Who taught: Pat and Jessy

Coaster (source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/)

When Jessy and I first arrived to the U.S., Jessy was not even able to order food because her English was not that good.

Now, after more than 5 years, she is a lot better. Sometimes, I am amazed by her English. Many people think if someone lives in the U.S., he or she should be able to speak English really good. This is not necessarily true.

Jessy did work hard. She has watched a few TV shows over and over, trying to memorize all of the possible mostly-used sentences. (I mean it was really over and over and over.) Also, whenever she has a free time, she tries to read books that are written in English. Finally, she really tris to spend a lot of time with American friends so that she speaks English as much as she can. All of these are not easy to do and need a strong commitment.

Jessy! I am proud of you!

As a result, these days, she even knows words or expressions that I have no idea about.

For example, she knows English words that are mainly used in kitchen. One example is coaster. Do you know what it is? Usually, “coast” means the part of the land near the sea or the edge of the land, right? In this context, coaster should mean what? It means a ship used to carry cargo along the coast. What does then coaster mean in house? There is no coast in house. Why people use this word to mean something in a house?

Whenever you have guests in your place, you are supposed to give them food and drink.

For drinks, especially cold drinks that are in cups or glasses, you are not placing them on table without a coaster. Actually, that is one thing I have noticed here in the U.S. It looks like it is a kind of manner to use a coster when you put cold drinks on a table.

By now, you should know what coaster is, right? To be clear, here is the definition in this context.

a protective disc or mat for glasses or bottles.

In fact, you will hear this word mostly in this context. Almost all of the restaurants in the U.S. use coasters every time they serve drinks. Also, your guests might ask a coster to use for their drinks. So, buy those for your house.

Do you know why people use coaster to mean this mat or disc? It is because you, as a host, turn around the egde (coast) of the table to put these on the table. Interesting, isn’t it?

Anyway, I am not sure you need to ask where a coaster is before you put your glass on a table when you visit your friends’ house? Is it one of the manners to have in the U.S.? That is what I felt.