# Dunkin Donuts takes on Etymology **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2008, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084 "2008-03-12T07:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/41 "2008-03-12T20:38:20Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] a medium is a grande which is the Italian word for medium; [/QUOTE] _Grande_ is Italian for large. _Mezzo_ would be medium. Once upon a time the _grande_ at Starbucks was actually large. (St. Louis Bread Company (Panera) beats Starbucks in stupid sizing; their large is called “largo” which means “broad”. I can’t even imagine what a largo coffee would actually look like.) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/42 "2008-03-12T21:22:34Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] _Grande_ is Italian for large. _Mezzo_ would be medium. Once upon a time the _grande_ at Starbucks was actually large. [/QUOTE] Damn it. I went back to edit that and then I forgot what I was editing. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/43 "2008-03-12T21:29:18Z")
[QUOTE=hawksgirl] I just hate this commercial because it makes people think its ok to let their brains lock up when they see an unfamiliar word. I took a Central/South American lit in English class earlier this year and it was hell getting people to just TRY to pronounce the Spanish words and names instead of just skipping them. Watching this commercial just just sends me into flashbacks of my classmates skipping the names and locations in a story and pretending to be dumb. [/QUOTE] Okay, that’s a little different. If you enroll in a college level comp lit class then yes, it’s fair to expect people to make an attempt at pronunciation, given that the one of the goals of a college class is to teach you to discuss the material intelligently. But ordering coffee at a fast food place? I think it’s okay to let your brain lock. I mean, were not talking about fine Italian dining, or even a family-run lunch cafe. It’s a national chain that markets itself to the general US population, it is kinda silly that they need to rename Small, Medium, and Large. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/44 "2008-03-12T22:27:56Z")
[QUOTE=aktep] They used to sell donuts that were shaped for dunking in coffee – they had a little donut handle to hold on to. [/QUOTE] And when you’re finished dunkin’, you thank the lord for your fingers. Paul Simon wrote a song about it, I believe. [QUOTE=fachverwirrt] (St. Louis Bread Company (Panera) beats Starbucks in stupid sizing; their large is called “largo” which means “broad”. [/QUOTE] I’m not that thirsty; I’ll have an andante. ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/45 "2008-03-12T23:06:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] And the thing about pretending to be dumb is, if you do it often enough, you get good at it and actually become dumb! [/QUOTE] It’s easier to just fill out a membership application, and we’ll send a guy around to hit you in the medulla with a pipe wrench. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Nya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@Fish\_Nya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Nya)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/46 "2008-03-12T23:15:16Z")
I kinda like the song. Of course, I also like the “Doing things is what I like to do” one, so my judgment is probably bad. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/47 "2008-03-12T23:22:17Z")
[QUOTE=Fish Nya] I kinda like the song. Of course, I also like the “Doing things is what I like to do” one, so my judgment is probably bad. [/QUOTE] I like “Doing Things” as well. Its one of the few DD-TMBG commercial jingles I wouldn’t mind hearing expanded into an entire song. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/48 "2008-03-13T01:20:27Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Care to explain the logic behind tall = small, then? [/QUOTE] Well, you see…when they say tall, they mean…umm… Yeah, I got nothin’. ETA: I did a little research, and I guess there is a fourth, _smaller_ size that usually isn’t advertised. It’s called 'short. So yeah, now it makes sense…sort of. (Still seems really pretentious to use that instead of small, medium, large, but whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/49 "2008-03-13T01:35:46Z")
Oops. Didn’t notice bouv’s edit. Their original sizes were just “short” and “tall,” which I think is cute, not pretentious, but then againt I just got called pompous today! ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/50 "2008-03-13T01:44:53Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] How would the customer know if you called out their order correctly, if they didn’t understand the lingo to begin with? [/QUOTE] Well, let’s see… the menu is right above my head. The prices were clearly marked by size and drink type. Generally, I think it’s safe to say that the higher the cost of the drink, when there are three prices listed, the larger the drink is going to be. This assumption has worked well for me. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/51 "2008-03-13T01:49:41Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] As has been pointed out many times in the Starbucks lingo debates, Starbucks employees _used to_ correct customers on the Starbucks lingo if they ordered a small, medium or large. True, not all of them did this, but I happened often enough that I disliked going into Starbucks. But now they’ve stopped and I can enjoy my Frappucino without the quarterlife crisis victim beyond the counter acting like a snot to me. [/QUOTE] In the five years that I worked there, I was never instructed by any manager or training material to correct the customer. And I have never heard anyone ever claim they were. It was not then, and is not now, to my knowledge, company policy to do so. You got lousy service. Lousy service is not a Starbucks innovation. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/52 "2008-03-13T01:57:38Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] The commercial is not making fun of Starbucks for using Italian words, but for making up stupid words that sound like a mix of French and Italian. Your complaint would be apt if Dunkin’ Donuts was calling its latte a _laitte_, because DD is making fun of Starbucks for making up words, not for using Italian words. [/QUOTE] Care to explain Coolatta, then? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/53 "2008-03-13T02:36:11Z")
One menu item shown at 00:14 is called Himan Plu Cento. If that’s not a reason to skip Dunkin’ Donuts… > [@Brown Eyed Girl](#): > > Yay! Xenophobia in a donut shop! Wait a minute…latte is English? What’s that word again? Half-caf. What kind of English is that? Hmm…I’m just not going to expand my narrow vocabulary because that would be too much like going back to school where I barely passed my language requirement. Don’t even ask me what I got in English. Last year when my husband took me to an expensive four-star where the menu was prix fixe, I ended up crying in the bathroom; the stress was just too great. I like how the YouTube user asked, “for the love of God, why do I need training to understand the menu?” I would ask him: “How much training did you need to understand ‘mayonnaise’ and ‘pizza’?” > [@hawthorne](#): > > My wife used to work for a law firm that employed waiting staff for meeting rooms. The head bloke when taking people’s orders always said “So, you wanna glass of milk, not a coffee?” when someone ordered “a latte”. Loudly. How rude. If I were the one making the decision, that waitstaff company would be fired on the spot. > [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Plus the whole ‘MY MOUTH CAN’T AFFORD THESE WORDS’ song Heh…_afford_? You sure? (FTR, I actually kind of liked the song, although the concept behind it bugs the hell out of me.) > [@2.5"](#): > > A better complaint would be to call out DD for claiming that Starbucks uses made up, French/Italian words. Then what the hell language is Frappuccino from? ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/54 "2008-03-13T02:50:36Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Then what the hell language is Frappuccino from? [/QUOTE] Greek+Italian! Maybe Gritallllian … 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/55 "2008-03-13T03:29:35Z")
-accidentally posted as my wife, JaJ ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/56 "2008-03-13T03:31:54Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] The commercial is not making fun of Starbucks for using Italian words, but for making up stupid words that sound like a mix of French and Italian. [/QUOTE] Other than ‘Frappucino’, when have they done this? My high school job was at a Dunkin’ Donuts. We used to sell the donuts-with-a-handle. They were labeled ‘Dunkin’ Donut.’ Oh, and those Coolatas are nasty. Maybe I should start an “Ask The…” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/57 "2008-03-13T12:13:04Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] _Grande_ is Italian for large. _Mezzo_ would be medium. Once upon a time the _grande_ at Starbucks was actually large. (St. Louis Bread Company (Panera) beats Starbucks in stupid sizing; their large is called “largo” which means “broad”. I can’t even imagine what a largo coffee would actually look like.) [/QUOTE] In Spanish, Largo means long (hence Key Largo, or Cayo Largo in Spanish, for being longer than the rest of the keys the expedition had encountered). Also in Spanish, a panera is a breadbasket. I don’t know what’s the Italian for breadbasket. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/58 "2008-03-13T14:00:06Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Starbucks does not use French/Italian words. [/QUOTE] _“Frappuccino”_ isn’t a spooge of “frappé” and “cappuccino?” ETA: Oh look! Page two! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/59 "2008-03-13T19:27:00Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] … (St. Louis Bread Company (Panera) beats Starbucks in stupid sizing; their large is called “largo” which means “broad”. I can’t even imagine what a largo coffee would actually look like.) [/QUOTE] If largo means broad, then a largo coffee is “the coffee the broads order.” ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084/60 "2008-03-13T22:26:55Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > “Frappuccino” isn’t a spooge of “frappé” and “cappuccino?” A…spooge? Look, dude, I don’t know what they put in the Frappucinos in Canada, but somehow I don’t think that’s it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dunkin-donuts-takes-on-etymology/441084.md?page=4)