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Comment by reidjs | Hacker News Reader

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reidjs·

Beer mats == coasters

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Thanks. In my American head they were the black mats at bars that bartenders prepare drinks on.

Of course they'd make bad frisbees, didn't think it'd be a question.

Then I read your comment.

Might be a British thing, we call them beer mats. It's the mats they leave on tables in a pub for you to put your (imperial) pint on.

In American English, a "mat" implies a rectangle (like a door mat or a place mat at a table). As mentioned, we call the circular things "coasters".

We also have door mats and place mats (table mats) in British English, just to confuse things

To make the confusion complete: Seeing as the authors are German speakers, they might refer to beer mats as "Bierdeckel", which literally means "beer lid".

Yes, that doesn't make a lot of sense since they go under the steins. But back in the day, you would drink outside and would primarily want to keep dirt and flies out of your stein, rather than the table clean.

So to this day, they're called lids, even though they're coasters (regional variations apply).

I think the idea of beer lid also kind of funny due to the convention of putting your coaster on top of your drink to signify not wanting a new beer or the idea that the seat is occupied

I've seen square coasters too. But I guess not rectangular.

Although I've never thought about the rectangularity as being core to the meaning of "mat", esp since there are oval-shaped or semicircle-shaped doormats and such

Thank you!

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