I’m sitting here in a Greek restaurant, after dinner, waiting for my check. But it’s not a check, is it? It doesn’t have jack shit to do with a checkbook, a checking account, or any other commonly accepted use of that term. It’s a BILL.
Yet we typically say “check” at restaurants. I don’t think I’ve EVER heard anyone say “bill.”
I’m pondering this now and I think the reason is that “bill” has inherently negative connotations. It means “YOU gotta PAY, mister!” Nobody likes bills. Nobody wants to have to think about the concept of bills when they’re trying to enjoy the experience of eating at a restaurant.
And so, this word “check” came about, as a euphemism for “bill”, simply because people would rather hear almost ANY other word than “bill.” That’s my take on it, anyway.
Does anyone have a theory about the origin of this phrase that makes more sense than my own intuition?
“Check, please” is the usually phrase, but I do say “can I have the bill?” as well. I’ve not noticed any sort of avoidance of the term, just that “check” is perhaps the more common idiom.
The “restaurant bill” sense of check descends from the wider meaning of control or restraint. “Check” is what you say in a chess game when you have played a potentially winning move; it comes ultimately from the Persian word for “king”, I believe. From this developed a sense of check as a blocking or defeating move, and then any kind of restraint or control - checks and balances. This in turn gives us check, measures adopted to ensure control or propriety - “I checked the goods delivered against the consignment note, to ensure that nothing had been omitted”. And this in turn gives us check, the document used for this purpose. This, in turn, is where we get check in the banking sense - the term was first used to describe banking orders that came with counterfoils, so there would be a record of the order issued, and the possibility of verifying that it had been correcting implemented. This is also where we get cloakroom checks - the check is a record of the fact that you have deposited an item in the cloakroom, so the cloakroom attendant doesn’t have to just take your word for it.
And it’s where we get restaurant checks. The check is not just a statement of the amount you owe; it’s a record of the food ordered and served to you, so that (a) the waiter can compute what you owe, and (b) you can verify that the amount you owe has been correctly computed.
I can’t find anything definitive with my half-assed googling, but just blurting “bill” sounds like trying to call someone by name. Likewise, “bill please” (you’re blurting but at least you’re polite about it.)
And in context, “check” seems synonymous with “receipt”. (The restaurant version is an unpaid receipt, but the actual word “recepit” is related to “receive”, because it’s a list of what someone is expected to receive.)
So, wait, am I the only one to whom “Can I have the bill?” or “I’ll take the bill?” or “Gimme the bill when you’re ready?” is a fairly normal way of phrasing the desire to cash out at a restaurant or bill?
Agree with Riemann. We never use the word “check” in Ireland or Britain to refer to the bill. Nor do we use the word “bill” to refer to a banknote. So, if the Greek restaurant was in London you should say “can we get the bill please?”
Interesting. Now, I have to say, my English has been influenced by non-US varieties of English over the years, so sometimes I don’t know what’s idiomatic in my native dialect. I wonder if this is one of those cases where I’ve gotten used to another dialect and can’t distinguish it from my native one. But I can almost swear that I’ve heard it in the US spoken by others, too.
I don’t know how often it happens in real life, but the stereotypical patron just shouts “Check, please” when finished with the meal. This is easier to hear than a longer sentence, and “Bill” could mean a person named William.
In real life, I’ve always caught the attention of the server first, and then told them in normal English. Though the most attentive usually predict when to come by to see if we want dessert, and then the ticket follows, with dessert if we are having any.
And now I just realized that we sometimes call it a ticket. Normally that’s for before you get your meal, but sometimes we apparently call the receipt a ticket.
In a Greek restaurant the waiter is unlikely to be called “Bill”.
And there’s no need to blurt anything out. There’s a standard gesture for asking for the bill; you catch the waiter’s eye and make a gesture as though writing on the palm of your hand.
A receipt is a an acknowledgement of what has been received by your transaction counterparty; “receipt” is an old past participle of “to receive”, constructed similarly to “learnt”, “taught”, etc. When you pay the bill, you’ll get a receipt which will identify the amount the restaurant has received from you. It may or may not itemise the food you ordered. It will itemise it, obviously, if the receipt is a copy of the check with a notation added to show that payment has been received.
We don’t use the word at all for a restaurant check in the U.K., so the spelling issue doesn’t arise. But I’m pretty sure it’s only a bank check that is spelled “cheque” in the U.K. All other meanings are “check”.
