mdoneil writes “The phrase “black coffee” is verboten in the Mitchell library in Glasgow.
The Daily Record reports that the phrase coffee without milk should be used to avoid being racist. (3rd story down)
If you ask me coffee should not be sold in libraries but in cafés.”
To be fair
“Staff at the coffee shop in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow last week allegedly refused to serve a customer who had ordered a ‘black coffee’, claiming that it was a racist phrase”
Allegedly? Well, that settles it then – it’s _definitely_ a set-in-stone policy, promulgated from the highest heights.
OK, it quite possibly happened, but reading the original, it doesn’t sound like an official policy, but a weird isolated incident.
I love my library’s coffee shop, FWIW….
puh-lease!
I’m not sure about the UK brand of coffee, but over here in the states we are safe from this sort of thing since our coffee is so watered down that only the freekish optimist might call it black. In truth, it is more of a dirty water look.
What Color is Your Coffay?
I was in London in 1998 and ordered coffee with cream. The locals I was dining with called it “white coffee”. So, is that racist too? My first reaction was to wonder how that would be taken back home, especially where I’m living now–in the South.
Anyway, I think it could more accurately be called “beige coffee”, unless you just use a HUGE amount of cream. 😀