TeaChat

So I was talking to an Indian friend last night and learned that chai means tea in hindi (Duh in hindsight). So many in the west associate chai with spiced black/herbal teas. But a large majority enjoy assam with milk (which is chai). So to many people from india it is strange to call a tea 'chai tea' like we do in the west.

Masala means spiced. So correct term for what people are usually thinking of is masala chai. Not 'tea tea'.

In my country tea is called "herbata". In Russia is called "czaj". Thats strong, bitter black tea. In my country is used by prisoners as a stimulant. For me thats weird.

I find the redundancy in "chai tea" rather amusing. But it's not something that I get upset about. Similarly to how I don't get upset about "herbal tea", and how I in fact use that term myself.

There are many aspects of language that I feel much more strongly about. For example, the slang language used in much of the U.S. to refer to sex and sexual topics, and the built-in sexism and often unwholesome social norms associated with such language. Another aspect of language I feel strongly about is the word "should". I do not like it, and I encourage people to stop using or avoid using the word "should" and instead re-word statements talking about what they want, what they recommend, or other words which come across as less moralizing or normative.

It is funny how this type of multi lingual redundancy can really agitate some and amuse others ... often due to the agitation it causes.

Pretty off topic ... In my teens, there used to be a car called "le car." I used to call it "the le car" since this really agitated my boss who owned "the le car." I think it caused his blood pressure to soar. The more he insisted it was simply le car, the more rebellious I would be.

Today, these redundancies still do not bother me, but I would endeavor to demonstrate I had some tea culture and just say chai ... where applicable.

Assam with milk is white tea in the UK, just to add to the confusion. "One white chai tea please" would more than likely get you a spicy black tea with milk. Masala tea would make more sense but I think it's a little late as chai=spicy tea, or even just a spicy drink, has grown arms and legs in the western world.

I tend to try and use whatever terminology I think will be most easily understood.