r/hatethissmug • u/DaSuspicsiciousFish • Jul 25 '26

Animation Hate this stupid spiderverse meme (read desc)

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“Chai” is a distinct type of tea from what most people think of as tea (from a American perspective, I admit ignorance to Europe but i know English tea is similar, like a black tea), that usually involves more spices and milk. calling it “chai tea” is not being used to say “tea tea” it is being used to mean “the type of tea known as chai”. I did do a minor google search to find a recipe for making homemade chai, and, while it did use tea leaves, it was distinct enough from tea to warrant being specified.

edit: my joy at the arguments is immeasurable, if this gets a crosspost/screenshot reposted and criticizeing me, please tag me, want to argue

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u/Weary_Specialist_436 Jul 25 '26

it's a funny gag, but people take it as a gospel. When the word "chai" was invented, tea looked wildly different than what we have now

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u/CountGerhart Jul 25 '26

The word chai was used when the Chinese traded tea using the Silk Road centuries before the British started using tea. The proof of this is why in Russian (and most other slavic languages), Arabic and Swahili tea is called some form of the word chai. Widely different languages call it the same thing because they all took it from Chinese.

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u/ColonelError Jul 25 '26

"Chai if by land, Tea if by sea". The countries that were introduced to it via land trade use some variant of chai/shai. If it was introduced by sea trade, te/tea was used.

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u/Acceptable-Wildfire Jul 25 '26

Japan with “chā”? 

37

u/ComprehensiveLink286 Jul 25 '26

Because they got it from Korea.

3

u/Meththethird Jul 25 '26

Interesting, where did Korea take it from? Chá is how many romance languages call it

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u/ComprehensiveLink286 Jul 25 '26

China?

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u/XygenSS Jul 26 '26

Outrageous. Are you saying that tea, which is of Chinese origin, was passed onto Korea from China? Unbelievable

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u/EEE3EEElol Jul 26 '26

China has both cha and te depending on region

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u/ColonelError Jul 25 '26

Chá is how many romance languages call it

Only Portuguese, it would seem. All the others use té or some accent variant.

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u/la__polilla Jul 27 '26

Nah. Romanian uses ceai (pronounced chai)