English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

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colin54
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by colin54 »

colin 54 wrote, Canteen tea ?
Mike Sales wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 9:53am
Not a canteen; a building site, we had our own caravan..
At nine o'clock one of us would stop work and go off site for the ingredients, then set to cooking.
I stand corrected Mike.
When I was an apprentice in a large engineering firm, they made the tea ready-milked in an urn in the works canteen at lunch-time, served from a tap at it's base. Terrible stuff, like milk in a flask of tea, but worse.
I'm sure there must be a trendy 'caff' in London's East-End, perhaps near Old Street, that sells 'Builder's Tea'...Builder's Chai Latte anyone? 'Will that be caf or de-caf Sir ?'
Off for a ride with Cyril now, enough o' this splother.
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Cowsham
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Cowsham »

colin54 wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 9:48am
Mike Sales wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 9:15am
When I worked for a subcontractor on large sites, we knocked off at 10.am for breakfast.
This consisted of a large fry up and tea.
The tea was made by boiling up plenty of tea leaves in a big kettle and adding copious evaporated milk and sugar.
Now that is "builder's tea".
Canteen tea ?
We'll have reached a new low when someone invents vending machine tea bags. :roll: now that I've said it -- it'll appen.
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Bmblbzzz
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Bmblbzzz »

:?: Lots of (but annoyingly not all) hot-drinks vending machines have a supply of tea bags, on to which you pour the not quite boiling water they dispense. This usually makes a merely semi-satisfactory cup of tea (due to the water not being quite hot enough, the tea bags having been standing around in the open air, and the plastic and paper cup) but it's better than no tea. And it comes from a vending machine.
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by mattheus »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 1:30pm :?: Lots of (but annoyingly not all) hot-drinks vending machines have a supply of tea bags, on to which you pour the not quite boiling water they dispense. This usually makes a merely semi-satisfactory cup of tea (due to the water not being quite hot enough, the tea bags having been standing around in the open air, and the plastic and paper cup) but it's better than no tea. And it comes from a vending machine.
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colin54
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by colin54 »

Will Self gets all of a froth about Builder's Tea in this short article.
https://will-self.com/2012/06/14/madnes ... ass-irony/
The fourth paragraph describes what I mean.
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Mike Sales
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Mike Sales »

colin54 wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 5:30pm Will Self gets all of a froth about Builder's Tea in this short article.
https://will-self.com/2012/06/14/madnes ... ass-irony/
The fourth paragraph describes what I mean.
I prefer strong, sweet, milky tea to any fancy variety, including so called English Breakfast tea. I would even prefer the brew I descibe above.
My tastes are transport caff plebeian.
What should I call my preferred cuppa?
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
colin54
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by colin54 »

Mike Sales wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 5:45pm I prefer strong, sweet, milky tea to any fancy variety, including so called English Breakfast tea. I would even prefer the brew I descibe above.
My tastes are transport caff plebeian.
What should I call my preferred cuppa?
I drink tea the same way, if asked how I like it , I might say; British Standard, milk and two sugars, or two sugars, plenty of milk and leave the bag in please. I do like drinks super hot, I might put it in the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds after adding the milk if I'm making it myself.
You should of course call yours what you like Mike , I call mine a cuppa tea.
Would you call a mug of tea made by yourself builder's tea ?
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Oldjohnw
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Oldjohnw »

When one asks for a black coffee and the response is,

“Would you like milk with that?”

Happens to me frequently.
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Jdsk »

A member of my family prefers what coffee bars serve as black coffee... with added milk.

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Bmblbzzz
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Bmblbzzz »

colin54 wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 5:30pm Will Self gets all of a froth about Builder's Tea in this short article.
https://will-self.com/2012/06/14/madnes ... ass-irony/
The fourth paragraph describes what I mean.
He's clever with words but it seems to me his cleverness is displayed for its own sake rather than to aid a point. As you say, frothy!
Mike Sales
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Mike Sales »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 21 Sep 2021, 9:43am
colin54 wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 5:30pm Will Self gets all of a froth about Builder's Tea in this short article.
https://will-self.com/2012/06/14/madnes ... ass-irony/
The fourth paragraph describes what I mean.
He's clever with words but it seems to me his cleverness is displayed for its own sake rather than to aid a point. As you say, frothy!
I generally prefer an Orwellian approach to style, but I do enjoy Self's luxuriance.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Vorpal »

Oldjohnw wrote: 20 Sep 2021, 7:44pm When one asks for a black coffee and the response is,

“Would you like milk with that?”

Happens to me frequently.
On the other hand, if you request milk for your tea in the USA, you get a cup (or pot) of tea, and a separate glass of milk. :lol:
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Oldjohnw
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Oldjohnw »

The woman who sits behind my dashboard operating the SatNav thingy:

“In half one miles….”
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by thirdcrank »

I find my Tom tom satnav person both reassuring and forgiving. eg If I start a journey not at home it will ask "Are you going home?" Even if I am going home, I reply "No" unless I'm concerned about traffic. When I eventually arrive home, it never chides me for lying.
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Mick F
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Mick F »

:lol: :lol:
Wonderful!

We tried changing languages on ours. Tried French, and it was an irritating bloke doing the voice.
We could understand him ok, but we didn't leave it like that for long.
Have a nice soft-sounding English lady voice now, and one that doesn't say too much! :lol:
Mick F. Cornwall
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