I was in Romney, West Virginia a couple of weeks ago, and when I ordered iced tea, my waitress asked, “Do you prefer lemon?” This seemed like a strange (but strangely familiar) way to phrase the question.
Is this phrasing common in any parts of the country? Is it perhaps an old fashioned phrasing?
What she meant was, “Do you prefer your iced tea with lemon, as opposed to iced tea without lemon?” How would you have phrased it, without being this cumbersome?
I don’t know of any English-speaking area where that phrasing isn’t common; I’m assuming you would have expected her to ask “with lemon?” or “do you want lemon?”… which I suppose would be more likely in the States. The English, however, tend to phrase that sort of question that way quite regularly.