Yesterday mid-afternoon I stepped into a cafe with a friend. Good day–an espresso and an Americano, if it pleases you, I requested. (If it’s in italics, it happened in French.) My intent was to get my friend a café americano, or an espresso with hot water added–it’s something like American brewed coffee. Careful, the waiter said–an américain [American] is a cocktail. If you want an “Americano,” you have to ask for a café americano. He explained to me that an américain is a sort of very dry martini with Campari. Lesson learnt!
- le café Americano: espresso with hot water added. I’m not sure what the difference is between this and a café (r)allongé.
- un américain: a type of cocktail. No French Wikipedia entry for this, so no picture.
Zipf's Law 
“Mid-afternoon” in Paris probably caused the comment – a caffeine fix or an early drink? 🙂
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