Pausing is crucial

That’s his fault and he should pay the bill!! Why would he say “4 tea(no letter s), 2 coffee(S)”, instead of the much more sensical “4 teas, two coffees.” ???

To take it seriously...nobody would assume you meant forty-two coffees because there's no good way to transport that. You'd get one of those huge coffee carafes and a stack of cups if you needed 42 coffees, and you wouldn't order that as "42 coffees".

i can’t see those being easy to mix up. at least in my accent, it’s **four tee, too cof**feez vs **four**dy **too cof**feez

"four tea**s**". "Four tea, 2 coffees" is nonsense, it's missing the plural. Let me offer a small modification that works as a sentence both ways: "A tea, 2 coffees": 82 coffees.

Reminds me of the Two Ronnies "Fork Handles" vs "Four Candles" sketch from TV

Tea is an uncountable noun but cups of tea are countable. If you wanted 4 cups of tea, you should say, " four teas." The 's', not the pause is more important.

The 's' that should follow the word tea is also very important to prevent a misunderstanding. At least I'm pretty sure the plural of "tea" is also "teas" outside of Florida.

Also the stress will be different. In the word "forty" the stress is on the first syllable, in "four tea" it's on the second. I don't think a native speaker would misinterpret that usually.

That's on on him since he didn't make tea plural

This scenario played out for me when I was a just-hired courier. I was directed (I thought) to pick up a package at 2, 22nd street. After 45 minutes I informed my dispatcher that there was no 2, 22nd street. "No!" He cried, "You're going to 220, on second street!" The worst part -- 220 second street was one of our biggest customers. I never made that mistake again. lol

Although realistically, we might just say “and” in between. Also, this is one reason why a server or drive-thru clerk will often read your order back to you.

Besides the fact that "4 teas" would be less confusable - those of us that have worked in restaurants and had to deal with misunderstandings would prefer a bit more effort in phrasing. "4 teas and 2 coffees" leaves less chance of problems, gives more of a clue in the event someone doesn't quite hear right.

“Four tea, two coffees” is correct here. Tea is a collective noun for the total quantity. Basically, “Four tea, two coffees” is a total of four teas and two coffees rather than individual cups of tea. Tea is a general item in this case while coffee must be pluralized because it is two cups. Both forms are correct but it’s actually more fitting to use the singular for tea when referring total amount, like: “I drank tea” but you don’t say “I drank teas” no matter how many cups you drank.

This is such a boomer joke 😂

My uncle had a similar issue. He's not a native English speaker. We went to a restaurant and they asked him if he wanted a "soup or salad" and he said "yeah, I'll take that" and the server says again annoyed "soup or salad" and my uncle responds "yeah, that's what I want. A Super Salad" 🤦

No one's going to bring up that the guy who took the order would absolutely have clarified you wanted 42 coffees because that's a huge order, and would have taken the money immediately after ordering, at which point Rogers would have realised his mistake.

Comedy gold.

Name two cars that start with p.

Or you could just say "and" between the two drinks!

Max english

He should have said, 4 tea**s and** 2 coffees.

Now ask Siri directions to 3 23rd street

Cap is a psycho, who the hell orders 4 teas and 2 coffees without specifying sweeteners etc.? Either they're all for him, or there's gonna be five dissatisfied Avengers when he gets back from the coffee run.

https://youtu.be/oQ8RSz5S5NU?si=VHU_FAFvgf3PaY5N

I said "I'll hydrate!", not "heil hydra!"

Or just use a conjunction. >.<

42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП 42 БРАТУХА КЕМЕРОВО 42 ХРАНИ ГОСПОДЬ СП

Even if you weren’t being specific, and I find it hard to believe you wouldn’t be (4 teas and 2 coffees means next to nothing), you would say, “four teas, and two coffees.” But at least where I live you’d need to be more specific at a coffee shop, or restaurant. One black, once iced, and two green teas please. And could I get one black coffee, and one with space for creamer.”