<MSGID_2=3A203=2F2_534e2886@fidonet.org>
From: alexander koryagin <koryagin@erec.ru>

Hi, Paul Quinn!
I read your message from 16.04.2014 08:51

  ak>> In Russia we also produce china caps. Such a cap always has a
  ak>> handle. So it is more difficult to produce it. In hard time,
  ak>> especially after WW2 when all utensils were broken  glasses and
  ak>> saucers (and tea spoons) became the main mean for tea drinking.
  PQ> Caps? China cups. Yes. I used to have my own (favourite) tea cup
  PQ> and saucer in my teenaged years.

    Shame on me! Cups!  It is probably my bad pronunciation. ;=) But it
supports my main English rule - you should never say short phrases. You
should speak adding many context words. In this case you'll be
understood! 

  ak>> It must be said that there also was another tea set. It consisted
  ak>> of a glass (with a teaspoon) and a special metal glass holder
  ak>> (podstakannik in Russian). It has been widely used in trains,
  ak>> canteens etc. A waiter takes a tea tray, puts glasses on it, in
  ak>> glass holders, and carries it along the train, canteen etc. As you
  ak>> can see if they would use glasses with saucers they could carry
  ak>> much less glasses per one tray.

  PQ> I have seen this metal glass holder at least once in a film. I've
  PQ> spotted its use at the 33 minute mark in the 'The Hunt for Red
  PQ> October' movie from 1990. I have seen such things used in other
  PQ> films as well. E. g. I suspect a senior Police official may have
  PQ> been using one in the 'Gorky Park' film from 1983 but I don't have
  PQ> a copy to check.

  PQ> Yes, I can imagine that a cup holder would essentially turn a glass
  PQ> into a shape similar to a coffee cup. Such things would be more
  PQ> useful, and less awkward, than cups & saucers.

    Russians also like glass holders because they can be made of gold and
silver. ;-)

    BTW, here is a joke about a Russian way to drink tea. One Japanese
waiter said that he always knows how to tell if a man is Russian when he
drinks tea. He said that all Russians don't take tea spoons out of the
glass when drinking, and they press them with a big finger, in the
process of drinking. A Russian man decided to deceive the waiter and
started to drink tea without a tea spoon. But when he left the coffee
shop that waiter said to him:
    "Spasibo, prohodite esche!" ("Thank you, come again" in Russian).
    The Russian man asked him, "How have you guessed that I am a
Russian?"
    "You drink tea like a Russian," answered the waiter.
    "But did I have tea with a tea spoon taken out?"
    "Yes, you did," answered the waiter. "But you've got a habit to close
your eye when you drink tea."

Bye, Paul!
Alexander Koryagin
fido7.english-tutor 2014
--- ifmail v.2.15dev5.4
 * Origin: NPO RUSnet InterNetNews site (2:5020/400)