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Purists like me would object to Chai being referred to its redundant form Chai Tea :)
by ra7 3y ago
Purists like me would object to Chai being referred to its redundant form Chai Tea :)
- 2024throwaway 3y agoPedants* like you. Everyone knows what chai tea is referring to. In the same way they understand what naan bread is.
- ra7 3y agoDoesn’t mean it’s correct!
- QuercusMax 3y agoExcept you're wrong, and this type of construction is extremely common. Take "pine tree" for example. There's nothing "incorrect" about calling it chai tea.
- delecti 3y agoIn this case, I would argue that it does. "Sahara" means "desert", but "Sahara Desert" is still the proper name for that place. "Naan" means "bread", but it's also the name we use for the kind of bread originally made by the people who speak the language where "naan" means "bread". Likewise, "chai tea" is a perfectly fine name for tea made in the style of the people whose word for "tea" is "chai". Languages do this all the time.
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- ra7 3y ago> Likewise, "chai tea" is a perfectly fine name for tea made in the style of the people whose word for "tea" is "chai". In India, chai specifically means tea with milk. It’s not just any “tea”. It’s fine to use, but not entirely accurate.
- nkingsy 3y agojust call it a chai latte piss off everyone
- delecti 3y agoYes, and if you go to a coffee place in the US and ask for a "chai tea", you'll get a drink made with black tea, spices, and steamed milk.
- ra7 3y agoThat’s not a given in many coffee shops. Adding spices makes it “masala chai”, which some sell as a separate drink. Some don’t put spices and call it “chai latte”. So the usage is all over the place.
- wtmt 3y ago> In India, chai specifically means tea with milk. Citation needed with the part of India referred to here.
- ra7 3y agoSee second sentence in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_chai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_chai: > Masala chai is a popular beverage throughout South Asia, originating in the early modern Indian subcontinent. Chai is made by brewing black tea (usually CTC tea) in milk and water and then sweetening with sugar. Adding aromatic herbs and spices creates masala chai, although chai is often prepared unspiced.[2][3]
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoIt's great to refer to things by their proper names, never mind the corruption that English has adopted. Still, rude to correct someone for using what's essentially a colloquialism. If enough people use a word 'wrong' then, well, that's a new usage that we can't ignore or get prescriptive about. Because prescriptive usage is from some point of view after all. The Chai tea people have their point of view, and are correct within their community.
- someuser2345 3y agoEnglish is a descriptive language; if enough people say something, it automatically becomes correct!
- kazinator 3y ago> Everyone I suspect that if we venture into the streets of an American city and interview random passers-by, fewer than 10% will know that "chai" is a word that already means "tea".
- gowld 3y agoIncorrect people* like PP, who don't understand the difference between Hindi and English.
- dylan604 3y agowhy? you can have Chai in coffee as well. I found out when I wasn't paying attention and ordered a Chai latte instead of a Chai Tea latte.
- jsbg 3y agoa chai latte doesn't contain coffee; a chai latte with an espresso shot added to it is referred to as a dirty chai
- dylan604 3y agoall I know is someone came back from Starbucks with a Chai coffee instead of a Chai tea. After that, I learned to be much more specific.
- jrajav 3y agoThat's not chai tea, that's chai tea flavored syrup.
- neaden 3y agoYou're not a purist, you're just incorrect. We are speaking English, so saying that it is redundant isn't true. Just like how Hound means generic dog in German but hunting dog in English, or rouge means red in French but means a kind of makeup in English, Chai doesn't mean tea in English and thus there is no redundancy here.
- ra7 3y agoChai means (Indian) tea with milk. It’s a borrowed term in English that already includes the meaning. Just like you don’t use “yoga exercise” in English because yoga already means a form of exercise. Or the usage of “karma” in English. You don’t say “karma fate”. You might want to revisit who’s incorrect.
- neaden 3y agoYes, loanwords don't operate consistently when brought from one language to another. That does not mean that one way they work is "wrong" and the other way is "right", it just means language is complicated. You're the one coming here and telling people they are wrong. Edit: Like in Italian Latte just means milk, but in English it means an espresso with steamed and then frothed milk on top, what would be called a cappuccino in Italy usually. Americans calling it a latte aren't wrong, they're just using a loanword to mean something different then the original language.
- ra7 3y agoHow is chai tea used differently in America then? If I ask for it in a coffee shop, I usually get chai (tea) with steamed milk, which is exactly what the original usage is.
- neaden 3y agoLooking at the Starbucks app right now for example on their menu: Chai tea is black tea with clove, cardamom, cinamon, and ginger and no milk by default, Chai Tea Latte is that black tea and spices with steamed milk. You'll also see Chai sometimes to refer to the spice mix sold without any tea.
- noufalibrahim 3y agoCan't let a purist ruin a pun.
- mrighele 3y agoChai (or a variation) is the name for tea in half of the world [1], so if you say "chai" you are just saying "tea", while if you say "Chai Tea", if I understand correctly, you are probably referring to a specific beverage [2] [1] https://qz.com/1176962/map-how-the-word-tea-spread-over-land-and-sea-to-conquer-the-world https://qz.com/1176962/map-how-the-word-tea-spread-over-land... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_chai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_chai
- ra7 3y agoChai = Tea (e.g. Assam tea) with milk Masala Chai = Chai + spices (masala)
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