Lost in Translation

I was just in Firehook Bakery for my usual afternoon delight, when I overheard this exchange between a British tourist and the barrista:

Brit: “Could I get a cuppa tea?”
Barrista: “You want a cup of green tea?”
Brit: “No, no, regular tea. Tea.
(Pauses…)
Don’t you have just an ordinary cup of tea?”
Barrista: “You mean, not flavored? We have lots of flavors.”
Brit: “Just a cup of tea. Ordinary. Regular.”
(She pauses again, squirming in dismay at the inability to communicate her fervent 3:30pm desire to get a nice cuppa)
Barrista: “How about black? We have black tea.”
Brit: “Yes, yes, that’s it. That’s what I mean. That’ll do.”

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

As one of the founding editors of We Love DC, Jenn’s passions are theater and cocktails. After two decades in the city, she’s loved every quirky, mundane, elegant, rude minute of her DC life. A proud advocate for DC’s talented drinks scene, she’s judged the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s ARTINI contest, the DC Rickey Month contest, the Jefferson Hotel’s Quill Cocktail competition, and is a founding member of LUPEC DC. A graduate of Catholic University’s drama program, she toured the country as a member of National Players, and has been both an actor and a costume designer before jumping the aisle to theater criticism. Writing for We Love DC restored her happiness after a life-threatening illness, and she’s grateful to you, dear readers. Send your suggestions to jenn (at) welovedc (dot) com and follow her on Twitter.

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