Do we say "check" rather than "bill" because "bill" has negative connotations?

[Flyer]

@Jacquernagy

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?

And yet checks from a checkbook are used to pay bills.

I have the feeling that you’re overthinking this.

[septimus]

I sometimes said “Bring me the bill, please.” Usually I just raise my hand and, after attracting attention, pretend to write in the air with my hand. This is the universal sign for “do the addition”, no?

But I clicked the thread to report the irony of the phrase commonly used in Thailand to ask for a restaurant bill: เช็คบิล /chek-bin/, which is simply a concatenation of the two English words in thread title, each borrowed from English into Thai. (The terminal L of ‘bill’, while still written with the L consonant in Thai, is pronounced N.)

[UDS]

@Riemann

That’s interesting - would you spell it that way?

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”.

Cheque in BrE (and I think many other variants) refers to the banking instrument, and of course it also occurs in compound terms like chequebook, cheque clerk, cheque fraud, etc. But you check your calculations, and if they are correct you signify the fact with a check mark; you check the blow an opponent aims at you; etc.

Chequer/chequers turns up in more-or-less archaic words like chequerboard, exchequer, and also in chequers, an obsolete (in the UK) name for the game of draughts. But a pattern of alternating squares is called check, and an object so patterned is checked. Curiously, though, I think someone who follows an erratic course through life is said to have a “chequered career”, rather than a checkered one.

[Spoons]

@Northern_Piper

I don’t remember it ever being “check.” It’s always been a “bill” in my recollection.

I recall a few times when I heard “check” used, but “bill” is much more frequently used. Many times, I’ve also heard the word “tab,” as in “Can I get our tab please?”

[Balthisar]

@Jacquernagy

Yet we typically say “check” at restaurants. I don’t think I’ve EVER heard anyone say “bill.”

I’m a “bill” user. It’s commonly understood, and it doesn’t matter if I’m in any country in the world; if they speak English, it’s commonly understood. Even in Thailand, which is the only country I’ve been to that uses the American “check” (even so, it’s “check bin,” or “check bin khap/ka”).

[hogarth]

@Jacquernagy

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.

They’re both a written statement that person X owes someone Y amount of money.

[kayaker]

I always do the pantomime signature thing and it’s never failed me. Works regardless of what language your server speaks!

[Jasmine]

@Jacquernagy

Does anyone have a theory about the origin of this phrase that makes more sense than my own intuition?

The psychological impact of language has been known by advertisers and businesses for a long time. For example, the term “salesman” has almost become obsolete because of the negative feelings it gives people when you say that’s what you are. For example, “Agent” and “Associate” are words used in place of that. Something invariably costs $9.98 instead of “10.00” because it does have an effect even though the actual difference is only two cents.

We’re constantly being psychologically manipulated, and companies spend a lot of money on research to figure out the optimum way to do just that.

[MrDibble]

@UDS

But a pattern of alternating squares is called check, and an object so patterned is checked.

Unless it’s a GP victory flag - that gets called chequered more than as checkered (and never checked AFAICT). Also looks like overall, references are on the wane in BE.

Of course, in American English, it’d be the reverse. And rising. Would that be NASCAR?

[Orwell]

@pulykamell

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?

You’re not the only one. If not handed the bill at the appropriate time, I will tell the server “We’re ready for the bill now”, or ask “can you bring the bill when you get a chance?”. I never call it a check, because it makes no sense to me to do so.

[naita]

@Jacquernagy

I’m sitting here in a Greek restaurant, after dinner, waiting for my check. But it’s not a check, is it?

Yes it is.

M-W:
Check
8 a : a ticket or token showing ownership or identity or indicating payment made a baggage check
b : a counter in various games
c : a slip indicating the amount due : bill ask the waiter for the check

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.

You’re playing games with language according to your own personal preferences. They have nothing to do with the actual history of the English language.

Does anyone have a theory about the origin of this phrase that makes more sense than my own intuition?

Anyone who has actually looked at the history of the words in question probably do, you’re acting on minimal and flawed information.

According to check | Etymology of check by etymonline the restaurant sense is from 1864, but no mention of what people were generally saying before then. I highly doubt they were saying “bill” and decided saying “check” would free them from thinking about paying.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Etymonlinealso gives the derivation of bill.

bill (n.1)

“written statement,” late 14c., “formal document; formal plea or charge (in a court of law); personal letter,” from Anglo-French bille, Anglo-Latin billa “a writing, a list, a seal,” from Medieval Latin bulla “decree, seal, sealed document,” in classical Latin “bubble, boss, stud, amulet for the neck” (hence “seal”); see bull (n.2).

Sense of “written statement detailing articles sold or services rendered by one person to another” is from c. 1400; that of “order addressed to one person to pay another” is from 1570s. Meaning “paper intended to give public notice of something, exhibited in a public place” is from late 15c. Sense of “paper money, bank-note” is from 1660s. Meaning “draft of a proposed statute presented to a legislature” is from 1510s.

bill (v.1)

“to send someone a bill of charge,” 1864, from bill (n.1). Related: Billed; billing.

Here’s check.

"Hence: “a counter-register as a token of ownership used to check against, and prevent, loss or theft” (as in hat check, etc.), 1812. Hence also the financial use for “written order for money drawn on a bank, money draft” (1798, often spelled cheque), which was probably influenced by exchequer. Hence also “mark put against names or items on a list indicating they have been verified or otherwise examined” (by 1856).

Meaning “restaurant bill” is from 1869.

They both from from the same ultimate source, a list of items. They both appeared in the 1860’s, so they are contemporary, probably because that was the first era in which formal restaurants with menus as we know them today were introduced.

As far as I can tell, they have been interchangeable ever since, although I’m sure some regional preferences exist. The Dictionary of American Regional English requires a membership, but I bet some Doper can access it.

But etymonline.com is free. I use it all the time, and I’d recommend that every Doper have it bookmarked.

[naita]

@Exapno_Mapcase

They both from from the same ultimate source, a list of items. They both appeared in the 1860’s, so they are contemporary, probably because that was the first era in which formal restaurants with menus as we know them today were introduced.

As a verb bill appears in the 1860s, but in the noun sense I think we’re looking at this part of your quote:

Sense of “written statement detailing articles sold or services rendered by one person to another” is from c. 1400

[Lamoral]

@naita

You’re playing games with language according to your own personal preferences. They have nothing to do with the actual history of the English language.

You’re not really wrong. I’m just free associating basically…drawing some observations about the language that might not have any basis in fact. Actually, this whole idea might make a good standup bit though. I could probably come up with some good lines regarding this whole “you don’t want to hear the word bill” thing.

[Balthisar]

@kayaker

I always do the pantomime signature thing and it’s never failed me. Works regardless of what language your server speaks!

It’s funny that you say this, and although I never do this in the USA, I’ve done in other places of the world, primarily Mexico. And the weird thing is, there’s nothing generally to sign for. It’s a cash economy, yet that pantomiming is pretty universal. It’s not just me; watching others is how I learnt it!

[Musicat]

Froogling for “guest check” gives this.

Froogling for “guest bill” gives something quite unrelated. But that’s just the US-and/or-A.

[UDS]

@Balthisar

It’s funny that you say this, and although I never do this in the USA, I’ve done in other places of the world, primarily Mexico. And the weird thing is, there’s nothing generally to sign for. It’s a cash economy, yet that pantomiming is pretty universal. It’s not just me; watching others is how I learnt it!

You’re not pantomiming you signing a credit card slip or similar; you’re pantomiming the waiter writing out the order check, which you now wish him to bring you so you can settle up.

[septimus]

@Balthisar

… Even in Thailand, which is the only country I’ve been to that uses the American “check” (even so, it’s “check bin,” or “check bin khap/ka”).

And ‘bin’ of course is borrowed directly from English ‘bill’ — see #22.

[DavidwithanR]

Asking for the “bil” in Swedish might be confusing.

[Siam_Sam]

@Balthisar

I’m a “bill” user. It’s commonly understood, and it doesn’t matter if I’m in any country in the world; if they speak English, it’s commonly understood. Even in Thailand, which is the only country I’ve been to that uses the American “check” (even so, it’s “check bin,” or “check bin khap/ka”).

Yes, in Thai they cover both by always calling for the “check-bill.” Using the English words. Except in Thai, syllables do not end with the L sound, so what they really say is “check-bin.” They’re well aware it is English, but it’s so common that it has become Thai.