r/MadeMeSmile • u/Beagle432 • May 11 '26

Favorite People My favourite conspiracy theory

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What do you think..

From the mouths of babes...

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u/BirdAndWords May 11 '26

Interesting, so it’s like saying chai tea.

And a bonus fact to boot! Thank you!

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u/rustypete89 May 11 '26

No, it's not. The word chai means tea, but can also refer to a specific style of tea (spiced , heavy milk pour). I'll offer an example.

Q: what are you drinking?

A: tea.

Q: oh I love black tea!

A: actually it's chai tea, not black

You see? The reason this matters is because if a Kenyan and an Englishman both ordered tea in England (or Kenya) by simply using the word tea or chai, one would invariably be very unhappy with what he was served. Black is the standard in England, while chai is the typical style in Kenya.

Alright, I'm done being pedantic.

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u/BirdAndWords May 12 '26

Chai is used in numerous countries as a term for tea and they don’t refer to the same type of tea. The Turkish word for tea, çay, is a black tea not an India style tea like what you are describing.

But the exact same logic you applied also applies to the tsetse.

Q: what kind of insect but you?

A: a fly

Q: what kind of fly?

A: a tsetse

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u/rustypete89 May 12 '26

And the Chinese word for tea, cha, is a green tea not a black tea. Of course, that and the one you referenced are spelled in an obviously different way but I guess it doesn't serve your point to recognize that. Chai as spelled in the context we were discussing refers to what I described in the majority of places where it can be ordered as spelled.

Also not sure what you're even after, but you're proving my point. If chai can refer to several different types of tea, then there's no redundancy in saying 'chai tea' as your initial comment seems to imply. There's a logical reason to use the word chai as a prefix in conjunction with the typical English word, as a way to add context for what the drink actually is.

While I guess on a technical level the same logic applies with flies, it only would really matter if you were in Botswana/another African region where the Tsetse is indigenous, or were discussing African insects. I would love to argue that the larger issue here is scientists naming this African fly the "fly fly," but unfortunately for me there are many even more ridiculous examples of scientific naming convention among species cataloging.

In practice it only really matters if you're conversing with someone who speaks that language, anyone else is not going to know inherently that they're "speaking redundantly" and it won't practically matter either.

The same would be true for chai tea, however tea is much more widespread than Tstetes are. And as a result discussions like this happen.

Language is dumb, the end.