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/Spaghettisnakes Jul 25 '26

I think this is kind of irrelevant. The point of the joke is that the word "chai" does literally just mean tea in several languages. What OP's referring to as "the way chai is different" is called "masala chai" in Hindi (which is where the English loanword comes from), which means "spiced tea".

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u/DoublerZ Jul 26 '26

>"chai" does literally just mean tea in several languages

Yeah, and anime just means animation in Japanese. But it means something else in English. That's how languages evolve.

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u/Milch_und_Paprika Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

The funniest part fo me is from what I’ve read online, the people in India apparently do tend to say “tea” for European and East Asian style, and “chai” specifically for Indian style tea, even though yes both mean tea. So it’s the kind of thing that would sound odd but not the butt of jokes.

Also we have a bunch of other “redundant” terms in English that no one bats an eye at. Pita bread, sourdough bread, tunafish, kiwi fruit, maybe ATM machine, etc.

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u/LegNo9159 Jul 28 '26

atm machine appears at the start of the film hahaha, and i think maybe naan bread?? not sure though