# With only two sizes, how can one be a medium? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635 "2015-10-14T15:33:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/1 "2015-10-14T15:33:02Z")
I’m sure this has been brought up before, but anyway…had a fit of McPica yesterday, and at the drive thru ordered a #1 with a small Coke. When the display said “M”, I reiterated that I wanted a small. “All we have is large and medium.” I guess I just don’t understand how business works. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/2 "2015-10-14T15:38:12Z")
‘_Small_ or _Tiny_’ wasn’t a great selling-point. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/3 "2015-10-14T15:44:06Z")
In cases like this, “Medium” is a synonym for “Regular”. This is likely how Starbucks ended up with a Medium, Large, and Extra Large on their menu board. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/4 "2015-10-14T15:49:02Z")
Drink cups usually come in 12, 16 and 20 oz sizes, plus mega-cups. Since very few customers order the smallest size, the middle size becomes the de facto “Small.” Especially if the business has limited storage space for cups. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/5 "2015-10-14T16:06:45Z")
There is a small, they just don’t sell it anymore. It’s silly, but we actually do this at work where the lowest priority level is medium. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/6 "2015-10-14T16:08:55Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I’m sure this has been brought up before, but anyway…had a fit of McPica yesterday, and at the drive thru ordered a #1 with a small Coke. When the display said “M”, I reiterated that I wanted a small. “All we have is large and medium.” I guess I just don’t understand how business works. They meant, we only offer it in large and medium. Medium is the smaller of the two. Also the registers are set up like that as a default. The minimum wage worker you spoke to has no control over such matters. Finally it’s not surprising, that language. The business world is rife with it. I’m surprised it’s escaped you until now. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/7 "2015-10-14T16:20:58Z")
These go to eleven. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/8 "2015-10-14T16:29:06Z")
One of them communicates with the Dead ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/9 "2015-10-14T16:36:53Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > The minimum wage worker you spoke to has no control over such matters. You mean the medium wage worker. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/10 "2015-10-14T16:38:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One of them communicates with the Dead Sometimes illegally, resulting in their arrest - and if they escape, the possible headline “SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/11 "2015-10-14T16:54:32Z")
My assumption would be that at one point they had a small and discontinued it, so for purposes of consistency, left the names the same on the other sizes. It would seem to me to be less confusing to do it that way if I were a regular customer than redefining the amount of coffee in a small. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/12 "2015-10-14T17:00:04Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My assumption would be that at one point they had a small and discontinued it, so for purposes of consistency, left the names the same on the other sizes. It would seem to me to be less confusing to do it that way if I were a regular customer than redefining the amount of coffee in a small. That might have been how it started. Don’t confuse the customers with a change in size or price. Then at some point there was no compelling reason to reclassify the drinks even if they had changed in size or price. > [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > Sometimes illegally, resulting in their arrest - and if they escape, the possible headline “SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE”. Quoted for excellence. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/13 "2015-10-14T17:39:02Z")
A #1 at Mickey D’s isn’t a sandwich. It’s a meal (sandwich, fries, and drink). I suspect that what the worker meant to say was: “I can’t ring up a Value Meal with any drink smaller than the medium size.” A small Coke by itself, no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/14 "2015-10-14T19:43:11Z")
Stopped at Dairy Queen and they had 4 prices for Blizzards on the board with no descriptors. I had to ask which of those was considered “medium”. Theirs were actually “Mini, Small, Medium, Large” ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/15 "2015-10-14T20:03:05Z")
It’s a bit like having a list with only two …oh, nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/16 "2015-10-14T20:29:32Z")
Back when The Apprentice ran just before Patricia Arquette’s show, NBC ran commercials with Trump saying, “You can go from ‘Huge’ to _Medium_!” ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/17 "2015-10-14T21:16:46Z")
I’m just gonna leave[this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAD5dz9-Qg8) here 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/18 "2015-10-15T06:28:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You mean the medium wage worker. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/19 "2015-10-15T08:41:20Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if some brand person also wasn’t concerned that “small” might conjure mental images in customers of a size that was even smaller than what is actually the smallest size. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635/20 "2015-10-15T11:02:10Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > They meant, we only offer it in large and medium. Medium is the smaller of the two. > > Also the registers are set up like that as a default. The minimum wage worker you spoke to has no control over such matters. > > Finally it’s not surprising, that language. The business world is rife with it. I’m surprised it’s escaped you until now. Ease up already. He’s just Ventiing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-only-two-sizes-how-can-one-be-a-medium/734635.md?page=2)