One word for a tea-cup handle?

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#195843 - 01/10/11 04:49 AM One word for a tea-cup handle?
rafal stranger Registered: 01/10/11 Posts: 2	Dear All, Let me be lazy and just copy-paste my letter to awad: I was sitting in the pub with the two of my friends today and somehow we ended up discussing what is the English name for a tea/coffee cup/mug handle... Only one of us is a native English speaker (not me, I shall add) and he claimed it's simply a tea-cup handle... Having been subscribed to AWAD for the better part of the last decade I find it extremely difficult to believe there is no single word for that in English - and a more elegant one on top of that! We weren't, however, able to find one through a simple internet search. Any chance you could shed some light on the matter? Anyone? I'll be extremely grateful, because it's killing me not to know that Cheers, Rafal
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#195846 - 01/10/11 07:10 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: rafal]
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13654	It's called a handle. The important lesson here is that there need not be a single word for every little thing in English or in any other language. Is there a single word for it in your native language?
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#195863 - 01/10/11 10:59 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: rafal]
LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/08 Posts: 5289 Loc: Land of the Flat Water	WELCOME RAFAL ,handle and all. _________________________ ----please, draw me a sheep----
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#195869 - 01/10/11 11:34 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: LukeJavan8]
bexter addict Registered: 11/17/10 Posts: 677 Loc: Middle Earth	you could always use the latin, manubrium, although it has already been taken by the medical profession - medical dictionary _________________________ ----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
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#195871 - 01/10/11 11:56 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: bexter]
LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/08 Posts: 5289 Loc: Land of the Flat Water	_________________________ ----please, draw me a sheep----
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#195905 - 01/11/11 05:04 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: LukeJavan8]
elifit newbie Registered: 01/11/11 Posts: 33 Loc: Poland	In my native language (Polish) we call it "ucho" - ear, because it sort of has the shape of an ear I even once said that in front of the class coz I didn't know it's called handle and my teacher said with smile that she gets the connotation
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#195921 - 01/11/11 11:17 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: elifit]
LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/08 Posts: 5289 Loc: Land of the Flat Water	WELCOME, ELIFIT _________________________ ----please, draw me a sheep----
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#195970 - 01/11/11 08:36 PM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: elifit]
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 11579 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky	Welcome aBoard, eli! In my native language (Polish) we call it "ucho" - ear We have a rather old-fashioned saying: "little pitchers have big ears"; for the same reason, I'm sure.
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#195988 - 01/12/11 06:48 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: rafal]
rafal stranger Registered: 01/10/11 Posts: 2	Thank you all. I'm a native Polish speaker as well - and indeed we don't have one name for a tea-cup handle. We call it, as elifit pointed out, a tea-cup ear (or just an ear). I just thought, perhaps unfairly, that 'handle' is not the most elegant English word to use in this context. And also, since English has a loooong history of words borrowed from other languages, I almost expected there to be one even if not of English origin (there is one in Welsh!). So you're right, there's a lesson in it for me... Best, Rafal
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#196021 - 01/12/11 09:28 AM Re: One word for a tea-cup handle? [Re: rafal]
zmjezhd Carpal Tunnel Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 3269 Loc: R'lyeh	ear There is a proverb in English (and many other languages no doubt) that "little pitchers have big ears". Cup handle is what it's called. I recently dropped a cup and broke its handle. Calling it ear, you might be understood, but calling it handle there's no risk of being misunderstood. The {y} in Polish (and some other Slavic languages that use the Latin alphabet, is a high central unrounded vowel (link). It is written in Cyrllic (for Russian anyway) as {ы}. _________________________ Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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