2_534e2886@fidonet.org>   
   From: alexander koryagin    
      
   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   
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