What do you call ...

Natural languages and linguistics
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Linguoboy
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

Raphael wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 1:55 pmI was mainly wondering about what to say in a drink recipe if it contains an instruction like "Pour in just enough of Ingredient A that the [. . . floor? bottom?] is just barely covered".
"bottom"
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Raphael
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Raphael »

Thank you!
Richard W
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Richard W »

Raphael wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 1:55 pm
Linguoboy wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 1:00 pm
Raphael wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 12:44 pm This part of a glass or mug or cup?
Do you mean the base of it? The part that actually rests on the surface?
I mean the "inside bottom"; sorrow, I see now that the arrow is not clear at all.

I was mainly wondering about what to say in a drink recipe if it contains an instruction like "Pour in just enough of Ingredient A that the [. . . floor? bottom?] is just barely covered".
The boring answer is that someone who does correctly understand the meaning of 'the bottom' in this context will have problems with other recipes.
Richard W
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Richard W »

Amend "does correctly" > "does not correctly".
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Linguoboy
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

Richard W wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:47 pmAmend "does correctly" > "does not correctly".
You can use the edit function for that. It's the pencil icon at the extreme left of the row.
sasasha
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by sasasha »

Ok another drinking utensil related one:
th (1).jpeg
th (1).jpeg (10.84 KiB) Viewed 37639 times
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Linguoboy
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

Are you asking for a particular part of this? It's a coffee cup with a lid and an insulated sleeve.
Neon Fox
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Neon Fox »

I would call it a coffee cup. If it needed to be further specified it could be a lidded, travel, cardboard, or disposable cup. It's hard to tell in the picture if the blue band around the middle is a cup sleeve or an integral part of the cup itself; if the latter I assume it's made of plastic and is therefore a reusable cup and not disposable after all.

If I needed to distinguish it from all other forms of coffee cup, I'd probably call it a Starbucks-style cup, because I have been indoctrinated...
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by sasasha »

Linguoboy wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 6:32 pm Are you asking for a particular part of this? It's a coffee cup with a lid and an insulated sleeve.
This isn't a thing to you, then? Interesting.

These have become ubiquitous where I live - every coffee shop sells their own branded ones, and supermarkets have various kinds on offer. You get a reduction in price of your coffee if you bring one. Signs outside coffee shops opening for takeaway only in the pandemic have often had to find a name for them, because they are generally banned now for infection control.

I call them "reusable mugs". My partner thinks a mug has to have a handle, and calls this a "takeaway cup". For me, a mug is something that holds a hot drink; for him the handle is the important thing.

My family has a fairly ridiculous name for these things: "titty mug". I really don't get why, and am curious where it has come from (maybe a TV show...? or is it a recent joke stemming from the less PC of my elderly uncles?). I think it has something to do with people being so attached to holding them all the time, like a babe to the breast. And the properties of the lid...
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alynnidalar
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by alynnidalar »

Well, if it's disposable/made from waxed paper, then no, it's not really a "thing" other than "disposable coffee cup". If it's plastic/ceramic/etc. and reusable, then I would call it an insulated or travel coffee cup.
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Linguoboy
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

sasasha wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:40 am
Linguoboy wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 6:32 pm Are you asking for a particular part of this? It's a coffee cup with a lid and an insulated sleeve.
This isn't a thing to you, then? Interesting.
I'm not a coffee drinker.
sasasha wrote:These have become ubiquitous where I live - every coffee shop sells their own branded ones, and supermarkets have various kinds on offer. You get a reduction in price of your coffee if you bring one. Signs outside coffee shops opening for takeaway only in the pandemic have often had to find a name for them, because they are generally banned now for infection control.

I call them "reusable mugs". My partner thinks a mug has to have a handle, and calls this a "takeaway cup". For me, a mug is something that holds a hot drink; for him the handle is the important thing.
I agree with your partner; without a handle, it's not a "mug".

Now that you've clarified that it's reusable, I would just call it a "reusable coffee cup". "Travel/insulated coffee cup" implies a different design to me (with a smooth, usually shiny exterior and a thicker lid).
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Pabappa
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Pabappa »

Ive never seen a reusable coffee cup at all. I would have figured that anything made of paper was designed to be thrown away, and that the one in the picture must be made of paper because if it were plastic we wouldnt need an additional plastic grip to protect our hands from the heat.

For me a mug is only a mug if it's ceramic. I would still call it a mug if there is no handle, though Ive never seen one that was made that way on purpose .... just a particularly large coffee mug I liked to drink from, whose handle eventually broke off, which I kept for a while even so because it was much larger than my others.
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

Pabappa wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:54 amFor me a mug is only a mug if it's ceramic.
And if it's hard plastic in the exact same shape as a ceramic mug?
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Pabappa »

I'd still call that a mug, I guess, but I'm genuinely not aware of such an item existing. I have some plastic cups that I used to pour hot coffee into, just because they were much larger than mugs, but even the relatively thick plastic of those cups got quite hot whenever I didnt drink the coffee fast enough, so anything made from that material would have to be stronger still. I did a quick google search and of course I see now that plastic mugs with handles do exist, though to be honest my first impression is that there must be metal in it somewhere to help with thermal insulation. And based on the pictures I see, they all have lids, so I would call them thermoses instead of mugs.
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Linguoboy
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

Pabappa wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 10:52 amI did a quick google search and of course I see now that plastic mugs with handles do exist, though to be honest my first impression is that there must be metal in it somewhere to help with thermal insulation. And based on the pictures I see, they all have lids, so I would call them thermoses instead of mugs.
Not all of these have lids; IME, very few have metal inside them either. I don't think I'd call anything a "thermos" if it didn't have a screw-on top.
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by sasasha »

Pabappa wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:54 am Ive never seen a reusable coffee cup at all. I would have figured that anything made of paper was designed to be thrown away, and that the one in the picture must be made of paper because if it were plastic we wouldnt need an additional plastic grip to protect our hands from the heat.

For me a mug is only a mug if it's ceramic. I would still call it a mug if there is no handle, though Ive never seen one that was made that way on purpose .... just a particularly large coffee mug I liked to drink from, whose handle eventually broke off, which I kept for a while even so because it was much larger than my others.
It's made of plastic. You can buy them exactly like this in Tesco etc, obviously with variable designs. The plastic is pretty thin, and the insulating sleeves are needed still... sometimes integrally part of the object, but usually just a detachable rubbery plastic sleeve, often 'corrugated' like this. The lid is made of rubbery plastic too, or in some cases the same hard plastic as the main vessel.

I'm surprised they're not more common over the pond (which is where I'm assuming a lot of you are); in the last few years the climate crisis discourse has really vilified disposable coffee cups to the point that these 'reuseable mugs' are a thing I would say most people probably have (or have bought at least once) in the UK.

And, to jump into the conversation about plastic mugs, the other day my dad brought a plastic mug with a handle on our socially distanced picnic. No metal inside, not very insulating at all, just useful for being durable and lightweight to carry in a bag or whatever. I remember it from when I was a kid: they last, at least.
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Linguoboy
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

sasasha wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 12:51 pmIt's made of plastic. You can buy them exactly like this in Tesco etc, obviously with variable designs. The plastic is pretty thin, and the insulating sleeves are needed still... sometimes integrally part of the object, but usually just a detachable rubbery plastic sleeve, often 'corrugated' like this. The lid is made of rubbery plastic too, or in some cases the same hard plastic as the main vessel.

I'm surprised they're not more common over the pond (which is where I'm assuming a lot of you are); in the last few years the climate crisis discourse has really vilified disposable coffee cups to the point that these 'reuseable mugs' are a thing I would say most people probably have (or have bought at least once).
Reusable coffee containers are as common as muck here; what's unusual is one which so closely apes the appearance of a disposable coffee cup. This, for example, is the design of the one I have:

Image

As you can see, it has all the same components as your cup, but the "sleeve" on it isn't removable, it's integral to the item.
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quinterbeck
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by quinterbeck »

Linguoboy wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:05 pm Reusable coffee containers are as common as muck here; what's unusual is one which so closely apes the appearance of a disposable coffee cup. This, for example, is the design of the one I have:

[img]

As you can see, it has all the same components as your cup, but the "sleeve" on it isn't removable, it's integral to the item.
I would call that a thermos, as it looks like it's designed to insulate the drink for long periods of time, whereas a reusable coffee cup is not. The insulation on a reusable cup is only to protect your hand, and the drink is drunk pretty much as soon as it is served.

I don't know that all cafes would serve you a drink into your own thermos, but you can be pretty sure that any cafe would do so into your reusable coffee cup.
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by sasasha »

I see. We have those too, to be fair. They would also be called reusable mugs (or travel mugs)... I'd probably struggle to distinguish them lexically from what I pictured, but would likely end up specifying by calling yours something like "that reusable mug-cup-flask type thing, you know the heavy duty one with the screw-on lid". When I think "reusable mug" I think of the flimsier plastic type like the one I pictured, which I'd hazard are probably more common here.

Edit: 'insulated travel mug' would probably be on the label, I think.

A thermos to me has to be a flask (long cylindrical thing with a complex lid, to avoid any confusion). But I would sooner call it a flask.
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Linguoboy
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Re: What do you call ...

Post by Linguoboy »

sasasha wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:19 pmA thermos to me has to be a flask (long cylindrical thing with a complex lid, to avoid any confusion). But I would sooner call it a flask.
A thermos to me is a type of vacuum flask. The reusable cup I showed only has one layer of metal. That's why the rubber grip is needed.
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