Thursday, August 24, 2006
Insert Joke About the Colour of Her Bush HERE
I'm posting like a fucking madman, and I'm sorry for it. When I'm sleepless and depressed I tend to post a lot, drink a lot of caffeinated beverages, ingest a lot of Advil, and not eat when I know I really should. Check marks all around.
I decided to skip the caffeine today, but I went to Starbucks anyway to get some tea and some quarters for the laundry.
I have a new favourite barista now, since I decided the blonde punky-looking one was a little too cold for comfort. This one is a redhead (of course!), young, and chatted with me about the price of laundry while she sweetly and expertly fished eight quarters out of the tip jar to exchange for my toonie. Curse me and my fatal attraction to cuteness. This girl can't be more than 19, and she's almost definitely straight as an arrow. I am way too good at keeping myself in a state of constant frustration.
I ordered my tea and remembered in the process my mother's latest beef with Starbucks, which is their adamant refusal to properly name everyone's favourite drink from South Africa, that is rooibos tea. Now, say it with me, everyone -- ROOIBOS TEA. Get a pronounciation guide if you must (the one on Wikipedia is utterly useless), think of Aussie slang for a kangaroo, or even slaughter the pronounciation with your flabby North American mouths if you must. But for God's sake, at least bloody well TRY to say it!
You don't order a MILK FROTH WITH ESPRESSO at Starbucks. This is simply not done. Few of us are Italian and yet we can all say LATTE with the best of them. There are not many French people in Vancouver, and yet we all say BAGUETTE, DEJA VU, AND CLICHE.
My mother, in her usual fashion, decided to do battle with Starbucks by coming in every day last winter and ordering a ROOIBOS TEA, to the distress of the 14-year-old baristas who were taught to sell AFRICAN RED BUSH tea, no fancy Afrikaans attempted. Oh puhlease.
My mother was clearly a little too heavy-handed in her approach (guess it runs in the family), but I do tend to agree with her. How hard can it possibly be?
So let's all say it together -- ROOIBOS!
I'm sure my dear friend in Cape Town appreciates the effort.
-N
