Lone Island Syndrome: canteen vs. cafeteria

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Kenox
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Lone Island Syndrome: canteen vs. cafeteria

Post by Kenox »

"Don't mind me, I've already eaten in the canteen."
In this, and several other sentences near the beginning of the chapter, the word "canteen" is used in reference to the school cafeteria. I know that both words are correct in this sense, but shouldn't "canteen" be replaced with "cafeteria" since the latter is more common?

I know I'm about a year late, but I just started reading through the translations recently. Sorry if this has already been brought up.
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Post by onizuka-gto »

yeah, but at my school they call it the "school dinner hall"

when someone says "cafeteria" i think of cafe, which i think of coffee, which makes me think europeans.

:roll:

which brings us back to point that my university had a "cafeteria" but in reality it was a "canteen".

So what is right? so we use a word that is common but misused, or a word that is correct but not as common?
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Post by quigonkenny »

onizuka-gto wrote:yeah, but at my school they call it the "school dinner hall"

when someone says "cafeteria" i think of cafe, which i think of coffee, which makes me think europeans.

:roll:

which brings us back to point that my university had a "cafeteria" but in reality it was a "canteen".

So what is right? so we use a word that is common but misused, or a word that is correct but not as common?
In American vernacular, "cafeteria" would be the correct term here. It corresponds almost exactly to the probably more recognized term "mess," as in a military mess hall (except with a cafeteria, the diner pays). It can also be used to describe any type of restaurant that is laid out the same way (diner stands in line in front of the food, the server dishes out the diner's selection, the diner pays and carries the plates of food on a tray to a table to eat).

A "canteen", in the common American usage, is a container of water, specifically the type of container of water someone carries with them on a hike or similar trip.

Those are the primary American uses of those two words, and especially in the case of "cafeteria", the only (a café, pronounced with the accent, but usually spelled without, is similar, but different enough not to be confusing). In most parts of the country, the only time you're likely to find the word "canteen" used to refer to a dining establishment is as a slang pronunciation of "cantina" in an Old West movie, and a cantina hardly fits the context of the quoted passage.

I have no idea how the definition of "cafeteria" may change outside the US, but am fully (now) aware of the other usage of "canteen", and am slightly bemused to see that its Wikipedia entry redirects to the entry for "cafeteria", which makes no mention of the word "canteen."

I suggest using "lunchroom" to avoid confusion.
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Post by Kanzar »

Canteen makes me think of those little shacks that sell stuff, and not an eating area.

We call our 'cafeterias' refectories, or refect for short. =P
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Post by onizuka-gto »

Kanzar wrote:Canteen makes me think of those little shacks that sell stuff, and not an eating area.

We call our 'cafeterias' refectories, or refect for short. =P
"lunchroom" sounds good, except where i come from, we would call it "dinner room" because we speak a strange sub-dialect of English and we only have breakfast, dinner, tea and supper, "lunch" is a mysterious meal that the southern rich people seem to have at a strange time between breakfast and dinner, and it provides a naturally answer to why southerners have greater body weight, despite us northerners are equally obese. especially the scots.

:p :roll:
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Smidge204
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Post by Smidge204 »

What's the original text say?
「僕ならお構いなく。学食で済ませてきましたから」
"Don't mind me. I've already finished eating at the school cafeteria."

(Actually I suppose it could be either, but akiha says "cafeteria" :P )
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