Grande, no, er, Venti, Frappa-Mocha-Cappa Crappa
Just give me a fucking cup of coffee without making me learn a new goddamn language to get it. I've just now succumbed to the lure of Starbuck's, having formerly sneered derisively at all the fools who paid upwards of $3 for a simple cup of coffee. Little did I know the glories of the Venti Iced Caffe Mocha.
First, you have to appreciate that I'm a chocolaholic of the highest order. If there were an Order of the Chocolate Empire, I'd be addressed as Lady Bronwen Bittersweet, Keeper of the Cocoa, Duchess of the Dutch Process. Second, I love me some iced coffee. I get a large iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts every morning - what can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Third, any beverage that routinely comes served with Whipped Cream is high on my preferred beverage list. So, I've become enamoured, nay, enchanted by the Venti Iced Caffe Mocha.
It takes me a few minutes to compose my Starbuck's order though, as the grammar and word-order rules to their lexicon are so damned confusing. I mean, do you say Venti before iced when ordering? Is it an Iced Venti Caffe Mocha or a Venti Iced Caffe Mocha? Could you even say Caffe Mocha, Venti, Iced, as though you were Bond, James Bond? And this is an easy one, not including the placement of half-caf, double-shot, macchiato, or any of the other adjectives one can add. You'd think being able to speak three languages would enable me to easily order a cup of coffee in my own damn country.
Don't you think you should be able to pay less for your coffee if you master the language of Starbuckland and manage to successfully order your drink without stuttering? I think a linguistically-gifted discount should be made available. Who's with me?
First, you have to appreciate that I'm a chocolaholic of the highest order. If there were an Order of the Chocolate Empire, I'd be addressed as Lady Bronwen Bittersweet, Keeper of the Cocoa, Duchess of the Dutch Process. Second, I love me some iced coffee. I get a large iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts every morning - what can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Third, any beverage that routinely comes served with Whipped Cream is high on my preferred beverage list. So, I've become enamoured, nay, enchanted by the Venti Iced Caffe Mocha.
It takes me a few minutes to compose my Starbuck's order though, as the grammar and word-order rules to their lexicon are so damned confusing. I mean, do you say Venti before iced when ordering? Is it an Iced Venti Caffe Mocha or a Venti Iced Caffe Mocha? Could you even say Caffe Mocha, Venti, Iced, as though you were Bond, James Bond? And this is an easy one, not including the placement of half-caf, double-shot, macchiato, or any of the other adjectives one can add. You'd think being able to speak three languages would enable me to easily order a cup of coffee in my own damn country.
Don't you think you should be able to pay less for your coffee if you master the language of Starbuckland and manage to successfully order your drink without stuttering? I think a linguistically-gifted discount should be made available. Who's with me?
10 Comments:
Why does coffee always have to be described in Eyetalian?
It's the same with food. Everythings French.
creme Anglaise = custard
pot au feu = beef stew with carrots.
Damn Frenchies.
By garfer, At 10:19 AM
Smartass.
I make them learn an old goddamn language so they can go experience a whole new culture and country. Not so they can get a cuppa Joe. Capisce?
By Peevish McSnark, At 1:39 PM
Sweetheart. just made it onto your blog... looking for images to put on my newly started blog... I agree with you completely on this starbucks issue... but honestly us BRONWEN's (yes - my name is Bronwen too) expect others to be able to pronounce our name and not butcher it by calling us Brownie or other nicknames... so maybe we should just suck it up and just go with the flow... Though it is a drag to figure out what exactly we want to have at those we hours in the morning... I would rather... much rather have a little presumptuous and commercial culture than "supersized" everything.
By Anonymous, At 1:46 PM
Oh, man, the nicknames. The best one I ever had was Bubbles, when I was teaching Kindergarten. The kids just couldn't manage Miss Bronwen, so I said, flippantly, just call me Miss Bubbles, then. They did. Because they didn't understand flip.
9 times out of 10, I go with the flow. That 10th time, though, I just spit out on my blog what I was thinking.
Thanks for visiting! It's always nice to have another Bronwen around.
By Peevish McSnark, At 1:56 PM
Sheridan is a much more sensible surname than DuHadaway which, to be quite frank, sounds a bit rude.
By garfer, At 6:31 PM
Yeah, people who think that being able to speak Starbucks makes them in any way interesting are just here to consume air.
I hates me some those douchebags.
(English good Sasquatch speak)
By Anonymous, At 7:09 PM
Yeah, this from a man who calls himself "Garfer." ;)
By Peevish McSnark, At 9:55 PM
hey, i'm still a fan of newnorb llefnerg
By upyernoz, At 10:56 AM
Cholestrol rich coffee...What more could a body ask for?
By S.I.D., At 7:59 PM
Starbucks isn't my favorite (a true Californian I'm a Coffee Bean and Pete's girl), but I certainly am up for my daily $3 coffee fix. (In fact I think it's late today).
But I've refused to do the Starbucks names for ordering sizes. They remain "small" "medium" and "large." And I almost always get the large.
Recent Starbucks exchange:
Me: I'll have a large skim latte.
Them: You mean a Venti.
Me: Yeah sure. Whatever the big one is.
It's not that I can't say "venti" -- it's just that I don't wanna.
By Anonymous, At 2:54 PM
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