# Cultural appropriation gone humorously wrong. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809 "2019-09-06T18:13:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/41 "2019-09-08T22:43:08Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Are simple linguistic gaffes really “cultural appropiation gone wrong”? > > I’m sure they often go hand-in-hand, but I think they’re distinct things. It’s cultural appropriation, yes. And to hear a lot of people talk you’d think cultural appropriation was a bad thing at all times but that isn’t case. Hell, I can’t think of a single culture that didn’t appropriate something from another culture at some point. Appropriation can be good, it can be bad, and at times it can just be humorous. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/42 "2019-09-08T23:14:12Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I don’t know if it was \*wrong \*but it was certainly _interesting_ – on some probably college radio station I once heard a song which turned out to be Sympathy For the Devil performed by a Ukrainian klezmer band. [Toledo Polkamotion Secret Agent Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZhAE04FjJc) ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/43 "2019-09-08T23:30:57Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Oh, since some of you already mentioned Americano, can you please explain what does that mean in the US? I thought the main point of an Americano was that it \*\*does not \*\* have steamed milk, but just plain milk or half & half or whatever? The main reason I don’t much like espresso drinks is because I don’t like the taste of steamed milk. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/44 "2019-09-08T23:38:57Z")
By the way, everything in this thread rocks! The best thing I can contribute is my recent visit to a fairly new local pizzeria, which had awesome upscale decor and was clearly going for the artisanal-pizza set. There was a punk Asian waitress with bleached-blonde hair and a very warm manner; and a classically Japanese-looking well-muscled guy behind the counter who was _throwing the dough in the air and spinning it,_ just like you see on TV. First time I’ve ever seen that in person. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/45 "2019-09-08T23:40:40Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > I thought the main point of an Americano was that it \*\*does not \*\* have steamed milk, but just plain milk or half & half or whatever? The main reason I don’t much like espresso drinks is because I don’t like the taste of steamed milk. It _might_ have plain milk or half-and-half , but just like brewed coffee an Americano can be drunk black. The main point is the dilution of the espresso, which is supposedly to give it a similar taste to brewed coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/46 "2019-09-09T05:03:36Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > I thought the main point of an Americano was that it \*\*does not \*\* have steamed milk, but just plain milk or half & half or whatever? The main reason I don’t much like espresso drinks is because I don’t like the taste of steamed milk. No, the main point of an Americano is that it’s the strength that didn’t cause Americans to go into spasms (unlike our regular cofee); it’s watered down to the point of being similar to what you get from a cafetera americana (a drip coffeemaker). If the drinker wants to add sugar or milk (no creamer available in Spain) to coffee of any strength, of course they can, it’s legal. Café solo is a normal-strength black coffee; lit. “coffee by itself”. Half-strength is largo, quarter americano, eighth americano largo. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/47 "2019-09-09T05:28:06Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Way before the 2016 election cycle, in the late 90s, there was a truck called the Isuzu Hombre, which the advertisements always pronounced “Hambre”, like the Spanish for “hunger”. It was hilarious because they said it so brashly, like a monster truck announcer, that its incorrectness could not help but stick out. “Buy the new Isuzu HUNGER!” I teached my girlfriend some Spanish, she always remembers how to say “I am hungry” as “Yo quiero hombre”, instead of “Yo tengo hambre”. :eek: For non Spanish speakers, instead of saying “I am hungry” she says “I want a man”. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/48 "2019-09-09T10:56:38Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > In St Martin most places offer coffee, even little beach bars, and it is usually amazingly fantastic coffee. The menus list choices; cafe, espresso, latte, etc with one option always being cafe americano. Curious, I once ordered a cafe americano, and watched the bartender make a regular coffee, then dilute it with hot water. It was horrible, but it is what many Americans order, pretty much saying, “make some of that delicious, aromatic beverage and totally fuck it up”. Saw something similar on a self-serve coffee machine at a hotel restaurant in Japan. Press a button and it grinds beans a brews you a cup. There were several buttons providing options for lattes and other fancy features. But of the two basic coffee buttons, one said “blend,” which is standard Japanese-strength coffee, and another said “American (weak)”. Not sure what the machine did with that. Fewer beans? Push the water through faster? Never tried it; I was just amused that they came right out and described it as “weak”. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/49 "2019-09-09T11:25:57Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I don’t know if it was \*wrong \*but it was certainly _interesting_ – on some probably college radio station I once heard a song which turned out to be Sympathy For the Devil performed by a Ukrainian klezmer band. This brought back a weird memory from college. A local record shop closing down sale: I found an album called Big Balls and the Great White Idiot by, um, Big Balls and the Great White Idiot. German punk. Of course I bought it, obviously. It’s every bit as bad as you would imagine - just so earnest, so desperately keen to be one of the boys. Boasting about how they get drunk and have anarchic nights out eating burgers - oh, and a cover of Anarchy (“Anarchy in Germany”, natch); and White Light/White Heat. Haven’t thought about this in decades. Being to lazy to go dig out the album, I googled them - and, dear god, they have a [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Balls_and_the_Great_White_Idiot). And you can find the complete album on Youtube, (which I won’t link to because that sounds like an iffy copyright issue). Any German dopers remember them? Fondly? j ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/50 "2019-09-09T15:05:20Z")
A traditional americano is a shot (or shots) of espresso cut with hot water. No steamed milk or cream or anything like that. The story goes that american soldiers stationed in Italy during WWII would dilute the standard italian espresso to make something more akin to drip coffee. Given that every coffeeshop I’ve ever seen also serves drip coffee, I’m not sure why one would order an americano, but there you have it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/51 "2019-09-09T15:11:34Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Given that every coffeeshop I’ve ever seen also serves drip coffee, I’m not sure why one would order an americano, but there you have it. Where I’ve seen an americano on the menu (the Caribbean) there were no drip coffee makers. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/52 "2019-09-09T15:55:29Z")
This Americano doesn’t like espresso because it tastes like charcoal. The beans have the appearance and texture of charcoal; they have been roasted so long the flavor and caffeine have gone up in smoke. Give me a good medium roast, brewed strong, with cream, please. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/53 "2019-09-09T16:23:00Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > This Americano doesn’t like espresso because it tastes like charcoal. The beans have the appearance and texture of charcoal; they have been roasted so long the flavor and caffeine have gone up in smoke. Give me a good medium roast, brewed strong, with cream, please. I guess if you have never had espresso made with good beans, roasted correctly (i.e. if you have only had Starbucks) then this might be correct. In Italy I found that espresso was different in every different coffee shop or restaurant. Sometimes fruity, sometimes very smoky, sometimes almost sweet. Depended on where they got their beans. I wish we could get such variety in coffee shops here in the US. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/54 "2019-09-09T17:02:17Z")
Starbuck’s drip coffee is burnt, too. Don’t like dark roast. Had some delicious Turkish coffee served by an Assyrian coworker. Dude looked like an anti-government guerilla who got out one step ahead of Saddam’s goons, but he brewed a good, thick, almost sweet cuppa joe. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/55 "2019-09-09T17:18:15Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Given that every coffeeshop I’ve ever seen also serves drip coffee, I’m not sure why one would order an americano, but there you have it. In my experience, if the shop/stand serves espresso, their drip coffee has turned into sludge from sitting in the carafe for hours. Whereas the Americano is made fresh every time. That’s why I switched from drip coffee to Americano, in the rare occasion I need a caffeine fix while on the go. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/56 "2019-09-09T17:23:13Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > …and another said “American (weak)”. Not sure what the machine did with that. Fewer beans? Push the water through faster? My vague recollection is that you get a larger portion for the American option. So they must use the same amount of ground beans and pour more hot water through it. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/57 "2019-09-09T17:25:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Yes, café con leche is half and half. Since we’re on the topic, let me add: Cafe au lait, which is 1/2 scalded milk and 1/2 coffee. I suppose it’s better if the coffee has chicory in it, which is how they serve it at the Cafe du Monde. As for humorous cultural appropriation, it’s my honor to introduce to this thread: [http://www.engrish.com/](http://www.engrish.com/) (Just look up Engrish if the link doesn’t work.) I think this was once part of the “Cheezburger” series of blogs featuring humorous daily or hourly posts, but at some point moved out and became its own thing. Maybe people were getting triggered, you know, they thought this site was making fun of well meaning but inadvertently hilarious attempts at English, found all over Asia. Well, the site does do that. But if you’ve ever lived or traveled in Asia, you’ll be constantly bombarded with this stuff, ad nauseam, to the point where you’ve got nowhere to go but to laugh. Some of these examples are so over the top… ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/58 "2019-09-09T18:21:01Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > A cafe Americano is a watered down espresso. It’s resemblance to a good filtered coffee is similar to a watered down Port being passed off as a glass of wine. Do they actually do cafe Americano’s in the US? I’ve had the horrid experience in a Barcelona Starbucks, believe it or not, of being told there’s no difference between a cafe Americano and a filtered coffee. I was too eager for caffeine, and too lacking in Spanish language skills, to argue or demand a refund. Cafe con leche isn’t my preferred coffee, but it’s my go-to coffee in Spain since. And I’ve not returned to any Spanish Starbucks since that experience. I just returned from a trip to Italy ( Sicily ) and while everyone there was great, I felt that by asking for caffe Americano was analogous to going to a pub in Ireland and asking for a pint of ( bitter, stout…whatever ) with ice cubes in it, to both cool and dilute it. No “attitude” detected ( that I could sense ) but I always wondered if they thought I was some kind of wuss that couldn’t handle “a real coffee”. That said, I did drink and enjoy cups of espresso, but not as a breakfast drink. When I drink coffee with some breakfast ( there or back home ) I like a proper sized cup I can sip at and drink over a few minutes, not just a small “shot” I can down in one small gulp. I kinda’ like large amounts of hot liquid in me to make my body “work”, shall we say. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/59 "2019-09-09T18:22:34Z")
You can have my Americano when you pry it from my cold dead hands! The problem with an espresso is that there isn’t very much of it and it is so concentrated that it needs sugar to take the edge of. I’d like a larger serving of my hot beverage, and I can’t stand sweet drinks. The Americano solves both these problems by diluting the espresso - it’s more to drink, and no longer requires sugar. When I lived in Egypt, there were all kinds of appropriated names/foods. In every grocery store there were several brands of “Oreos” with bizarre variations on the name, like “Borios.” And let us not forget the great pizza chain restaurant, “Pizza Hat,” which stole the actual Pizza Hut logo. The great thing about that is, when you see the words “Pizza Hat” with the Pizza Hut logo, the logo definitely looks like a hat. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809/60 "2019-09-09T19:02:50Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > When I lived in Egypt… let us not forget the great pizza chain restaurant, “Pizza Hat,” which stole the actual Pizza Hut logo. The great thing about that is, when you see the words “Pizza Hat” with the Pizza Hut logo, the logo definitely looks like a hat. I love this. It also makes just as much, perhaps even more sense as a name than “Pizza Hut”, too, unless the restaurants I’ve seen are actually made of boughs, straw, and mud. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cultural-appropriation-gone-humorously-wrong/839809.md?page=4)