"Cup of coffee" translated in Poland as Kubek kawy. Why not a mug?

For some reason Poland's younger set is translating a "cup of coffee" as kubek kawy rather than filiżanka kawy. Anyone know why? Only a mug (or beaker) is a kubek. The kubek thing can also be seen in TV and online adverts.

Mugs are popular enough as drinking vessels in PL and there may be transference from English. Languages do constantly evolve and for some kubek may well sound less pretentious than filiżanka.

Most people drink coffee out of a mug at home. If you use a cup, you use a saucer. Who does that? The only time I do is in cafes, as I did last week in Wedel, Białystok, where they rushed me 24PLN for an espresso and apple pie. That'll be the last time before winning the lottery.

maybe 'filizanka' sounds like 'teacup' or 'cup and saucer' like our grannies insisted on drinking from?
My granny would have died of thirst before drinking from a mug. lol. Now it would seem pretentious to serve tea the old way.
Languages do move on......

In England people saying 'cup of coffee' and there is popular drinking coffee in a cup. However in Poland, when you go to someone for coffee, you will be asked about "glass or mug (szklanka czy kubek)", in Poland is not popular drinking coffee in a cup.

That's just not true any more. Drinking coffee in a glass is rarer and rarer.

I don't think I've ever seen coffee drunk from a glass in Poland, but as I'm not Polish I can't possibly know what I'm talking about.

Yes, its true, drinking coffee in a glass is rarer and rarer, but people when they meet at home drink coffee in a mug (rarely in a glass, even less in a cap). Only in a restaurant or business meetings people drink coffee in a cap.

Espresso machines, very popular now, are changing that. Mugs are the normal way though, and glasses rare for obvious reasons.

Here in the good old U.S.A. ya just can't beat drinking your "joe" from a styrofoam cup when
you're on the run. The Jamican Blue Mountain coffee.................Yummy !

To some filiżanka may sound pretentious, whilst to others kubek may sound downright crude. In view of its popularity with the masses, maybe it's part of today's allegedly "cool" slob chic.

À chacun son goût!

What's crude about a nice mug? There are some very good quality and tasteful ones (and some fairly nasty cups & saucers). Boleslawiec pottery have been making mugs for years.


No more popular with "the masses" than those of us who are truly among the global elite.

What do you use, Pol3? I tend to use a cup and saucer though do have some nice mugs at home for larger volumes or for tea.

I can assure you there is nothing slobby about my lovely bone china mugs which I comb the town for obsessively.

I really do like bone china mugs, but for a standard size mug I default to one of these:

ah yeh those are really nice, definitely not 'slob chic' eh?

Beautiful mugs from Goebel.

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  Special guests get their coffee in this at our place.
  

Nice pattern. The shape would annoy me though. I don't like tall thin ones either (have you been to one of those cafes in PL called 'Coffee Tube'?).

I used to have some of these from Boleslawiec but gave them to my ex.

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In English I think of a tea-cup and coffee mug. But then, when I have a cup of tea/coffee, I normally drink it in a mug. I think mugs get more and more popular because they are a bit more substancial and easier to take care of, whereas a cup is a bit more fragile, but I still think of any vessel that holds hot beverages as a cup: "cup of coffee", "cup of hot chocolate", "cup of Grzaniec", etc. Language is funny :)

I can understand that ;-) Some of their stuff is a bit busy for my taste, although the polka dot tea things are v. nice. Coffee Tube hasn't reached the frozen wastes of Podlasie yet. Looks cosy.

At least one in Warsaw and I think elsewhere. You're lucky and will hopefully be spared their presence. They use ones a bit like this. Drinking from them is a penance. Not to be used when wearing a white shirt either:

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I wasn't really referring to the aesthetics or artistry of mugs as such -- presumably one could be made of pure platinum and cost as much as a Fiat Panda?! I usually drink a 3-ounce cup of mocca-pot (cooker-top) brewed coffee (e.g. Lavazzo black) 3-4 times a day. Those 6-8 ounce mugs cannot possibly contain sextuple or septuple shots of espresso (the drinker's heart would burst after just 2 such mugs!) so I presume it's that watered-down American-style swill that office workers are guzzling all day long. When it comes to coffee (IMHO) less and stronger is better than more and diluted!

Ja często piję kawę w szklance. Myślę, że większość polaków pije kawę w szklance, a nie w kubku.

(I often drink coffee in a glass. I think the most Polish people drink coffee in a glass, not in a cup.)

I seem to recall a Polish saying: Kobieta nie może być za słaba ani kawa za mocna! (A woman cannot be too weak nor can coffee be too strong!)

An American twist on this goes: Ah lahks ma coffee lahk ah lahks ma wimmin -- stroooong and blaaack!

Merged:

Kubek czy filiżanka? Do Brits now say "beaker of tea"?

I've noticed younger Poles these day saying "kubek kawy" rather than filiżanka. Do Brits now say "Let's get a beaker of coffee?"

Looks like another inroad by the slob chic like drinking beer straight from the bottle.

Why are they in a lab? Maybe part of it is that filiżanka implies a saucer underneath? Who drinks coffee like that on a regular basis? Maybe with guests and cake but in the morning? I imagine most people use kubek...

American English wouldn't normally distinguish betweenf filiżanka and kubek using cup for both, not sure about British usage.

Better ask lower-case jon boy.

I'll just also add that I've never had coffee in a mug (bad translation of 'kubek'). In American English mugs are bigger and thicker than cups (kubki)
and more designed for larger amounts of liquid than is the usual case for coffee or for soup.

no, obviously not. They say 'cup of coffee' like they always have.
Weird.

The same Maf. In the UK we would always say cup of coffee/tea, but that doesn't always mean you would get a cup, you might well get a mug instead.

Polish is much pickier about maintaining certain distinctions than English is (especially American English)

krzesło - fotel (both would usually just be 'chair' in the US)

czereśnia - wiśnia (both 'cherry' in most usage)

filiżanka - kubek (usually 'cup' in the US)

even kolczyk - klips ([pierced] earring - clip on, both usually 'earring' in the US)

Where I'm from (warm weather place) even jacket and coat are often used interchangeably

Polish learners of English have trouble with this (and anglophone learners of Polish find it hard to always make the differences).