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餐厅 (Canteen)
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I suspect the word "餐厅" is where Chinese people get the word "canteen" from. I also suspect that the US military first started using the word "canteen" in China. Why? Because for Chinese people, I often hear them use the word "canteen" in this way and because the only time I have heard Americans use the word "canteen" for a cafeteria is by people in the US Army. That is, I think that US Army personnel heard Chinese people calling them "mess tent" a "餐厅" and came to call it "canteen" themselves. The "mess tent" is the 餐厅 or cafeteria used by soldiers overseas and in the field, when they eat in tents.
As for the rest of us (other Americans) we never use the term "canteen" to mean cafeteria or restaurant. A canteen is a water bottle used for hiking or by soldiers.
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Post comment Comment (3 replies)
- Reply lijuanandrea
- i think 餐厅is just a translation according to pronouncation, in daily life we seldom say 餐厅， but we say 食堂， or 饭店 a lot ,食堂 is usually a place that a lot of people have meals together at a certain time, but 饭店， means restaurant . i don't know ,maybe in HK or shanghai , people might say 餐厅。
- Reply sunnyv
- The word Canteen originated as follows:
Cantine (French)
Cantina (Italian)
The word Cantine in French means a partitioned bottle for carrying wine.
Those words gave rise to the word Canteen meaning the makeshift place where soldiers had their meals in times of war.
