I fully agree!
And ‘chai’ is also the Hindi/Urdu word for ‘tea’. Can see how these came from the Chinese word for tea: Chá
The misuse of the word ‘chai’ elsewhere to mean either the spiced tea (the word for that is masala chai); or as you said, taking the spices, dumping them in anything else and calling that ‘chai’ is an ongoing annoyance.
I just don’t get why people mess up a simple word / concept. If it is plain tea, say ‘chai’. If it is spiced tea, say ‘masala chai’ or ‘spiced chai’ or ‘spiced tea’. Don’t freakin’ say ‘chai tea’!
If you are using the spices in something else, then ‘chai’ should not enter the chat, because that other dish is entirely something else, and you can just call it whatever it is. Don’t call it ‘chai spiced whatever’.
Why is this so hard?
