# milk jug for when you serve tea ( jugs / pitcher )



## susanna76

Hi,

What would you call a small milk jug that you use when serving tea? Milk jug to be suggests something large, something for the breakfast table.

Thank you!


----------



## Hildy1

a cream pitcher


----------



## susanna76

Oh! Beautiful  Thank you, Hildy1!


----------



## Sparky Malarky

A small pitcher that holds milk or cream and is used at the table is sometimes called a *creamer.*


----------



## Copyright

Milk jug is also widely used, and some are quite small.


----------



## susanna76

Thank you, Sparky Malarky and Copyright!


----------



## DonnyB

I would call it "a milk jug."  

A "pitcher" is defined by Oxford Dictionaries Online as: _A *large* jug.  _


----------



## susanna76

Yes, but "cream pitcher" is defined as a "small pitcher [for serving cream]"


----------



## JulianStuart

The dictionaries at WR suppoort the notion (prompted by my reading of the discussion above) that in the US, a jug is big, while in the UK it is not automatically big.  In BE we might well say "a small milk jug" for something that holds perhaps 100-200 ml (3-6 fl. oz.) while in the AE that might be too small to qualify as a jug.  If the context is known to be the preparation of a tea tray (with cups and saucers, sugar, biscuits etc) then the size won't be specified - it will already be known). I know someone in the US who collects such things, and they refer to them as "creamers". A much larger proportion of tea drinkers in the US do not put milk in their tea (than in the UK), and such jugs are more often used for the cream which is used for coffee. Hence the name in the US


----------



## JustKate

We call them "creamers" even if all we ever put in them is milk. (This would be a bit confusing for English learners because "creamer" is also used for the non-cream, non-milk liquids that some people use in their coffee.) "Cream pitcher" would come in a close second for me.

And this is so even though I'm a tea drinker who lives in a household in which the only people who drink coffee are guests.


----------



## JulianStuart

Thanks Kate - the WR dictionaries support the opposite use for pitcher (compared to jug) : in BE a pitcher is big, while in AE it can be any size. I think this counts as two things I've learnt today

(And who knows what's in some of that stuff they make for coffee)


----------



## PaulQ

A British milk jug (nearest camera on right)







Also known as "a creamer".


----------



## pob14

For comparison, this is what came to my (US) mind when I read "milk jug" above:


----------



## PaulQ




----------



## Hermione Golightly

A milk jug to me is a small jug for putting milk in for tea. I have never known any British person who puts cream in tea. It's called a cream jug when you put cream in it for coffee or pouring over puddings although you might want a larger jug for cream and custard.
I have never heard of a large jug of milk and never known anybody over the age of 10 who drank glasses of milk so there's no need for large jugs for milk. If somebody wanted a glass of milk they'd pour it straight from the container it was bought in and we'd just put milk for breakfast cereals on the table in the container too, if we ate that sort of breakfast.
I buy milk in plastic 4 litre ?, jugs I suppose they are because they have a handle on them, but in practice I'd just call it a 4l bottle. I'd be puzzled if somebody asked me to buy a 'jug' of milk for them.


----------



## JamesM

And here is an American cream pitcher, nearest camera on left:





Tiffany & Company (American, founded 1853). Cream Pitcher, ca. 1868. Silver, 5 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 4 in. (14.6 x 13.7 x 10.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum


----------



## JulianStuart

The pitcher / jug usage differences for different size items between AE and BE seem to be holding up


----------



## JamesM

To me a jug has a small mouth as an opening, just enough to pour out the contents.  A pitcher has a large mouth.   A jug may have only a handle large enough to hook one finger through.  A pitcher's handle will usually allow several or all fingers through.  A bottle has no handle at all.

That's why I get the same mental image of a milk jug as pob14 did.

Small jugs of maple syrup are sold in the U.S., so it's not just a size issue.   They look like this:





Here is a picture of a jug of syrup next to a pitcher of syrup:


----------



## ewie

_Milk jug_.  _Creamer_ is what they like to call them in shops.

This is what I call a _pitcher_:




They're _big_ and generally have beer lager beer lager in them


----------



## pob14

That is also a pitcher over here, ewie.  Although the identity of its contents may vary with the taste buds of the drinker.  

Again, size is not really the issue; do you in the UK not have the saying, "little pitchers have big ears?"


----------



## Wordsmyth

PaulQ said:


> A British milk jug (nearest camera on right)
> ...
> 
> Also known as "a creamer".


 Really, Paul? A creamer, in the UK? I've never heard it used there. I've just asked some friends from the UK who are staying with us ... Blank looks!



JustKate said:


> We call them "creamers" even if all we ever put in them is milk. (This would be a bit confusing for English learners because "creamer" is also used for the non-cream, non-milk liquids that some people use in their coffee.)


It could also be confusing for many Brits who might, if they've heard the word at all, associate it only with Coffee-mate, et al.



Hermione Golightly said:


> I have never heard of a large jug of milk and never known anybody over the age of 10 who drank glasses of milk


 I do, every day (and I'm quite a bit over ten ). Maybe they should bring back the old "Drinka pinta milka day" ads!

I have friends who have three kids. There's always a large jug of milk on their breakfast table. You also find them in hotels that do buffet breakfasts. In either case, I'd know that as a jug.

Ws


----------



## Truffula

So, in American English, as JamesM illustrates, a jug has a small opening while a pitcher has a large one; both are handle-bearing containers.  Therefore the creamers are called milk pitchers or cream pitchers here.

In British English, pitcher is reserved for large handle-bearing containers with beer* in them and jug is used for all the other handle-bearing containers, though Hermione says the milk container in pob's illustration, technically a jug, but she would call it a bottle instead in casual conversation (because jug would be confused with the creamer type jug, perhaps).
---
edit:  cross posted with Wordsmyth, who reiterates the "jug" terminology is correct at least for some British English speakers who use it for the handle bearing plastic large milk containers you buy milk in at the grocer. (my misinterpretation, not true)

*Correction:  not large handle-bearing containers with beer in them - large handle-bearing containers with alcoholic beverage in them.  As stated below.  And even lower, this usage is an import from US English and older usage even called these "jug" ... 

I think the size suggestion is more of a connotation than a usage restriction, though, but the dictionary UK vs US size reference is definitely convincing.


----------



## JamesM

I'm not sure it's that general, Truffula.  I think you can have a pitcher of margaritas or mojitos in the UK as well.


----------



## PaulQ

JamesM said:


> I think you can have a pitcher of margaritas or mojitos in the UK as well.


----------



## Wordsmyth

Truffula said:


> [edit: cross posted with Wordsmyth, who reiterates the "jug" terminology is correct at least for some British English speakers who use it for the handle bearing plastic large milk containers you buy milk in at the grocer.]


 Not really, Truff ... When I mentioned the jug on our friends' breakfast table, or the ones in hotels, I didn't mean the plastic container you buy milk in. I meant tableware: a normal large-sized milk jug, usually made of glass (or china), with a handle and an open top — a jug, by any other name! Something like this.

Ws
_[Edit: Added image link]_​


----------



## JulianStuart

Obviously, as this is English, these uages are guidances and will,have exceptions
James - those tiny maple syrup containers are an exception, if they are still called jugs when they are so small (perhaps specified as small or miniature jugs?) and the little ones the UK posters have shown (milk jug in UK or creamer in UK and US) are surely too small to qualify as (normal) jugs in the US.

WR dictionaries only put in (vague) size constraints when they reflect the general usage, right?
*Jug (size constraint in US only)*
Random House (US)
*a large container for liquids, usually having a handle and a narrow neck.
*the contents of or the amount in such a container.

Collins (UK)
a vessel for holding or pouring liquids, usually having a handle and a spout or lip
{note the absence of a size constraint}
US equivalent: pitcher
austral  nz  such a vessel used as a kettle
US a large vessel with a narrow mouth

Also called: jugful the amount of liquid held by a jug

*Pitcher (size constraint in UK only)*
Random House
a container for liquids, usually with a handle and spout or lip.
{note the absence of a size constraint: US examples above show some small ones}

Collins
a large jug, usually rounded with a narrow neck and often of earthenware, used mainly for holding water
(Or, in the case of the word imported from the US, without the narrow neck and glass or plastic, for  beer or ale or IPA etc)


----------



## Andygc

The pitcher of lager which Ewie illustrated is, I think, an American linguistic import. In my student rugby-playing days that was a jug. Mind you, it was not made of glass - it was earthenware or enamelled metal. It was also full of beer - rugby-playing real men did not drink lager - that was for wet, left-wing intellectuals, usually with added lime. I'm not claiming that pitcher is an import, merely its association with beer.


----------



## JamesM

A jug is usually large.  I agree.  You lug a jug and then chug from the jug.     The small maple syrup jugs are miniature jugs.

The primary difference, in my experience, is the shape.  What makes the small maple syrup containers jugs is the narrow mouth, the neck and probably the small handle high on the neck.  A pitcher doesn't have a neck in American English, in my experience.  It might narrow a bit at the top and have a spout but it doesn't have a bottle neck.  Also, a pitcher usually has no way to be sealed or re-sealed, although some plastic pitchers for Kool-Aid or lemonade or iced tea are resealable.


----------



## ewie

Andygc said:


> The pitcher of lager which Ewie illustrated is, I think, an American linguistic import.


 Apart from 'large jug for swilling lager out of', I have no use whatever for the word _pitcher_.  I'm sure if I'd been around in your rugby-playing days, Andy, I would also have called it a _jug
_________________________

I once worked in a shop which sold 'fine tableware' ~ the suppliers/manufacturers regularly referred to _milk jugs_ as _creamers_, another word that was new ~ and alien ~ to me.


----------



## Wordsmyth

Andygc said:


> The pitcher of lager which Ewie illustrated is, I think, an American linguistic import. In my student rugby-playing days that was a jug.


In my student beer-drinking days that was a jug, too. And in my present beer-(though in lesser volumes)-drinking days, it's still a jug. If 'pitcher' has found its way across the Pond, it hasn't yet made it across the Channel. All the anglophone pubs around me, whose landlords are either English or Irish, call those 4-pint vessels (or 2 litres for the stingier ones) "jugs" — not a pitcher in sight (even though they're _pichets_ in French).

Ws


----------



## RM1(SS)

JamesM said:


> The primary difference, in my experience, is the shape.  What makes the small maple syrup containers jugs is the narrow mouth, the neck and probably the small handle high on the neck.  A pitcher doesn't have a neck in American English, in my experience.  It might narrow a bit at the top and have a spout but it doesn't have a bottle neck.  Also, a pitcher usually has no way to be sealed or re-sealed, although some plastic pitchers for Kool-Aid or lemonade or iced tea are resealable.


Agreed.  When I think "jug," the default image is either pob's container of milk (post 13) or James's containers of syrup (upper picture, post 18).  And for me, the default size is one US gallon.

What image do y'all have for the "jar" the whiskey is in?


----------



## Wordsmyth

RM1(SS) said:


> What image do y'all have for the "jar" the whiskey is in?



Take your pick ... here.

Ws


----------



## natkretep

ewie said:


> Apart from 'large jug for swilling lager out of', I have no use whatever for the word _pitcher_.


I'm with ewie here. _Pitcher_ is not actually in my active vocabulary except for set phrases like a _pitcher plant_. I think of it has an old-fashioned or an American word (_eg _in the King James Bible: 'Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water', Luke 22:10).


pob14 said:


> For comparison, this is what came to my (US) mind when I read "milk jug" above:
> View attachment 16348


This is a large plastic bottle or large plastic container for me.


----------



## ewie

At the risk of causing further chaos, I'd call the earthenware (?) doodahs in the top picture in post #18 ... _flagons_

And the large plastic bottle of milk is _a large plastic bottle of milk_


----------



## Wordsmyth

ewie said:


> And the large plastic bottle of milk is _a large plastic bottle of milk_


 

As for _flagon_, neither it nor _pitcher_ appears in the official drinkers' guide to beverage containers (fifth chorus of _The Barley Mow_):
"Oh, the barrel, the half barrel, gallon, the half gallon, pint pot, half a pint, gill pot, half a gill, quarter gill, nipperkin and a brown bowl – Here's good luck, good luck, good luck to the barley mow."

Still, I suppose we could add a few more verses, with "the creamer, milk jug, pitcher, flagon, large plastic bottle, ..."

Ws
_[Edit: Typo]_​


----------



## JulianStuart

WS, you know I amphora good laugh but I fear ewer getting off the topic


----------



## Wordsmyth

You're right, of course, JS, and I shall desist — but at least it inspired your excellent championship-winning hard-to-beat puns, which I'd have been sorry to miss. 

Ws


----------



## Andygc

JulianStuart said:


> WS, you know I amphora good laugh but I fear ewer getting off the topic


Not to mention leaving out the kilderkin, firkin, pin, quart pot and pippikin. Wadworths used to sell a 4 pint flagon for take-homes. I've still got mine. 

Topic? It's still a milk jug.


----------



## RM1(SS)

Wordsmyth said:


> Take your pick ... here.



Hmmm.  As previously noted, those are what I would call jugs.



ewie said:


> At the risk of causing further chaos, I'd call the earthenware (?) doodahs in the top picture in post #18 ... _flagons_




Never having bothered to look the word up before, I'd always assumed a flagon was some sort of large goblet.  The picture shown in the Wiki article looks like a pitcher (of the American variety).


----------



## MuttQuad

Andygc said:


> The pitcher of lager which Ewie illustrated is, I think, an American linguistic import. In my student rugby-playing days that was a jug. Mind you, it was not made of glass - it was earthenware or enamelled metal. It was also full of beer - rugby-playing real men did not drink lager - that was for wet, left-wing intellectuals, usually with added lime. I'm not claiming that pitcher is an import, merely its association with beer.



In the US, a great many establishments sell beer by the pitcher, as opposed to by the glass or by the bottle.

As to the items depicted in various posts as "creamers," that is common AmE usage, too; but in my house ours is known as the milk pitcher, even though it only holds a few ounces (but has a shape typical of pitchers).


----------



## JulianStuart

While we started with "What would you call a _small_ milk jug that you use _when serving tea_?" we have started to cover a _slightly_ wider range. 

Speaking of flagons, has the word "growler" caught on in (or polluted, depending on your perspective)  the UK yet  "US slang any container, such as a can, for draught beer" - all our local breweries are happy to sell them - usually glass with a ceramic/rubber washer seal.


----------



## ewie

JulianStuart said:


> Speaking of flagons, has the word "growler" caught on in (or polluted, depending on your perspective)  the UK yet  "US slang any container, such as a can, for draught beer" - all our local breweries are happy to sell them - usually glass with a ceramic/rubber washer seal.


Never heard of it, JS.


----------



## JulianStuart

So ewer sticking with ewers are ew ewie?
The topic is probably beginning to feel like a Cheshire cat as we are flagon a dead horse...


----------



## ewie

I must admit I am rather flagon with the effort.


----------



## cando

pob14 said:


> Do you in the UK not have the saying, "little pitchers have big ears?"



I've never heard it and I'm not sure what it means. As others have said, "pitcher" sounds entirely American to me (a hold over from 17th century English that has largely fallen out of use in BrE).


----------



## JamesM

"Little pitchers have big ears" means "Children hear more than you think they do."  It is sometimes said as a cryptic caution to adults when they are discussing something the children shouldn't hear.  I've always pictured something like this in my mind when I hear it or say it:





I'm curious... what do British English speakers picture in their minds when they hear:

"A jug a wine, a loaf of bread, and thou".

What does "a jug of wine" conjure up for you?


----------



## cando

JamesM said:


> "Little pitchers have big ears" means "Children hear more than you think they do."  It is sometimes said as a cryptic caution to adults when they are discussing something the children shouldn't hear.  I've always pictured something like this in my mind when I hear it or say it:
> View attachment 16380


 
OK thanks. That makes sense, but it's not a UK expression.


----------



## pob14

"Growler" is used by a local brewpub.  It doesn't sound particularly appealing to me.

"Flagon" makes me start looking around for elves, wizards, and Robin Hood.  Or possibly Danny Kaye: "The flagon with the dragon holds the brew that is true."  A flagon, to me, is a mug with a lid.


----------



## natkretep

JamesM said:


> "A jug a wine, a loaf of bread, and thou".
> 
> What does "a jug of wine" conjure up for you?


This particular picture by Catherine Ketton?


----------



## JamesM

Thanks, natkretep.


----------



## Kirusha

And what are these? Jugs or decanters (one is slimmer than the other)? Is a glass jug for wine always a decanter?

http://www.gamer.ru/system/attached_images/images/000/683/328/original/1330622505_0010.png

http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1MbCl...ine-Whiskey-Decanter-font-b-Carafe-b-font.jpg


----------



## JamesM

I would call the first one a decanter and the second one a pitcher, based on their shapes.   Wine is not normally served in pitchers in the U.S.

I notice the second one is labeled "carafe".  To me, a carafe has no handle and looks something like this:


----------



## Wordsmyth

Kirusha said:


> Jugs or decanters (one is slimmer than the other)? Is a glass jug for wine always a decanter?


Strictly speaking, I suppose a decanter is any container into which you decant wine (or spirits) from the original bottle. 

However, for me a decanter has a stopper, and therefore a fairly narrow neck (see here). This is because the contents may be stored in the decanter for a while — up to two or three days for wine, or much longer for spirits. Also, a decanter doesn't usually have a handle.

I would call any other container used to serve wine at table a carafe (see here). More often than not, wine served in a carafe hasn't come out of a bottle, but out of a larger container. Again, carafes don't usually have handles, but I wouldn't exclude the possibility.

Ws


----------



## Kirusha

Thank you, JamesM and Wordsmyth. Wordsmyth, what would you call the vessels in my pictures? Are they both carafes to you, even though they have handles?


----------



## Wordsmyth

Kirusha said:


> Wordsmyth, what would you call the vessels in my pictures? Are they both carafes to you, even though they have handles?



I might call the first one a carafe, though it'd be a very fancy one. On the other hand, its shape is more like that of a decanter (as James said), and it looks as though the narrow neck could take a stopper. So I might call it one or the other, depending on context: in a restaurant, I'd probably call it a carafe; in someone's home, maybe a decanter.

The second one doesn't look like any carafe I've had wine served in. If I were presented with it in a restaurant, I might think they'd run out of carafes and had used a water jug instead. Of course, that's just a question of 'fashion', not of functional definition. Nonetheless, I'd call it a jug.

Ws


----------



## ewie

Kirusha said:


> http://www.gamer.ru/system/attached_images/images/000/683/328/original/1330622505_0010.png
> 
> http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1MbCl...ine-Whiskey-Decanter-font-b-Carafe-b-font.jpg


I'd call them both _carafes_, based entirely on what they contain: "carafes contain wine".  If they contained anything else, I'd call them _jugs_.

For me (too) a decanter has a narrow neck and a stopper, like this:


----------



## natkretep

I'm not unhappy about calling the first image a decanter although my stereotypical image of a decanter is without a handle, as mentioned by Wordsmyth and as shown by ewie. But what about if the bottle contained olive oil or some posh vinegar like below? I might call it a decanter too, even though they are often sold like this and so no decanting is involved.


----------



## ewie

I'd call that a _vinegar bottle_, Nat ...

... which is distinct from a _vinegar shaker_, which looks like this





_What were we talking about again ... ?_


----------



## Wordsmyth

ewie said:


> I'd call them both _carafes_, based entirely on what they contain: "carafes contain wine". If they contained anything else, I'd call them _jugs_.


 Maybe I'm influenced by where I live, ewie, but restaurants and cafés here often serve water in carafes. Would you call this a jug? (no handle, no 'spout' lip) ...






But I do agree that content can influence the name (even for me): Carafe of wine: yes. Carafe of water: yes. Wine in a decanter: yes. Whisk(e)y in a decanter: yes.
Carafe/decanter of vinegar or olive oil? Not in my book: as you say, they come in bottles.

Ws


----------



## ewie

I'd call that a _vase_, Smythy (As I've mentioned before, I'm not actually allowed _out_ to eat: my table manners are far too shocking.  So all my opinions should really be taken with a cellar of salt.)


----------



## Wordsmyth

Noted. Next time I'm round at yours, I'll remember to ask for a vase of water.

Ws


----------



## RM1(SS)

Bottles of olive oil: http://www.seriouseats.com/images/20090930-oliveoil1.jpg

A cruet of olive oil: http://realfoodforlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/olive-oil.jpg


(How do you insert images directly into a post?)


----------



## Wordsmyth

RM1(SS) said:


> (How do you insert images directly into a post?)


(Copy image. Paste directly into the post.)

Ws


----------

