[Magdalen] Uh.....TEA?!

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

I had a visitor this week who suggested tea when I offered coffee.
 
My ex-mother-in-law was a hot tea drinker.  On her occasional
visits to my mother's home, she would invariably ask for tea
when offered coffee.
 
Those Upper Midwest USA natives rarely drink tea, and her request
always surprised my mother who would respond something like
"Uh...uh...uh...tea?  Uh...uh...TEA?!  She would then flail  through
her pantry to find some quite probably terribly out of date tea
bags, and do the unforgivable placement of dry tea bags in a
cup and then bring some warm (not hot) water for my MIL to
pour over the tea bags ("One uses boiling water to make tea").
 
On a similar vein in la belle France, where one generally drinks
wine with lunch or supper/dinner, I was touring the country with
someone who simply drank tapwater with meals.
 
The waiters would stammer something like, "Uh...uh...uh...de  l'eau?...
uh...uh...DE L'EAU?!
 
The wait staff in French restaurants were always happy with my order
for mineral water because there was a nice mark-up for them on
that item.
 
 
 
David S.