Most speakers of English around the world, and other languages use the word “chai” for “tea.” As far as I know, only those sold on “chai masala” as “chai” in the use think “chai” means something other that “tea, usually tea-tea.”

It is perfectly fine for Americans to adopt the word everyone else uses for a species specific but general kind of beverage to mean a certain mixture (which would be like, say, Australians thinking that “coffee” was coffee with cream and sugar and a sprinkle of nutmeg), and a different word for the same exact drink for anything from the same species specific infusion to cow shit in water that you spread on your lawn. It’s just that some of those usages are going to sound funny for people with different (and equally valid) linguistic experiences. Like those who speak English but are either not American or who have lived and/or traveled in other countries a lot.

That is not always as certain as you might think. After all, when I make peppermint tea, I am brewing a cup of sencha and mint. And I have friends made in Portland from my occasional visits to a very good teahouse (while I could still afford to go) who are just as, if not considerably more neurotic about their tea as I am. Here in MI, I have only one really hard core hot beverage friend (technically, I think I could also include his partner, but she was converted by him and is not quite as hardcore). But if any of us would mention mint tea without mentioning what type of tea was going with it, we would not know what the other person meant. I am also occasionally surprised people, who actually mean mint and tea…

Sharon –

I have to agree with you to a certain degree. I accept without hesitation that language is ever evolving and that evolution includes adopting words that are actually part of another language – even when it means something different after adoption, which of course it frequently does. Nor are U.S. Americans the only folks who do this.

The caveat that I have to put to that, is that in doing so, one must accept that there are people who find this practice offensive and/or are very sensitive to what this action represents. It is really easy for westerners to forget that large swaths of the world (including the U.S.) are/were subject to centuries – if not millenia – of colonial rule. Many of these places have a long history of being the folks who bore the brunt of proxy wars, that allowed (mostly) European countries to keep their wars from actually effecting the people at home.

And for many of these countries, if they are no longer under colonial rule, the most recent colonial rule is still a part of living memory.

Note – I am not mentioning this because I think it is essential to stop using all of the various words that fit into this context. In many cases there are a very few people who actually care and opposing them are other members of the same culture who are either ambivalent or see it as a positive sign of the acceptance of aspects of their culture into the larger cultural context of the west. There are certainly cases/contexts where I think it is entirely reasonable not to use particular words.

But I mention this more because I think this is something that people would do well to think about, rather than out of an overt desire to change this particular behavior. I think it provides a better context for understanding why certain words used in certain contexts are deeply and nearly universally – for members of the related culture – offensive and rightfully so.

No, this is not working for me.

Tea is tea, and all those other hot liquids are too ‘cept hot chocolate and java. And, I sort of thought this blog post was about something else with the chai part being more of a loss leader. But I’ve not had my daily cup of sinesis, so it is possible that I am not thinking straight.