Although I'm a big Starbucks fan and stop there most mornings, I don't buy into the whole coffee officionado experience. Specifically, I don't use coffeetalk in regard to drink sizes. I refuse to say, "I'll have a vente decaf." Tall, vente, grande--what's with that? Can anyone really keep them straight?
So I use AmericanTalk: small, medium, and large. It doesn't seem to unduly confuse the baristas (er...clerks). When I say, "I'll have a medium decaf," their minds are nimble enough that they can automatically translate it mentally and subsequently hit the appropriate button on the cash register.
If English is to be our official language, we need to resist attempts to replace our common usage with strange foreign terms. This, I believe, is important enough to be inserted into the Republican Party Platform.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
I am so glad we can just order a large beverage at Wendy's now, instead of a "Biggie," which felt really dorky. It is the one positive since Dave died.