9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.Here's an anecdote.
A few months ago I was at the International Terminal in Rome Airport, waiting for my flight to the US.
I was in line at the bar waiting to pay for a coffee (espresso, what else?) when I hear some commotion from further down the bar.
I understand it is a young (high school graduate?) US tourist arguing with a bartender, and, knowing how things get sour because of "lost in translation" I volunteer my help as an interpreter.
"I wanted a LATTE - cries the young lad - and all I got was... this..." he points to a glass of steaming hot white milk.
I look at the bartender.
"He asked for a glass of milk, he got a glass of milk, he won't pay for it" snarls the bartender.
His eyes are bloodshot, I understand he's only minutes away from stepping down form his night shift, and is not happy with the kid.
I see both their points.
LATTE in NYC is a huge mug of... whitish stuff with maybe some coffee in it (I don't know, I'm not going to pollute my tastebuds with castrated cow juice...)
LATTE in Italian is MILK, pure and simple.
As in Rome, do as the Romans.
DO NOT ask for something which in your country means "apples" but in the native language, in that nation, means "oranges".
I explained this to the kid, who cried out bloody blasphemy (they had ruined his idea of a LATTE) and it took quite a bit of cool nerves and diplomacy to explain to him that in Italy, in Italian, LATTE is a baby's drink, a glass of milk, pure and simple, he got what he asked for in the native language and he better pay for it, or else.
"Or else what? - he challenged me - I'm an American!"
The kid felt somebody tap his shoulder and turned.
The Police were there.
The bartender definitely wanted to go home at the end of his night shift, and had called the Police (we don't use private security, we have the Police, period).
Pay or stay.
He paid, and they made sure he drank it down to the last drop (you don't want an upset kid to spill it all over the place...)
So, when in Rome... DRINK WINE !!!
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