Thursday, March 11, 2010

The roastery mystery

Yesterday I was wondering about the use of the word roastery in the name of a shop that isn't a roastery.

That was Queen Palace Flowers Roastery.

A mistranslation, I wondered?

El Shalab told us that the Arabic said mahmasa, meaning, yes, roastery.

So it wasn't a mistranslation.

Dave told us he'd checked it in Yellow Pages and they're listed as '"trader of coffee, confectionary, chocolate, flowers, plants and nuts".

There's another one too:



I looked in and they sell flowers, pots and vases, wickerwork baskets, chocolates...



I'm still trying to work out why they call themselves 'roastery'.

Maybe because they roast the nuts and the coffee...?

10 comments:

SDM said...

Yes, Roastery is a general word used for places that sell Roasted Coffee (either as whole beans or ground coffee).

A lot of these shops also sell other things like flowers, gifts, etc. and I guess over the years some of them have been focusing more on that part of the business.

Anonymous said...

This "Roastery" topic or blog is going too good....I am enjoying..:)
Thanks for sharing.
Dubai

Seabee said...

SDM, I think it's beginning to make sense now :-)

Emiratesque said...

Did you notice that 'barbershops' are called 'Saloons' here too?

Anonymous said...

I guess some business are exempt from some charges, Roasters may have special things with visa or business license renewal. Regarding Saloon, mostly of the Indians and the Pakistanis, this word caught on long time back, and we don't have the looping sign on the doors.

masood said...

Finally the mystery behind roastery seems to be solving. I've seen quite a few in Abu Dhabi and often wondered why roastery. Makes sense now.

Emmie said...

Nice blog, Ousamma. Found you thru Google's recommendations. Adding you to my Reader, so I hope you keep writing :)

Seabee said...

Going back a few years all hairdressing establishments were called 'saloons'. I've noticed though that the ladies places are now mostly called 'salon' while the men's are still 'saloon'.

Dubai Photo Story said...

I been confused about the use of that word too!!!!. The one near my place has a soda vending machine in one of the aisles!!

Susan said...

No chickens then?