beef / hamburger

Prawn Shrimp

Fish fingers Fish sticks

Gherkin Pickle

(Branston) pickle Relish

Courgette Zucchini

Aubergine Eggplant

Broad bean Fava bean

Cos Romaine

French/green beans String beans

Beetroot Beet

Rocket Arugula

Coriander Cilantro

Chicory Endive

Custard Egg custard

Mousse/Angel Delight Pudding

Porridge Oatmeal

Sweets Candy

Candy floss Cotton candy

Cornflour Cornstarch

Icing Frosting

Sultanas (White) raisins

White coffee Coffee with cream/milk

Apple juice (Apple) cider

Cider Hard cider

Spirits (Hard) liquor

Thank you. You might be welcome …

Do we say thanks too much? “Thank you” (or the appropriate equivalent — eg. thanks, tah, cheers, merci, etc.) tends to be said more frequently in some cultures — especially in English-speaking countries — than in others; many would argue that utterances of thanks and gratitude are dished out so habitually and gratuitously in England and the U.S. that the sincerity of the sentiment is often diminished.

The Chinese rarely say thank you to their family and close friends. And because they value humility, saying “thank you” after being paid a compliment can be perceived as arrogant. In Thailand, gratitude is generally conveyed using the “wai”, a gesture of hands clasped together as in prayer, which varies according to the social status of the person being thanked, and sometimes simply a smile will suffice; a verbal “thank you” is reserved for important actions that warrant sincere and special gratitude. The Nepalese have no words that translate directly to thank you or please; they adjust or conjugate their pronouns and verbs (much like the way the French use vous or tu) to reflect the level of respect they wish to convey, but don’t have dedicated “polite” words. (Similarly, most Scandinavian countries — certainly Danish, Finnish and Icelandic — don’t have an actual word for please.)

As for acknowledging thanks, the nature of the verbal response also varies from culture to culture and language to language, and seems to fall into three general categories. The first amounts to dismissing the act that inspired the thanks as unimportant or non-existent. The French say de rien, the Portuguese de nada, in Catalan, it’s de res — all translating roughly to “it’s nothing”. Then there’s almost the opposite: an expression of pleasure on the part of the person being thanked. The Dutch phrase graag gedaan translates literally as “gladly done”; when the Icelandic say gerdu svo vel, they mean “my pleasure”. And finally there’s a fairly common tradition of echoing back the word for please when you’re acknowledging an expression of gratitude. In Hebrew, Russian and a number of Eastern European languages, the way you say “you’re welcome” is by using the word for please. In Russia, it’s пожалуйста” (“pah-zhal-stah”); the Polish dual-purpose word is prosze; in Hebrew, it’s bevakasha.

In British and American English, we tend to use variations on the first two types of expression. An Englishman, if he does verbalize a response, is more likely to offer “of course”, “don’t mention it”, “it was nothing”, “by all means”, “no problem”, “no worries” (very common in Australian English), “that’s OK”, “that’s all right”, “my pleasure”, or “not at all”. The traditional “you’re welcome” is more of an American phenomenon. In fact, since the British have a habit of thanking everyone for the smallest and most trivial actions (they give thanks almost as much as they apologize), they’re less inclined to acknowledge all the gratitude being doled out — and therefore a nod or a smile, with deliberate eye-contact (which in itself is enough to make most English folk blush), will usually do the trick. The Americans are more conscientious (they will usually offer a verbal reply), less self-conscious and more effusive with their “you’re welcomes”, and common alternatives are “sure”, “sure thing”, or, even more informally, “you bet” — or “you betcha!”. That’s something you won’t hear an Englishman say.

Last year, Lynneguist on her blog Separated by a Common Language wrote a detailed and nuanced post comparing American and English usage of please, thank you and other general terms and expressions of politeness (a video of her TEDx talk on the subject at Sussex University accompanies the piece). It’s well worth a read to understand some of the more subtle differences in manners — both linguistic and social — between the Yanks and the Brits.

Here are a few international versions of “you’re welcome”, with their literal translations where I’ve managed to track them down:

Brazilian/Portuguese: de nada, “of nothing”

Catalan: de res, “it’s nothing”

Cantonese: M̀h’sái haak-hei, “not necessary”

Danish: selv tak, “thanks yourself”

Dutch: graag gedaan, “gladly done”

Finnish: ole hyvä

French: de rien, “it’s nothing”

German: Bitte schoen, “please pretty”

Hebrew: bevakasha, “please”

Hungarian: nincs mit, “nothing”

Icelandic: gerdu svo vel, “my pleasure” or “there you go”

Italian: prego, “I beg”

Japanese: dou itashimashite

Norwegian: bare hyggelig, “my pleasure”

Polish: prosze, “please”

Russian: pohzhalstah, “please”

Slovenian: prosim, “please”

Spanish: de nada, “it’s nothing”, or mi gusto, “my pleasure”

Swedish: varsagod, “be so good”

Tagalog: walang anuman, “no problems”

Italian: Prego

If you will

Commenting in a recent Washington Post article — about whether earthworms whose heads are severed from their tails really can and do grow back their missing halves — Mark Zoran, who studies nervous system regeneration at Texas A&M, made the following statement: “[Severed red wiggler tails especially] have trouble mounting productive head regeneration and thus die of starvation and brainlessness, if you will.” As I see it, his use of the expression “if you will” is slightly ironic or mildly facetious: he’s clearly playing on the word brainlessness, which is usually meant figuratively but in this case can be taken more literally; he’s drawing our attention to his hesitant choice of word, and asking the reader to accept it in this context, perhaps with a touch of humor.

“If you will” is an expression that you won’t hear in England, but it is common on the other side of the Atlantic (and is thought by many to be pretentious or fuddy-duddy, especially if it’s used habitually). The British phrase “if you want” is probably the nearest equivalent (but used less often), and is more or less a translation of “if you will”, since will is used here in the archaic sense of “want” or “wish”, rather than the future form of a verb (as in “if you will do something”). Probably more common in British-English are the phrases “as it were” or “so to speak”, which convey a similar sense of word-choice hesitancy, and can also be perceived as pompous, pretentious or old-fashioned.

Geoffrey Pullum on Language Log claims that the expression serves the same purpose as the now ubiquitous discourse particle like: as “a way to signal hedging about vocabulary choice — a momentary uncertainty about whether the adjacent expression is exactly the right form of words or not.” (Although I would argue that this is giving like too much credit; I think of it more as a sentence filler such as er or um, with no discernible intention of meaning.)

The OED explains “if you will” as being “sometimes used parenthetically to qualify a word or phrase: = ‘if you wish it to be so called’, ‘if you choose or prefer to call it so.’” It claims that there are citations of the exact phrase going back to the 16th century, and similar elliptical uses date back to Old English.

According to UsingEnglish.com, “if you will” is used to make a concession in a sentence, allowing the writer or speaker not to commit to a particular argument or assertion, but letting the reader or listener draw that conclusion if he so wishes. It gives the following example: “He wasn’t a very honest person, a liar if you will,” whereby the writer, while not accusing the subject of the sentence of being a liar, allows her reader to draw that conclusion nevertheless.