On 04/30/2014 01:47 AM, Peter Humphrey wrote: > It just annoys me when I'm offered a regular coffee, > when I would have said standard, or medium (size). It's happened particularly > since our high streets were flooded with Starbucks and the like.
If someone offered me a "regular" coffee I'd ask for a definition of "regular" because I wouldn't have a clue what's being offered. My impression is that many Merkin words entered the British argot during WWII, when, indeed, we referred to petrol(gasoline) as "regular" or "leaded", a good example of our misuse of "regular", and one I'd forgot(ten) about. You and Neil both mentioned "regular guy", which I remember hearing most recently in a movie about WWII, and not since. Our tasteless Merkin TV commercials used the word "regular" for decades to describe our ideal bowel habits, so I share your immediate association with that word. But I doubt anyone less than thirty years old would remember that era. (Please let me know if I'm wrong about that!)
