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Cafés can be lovely places to grab a coffee and a snack while you noodle around with your writing project, but the thing they’ve long been missing is cold, hard accountability. Well, no more, thanks to The Manuscript Writing Cafe!
The Tokyo café was designed to help writers trying to hit deadlines—so much so that you aren’t allowed in unless you have one, and you can’t leave unless you meet it. A sign in the café explains: “The Manuscript Writing Cafe only allows in people who have a writing deadline to face! It’s in order to maintain a level of focus and tense atmosphere at the cafe!”
For people who thrive with external pressure and constant oversight (hi, yes, sorry to my agent), this place sounds like a godsend. The rules are as follows:
1. Upon entering the store, write down at the reception desk how many words and by what time you are going to write your manuscript.
2. The manager asks you every hour how your manuscript is coming along.
3. You are not allowed to leave the store until you have finished writing your manuscript or writing project.
The café charges by the hour (so the whole “you can’t leave till you’re finished” is actually a pretty savvy business decision). To me, though, the “just circling back” manager is the most brilliant touch—nothing will get me writing faster than trying to avoid explaining my stunningly low productivity to another human.
Petition to franchise these in the US!
[via Grape]
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#1
Good morning everyone!
I have a question; I think I have seen both «cafe» and «café» used, meaning cafeteria. Are both ok?
Thanks!
Bristi
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#2
Accroding to the dictionary, yes. I personally prefer café.
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#3
Yeah, I’ve seen here, at wordreference, that they write cafe, wothout an accent. But I’ve always written it with the accent (café)… so I was wondering…
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#4
That’s probably because in the English Only forum we rarely use accents
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#5
No, actually I meant I found it without accent in the dictionary, not in the forums… that is why I became hesitant to use one of them before confirmation…
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#6
Good morning everyone!
I have a question; I think I have seen both «cafe» and «café» used, meaning cafeteria. Are both ok?
Thanks!
Bristi
But in AE at least it isn’t the same thing as a cafeteria and isn’t, I am pretty sure, short for it. It means a relatively small and informal restaurant that, presumably serves coffee. I am virtually certain it comes from the French café (hence the accent) and has pretty much the same meaning (though whether the coffee will be as good…?)
Oh, and the logic of the accent is that it is pronounced in the French fashion (i.e., not a long A and the E is pronounced, eh, and accented), in both BE and AE, always.
In NA if the establishment has an accent in it, it probably has more pretensions, if not, the coffee is probably weaker.
Vinlander
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#7
Etymologically connected, but not absolutely identical:
A café derives from French, café, coffee shop.
A cafeteria derives from Spanish, cafetería, coffee shop.
Now, is a cafe an accentless café or an abbreviated cafeteria?
If it serves 153 varieties of coffee, it is probably the former;
If its customers refer to it as the caif or the caff, the latter.
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#8
Etymologically connected, but not absolutely identical:
At least in NA they are quite different. A cafeteria is marked by self-service. You take your tray along the line and take or are given food and drink. It would not be entirely illogical to say «a cafeteria style cafe/coffee shop» (though how that would differ from just a cafeteria isn’t clear).
A café derives from French, café, coffee shop.
A cafeteria derives from Spanish, cafetería, coffee shop.
In NA cafe and coffee shop are pretty much synonymous.
Now, is a cafe an accentless café or an abbreviated cafeteria?
If it serves 153 varieties of coffee, it is probably the former;
If its customers refer to it as the caif or the caff, the latter.
In NA this really doesn’t ring true. Most cafes just serve coffee (one sort, plus, maybe, decaf for wusses). If you were to ask what sorts of coffee they sell, you would be directed to the Starbucks down the street (for which the term cafe would probably not be applied, interestingly MS Word just automatically added the accent to cafe).
Caif or caff is not a term I have ever heard in NA (oddly, North Americans seem to shorten words less the either Brits or, especially, Aussies/Kiwis), though if I did, I would know that it referred to a cafeteria in the NA sense.
Vinlander
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#9
Interestingly, my somewhat old paper OED uses the accent, but the online uses the non-accented version. It’s a word I rarely write, but accents are generally awkward on English keyboards, so I only use them when absolutely necessary; cafe does not fall under this category of words!
When I was young, I pronounced cafe as caffy (another variation of caff and «caif»), but I do now say café.
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#10
But in AE at least it isn’t the same thing as a cafeteria and isn’t, I am pretty sure, short for it. It means a relatively small and informal restaurant that, presumably serves coffee.
On the other hand, there’s the Hard Rock Cafe (without an accent).
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#11
OED defines cafeteria as a self-service restaurant. This is referring to BE usage. I agree with this. It sounds like a 60s or 70s word to me, and I don’t hear it much these days, except perhaps in the sense of a dining room in a place of work, a department store, museum, hospital, etc. The primary function of a cafeteria (in this UK sense) is not to serve coffee per se but to serve meals and refreshments of all kinds, often for those out shopping or visiting one of the places I mentioned.
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#12
Good morning everyone!
I have a question; I think I have seen both «cafe» and «café» used, meaning cafeteria. Are both ok?
Thanks!
Bristi
In AE a cafeteria is usually a large, brightly-lit room where people stand in line with a tray, moving food to the tray as they pass various offerings. At the end of the line, they pay a cashier for the food on their tray. They then eat the food, usually at communal tables. Cafeterias are associated with institutions such as schools, or organizations such as corporations.
Cafes are quite different, as others have pointed out. The word is acceptable in AE with or without the accent.
Participation
For doctoral candidates of all disciplines.
Content
The goal of the Writing Café is to give you the opportunity to regularly devote time to your writing projects among peers. All doctoral researchers of the Berlin University Alliance (Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität, Technische Universität und Charité) are welcome to join any time. Spread the word!
The Writing Café will take place once a week — every Thursday in 2023 (either from 9-11am or from 6-8 pm — please check the agenda in Lounjee). Write on your project in a group, alone or in tandems. An expert will be present to answer questions and provide brief one-on-one consultations (both English and German). Every last Thursday of the month the trainer will offer short input on different writing topics per your request.
Prepare your workplace, turn on an out-of-office alert, turn off your phone, and use the time to focus on your writing!
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Please register in Lounjee for The WRITING Café and register only for the sessions you intend to join.
If you are not a member of the «Early Career Researcher in Berlin» yet, please
2. Then log in here and join the group „Early Career Researchers in Berlin” (special Code: ECR-BUA )
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If there are free spots, we also allow postdocs to participate.