Hi everyone. It's Yukari.
This is the second Stu-san's English lesson!
When I worked at a Japanese restaurant here in Canada,
I often heard a weird expression from customers.
I was wondering why they use it which is different from what I learned in Japan.
So we are gonna talk about it.
Are you ready to order?
S: Yes...we'll have a Karage...
And a sashimi platter...
And then two beers and two waters please.
Y: Sure...
Two beers? Two waters?
In Japan, we learn those kind of drinks are uncountable...
And cannot be plural.
But, almost all customers always say, like...
Two waters!
Or two beers...
And I was quite confused why native speakers say like that...
S: Yeah, so...the true grammar...the correct English...
Is that you can't count liquid, so you have to count the container.
Y: Like, a glass of water.
S: So if you're writing an exam or something like that, you should always use the correct grammar, so...
two glasses of beer, or two pints of beer...something like that.
But, spoken English is often much much more casual.
than written English or "correct" English.
And, especially at a restaurant or something like that, people want to get things done quickly.
So I guess just people had a habit, just starting dropping the words for glasses or cups, things like that.
So, what they mean is two cups of coffee.
But, they just drop the cups...
Because, everybody knows coffee comes in cups.
Everybody knows beer comes in glasses or bottles...
Y: So they just say, two coffees, or two beers.
So, you can say, "a water."
And then "Two waters."
So water can be plural?
S: It's like...think about it like...
The noun, "water," kind of like, changes a little bit.
S: It's not like...it's not like...
Y: Liquid? S: It's not liquid anymore.
S: It's something different. Y: What?
S: Like an "order" or a "serving."
Y: Ah, okay...like a menu?
S: Yeah exactly...like one menu item.
That's the way to think about it.
If you order a pizza, you get one pizza.
One pizza.
Or if you order two pizzas, you get two pizzas.
Two waters...one water...two waters.
In their glasses or their bottles.
Y: And then can of beer as well, right?
You can say two beers?
S: Two beers, so maybe if you were at...
...or a house...and somebody said... Y: Do you want a beer?
S: Do you want A beer, yeah...
And maybe you're really thirsty, so you say "I'll take two beers!"
or something...
Y: So you can say, "a water," "two waters..."
"A coffee," "two coffees..."
And how about tea?
S: Yeah, same.
Y: A tea," "two teas..."
S: I'll have a tea or two teas, yeah
Definitely.
Y: And then "one beer," "two beers?"
How about then the name, or kinds of beer.
Like, the name of the brand?
S: Yeah, so if you just say "beer" they will say, "what kind of beer do you want?"
So you need to know which brand you want to order...
But it's the same. You just say "two budweisers..."
Or, "two Asahis"
It's the same. You just take the brand name and put an "s" on the end.
So...you know...it's very different from the way the nouns are normally used...
But, it's perfectly acceptable for spoken English, or casual English.
Y: Then...at a supermarket...if I say, "can you get a milk?"
It means like...a carton...a big carton of milk?
S: So this is really only used for...
like, enough liquid for one person to drink at one time...
So, if I was at the supermarket...
And you said, "can you get me a milk?"
Then I'd probably get you a really small...
A small...
Like a bottle...or just a little...
Enough for one person, at one time...
That's kind of the idea.
So if you're talking about something that's bigger
Of liquid...then you still have to use the...container.
Y: A carton of milk.
S: So if you were at a restaurant, and for your table, you wanted to get a bottle of wine...
You still have to say "a bottle of wine."
Y: So if you say "a red wine..."
or "two red wines"
Can be a glasses?
S: So this is just one example of English people being lazy with their language...
And dropping things or shortening things...
And making things go a little bit faster.
So a good thing for you to keep in mind if you're here at a restaurant or a cafe...
Y: But, of course you should know about the basic grammar.
S: Yeah, for your exams.
Or English tests...
Y: Don't fight with your English teacher?
Cuz Stu-sensei said that! I saw on youtube!
Native speaker said "two waters!"
S: Spoken English only!
Y: Don't argue... S: Casual English only!
Y: So this time...
From my experience working at a restaurant,
we picked up a weird expression.
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