miércoles, 27 de enero de 2021

Take a coffee or have a cup of coffee?



 Here´s a wild shot in the dark: Not only does English influence Spanish, but the opposite is true also. 

Spanish-speaking people "toman café": "Vamos a tomar un café" they exclaim merrily. And when they switch to English, many say "let´s take a coffee". Bu plenty of English speakers who do not know Spanish also say: "I took a black coffee this morning." (Cringe, cringe!) I have always "had" coffee, black coffee. (In my time that´s all there was, black or with cream). Whatever happened to the "cup of coffee"?

By the same token, some Americans say (in jest, I suppose) "No?", as in "You like coffee, no?" ("You like enchiladas, no?".)  

This may be due to the many different types of coffee one can have: latte, cappuccino, americano, black, espresso, doppio. In Spain (green with envy) they have emulated the possibilities: café sólo, café con leche (fría, templada, caliente), largo de café, corto de café, cortado, en taza, en vaso...

Oh, I long for the good old days when I just ordered: "Coffee, please!" Or "a cup of coffee, please!"

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