Free Tea

Language Log 2016-11-16

Advertisement for a beverage that is available in Japanese convenience stores:

The label identifies the drink as "FREE Tea" ( furī tī フリーティー) and as being produced and distributed by the Japanese beverage giant Pokka Sapporo. This does not mean that you should feel free to help yourself to a bottle without paying! Rather, "free" here is being used in the sense of "sutoresufurī ストレスフリー" ("stress-free"), as is made a bit clearer by the band of lettering at the top of the ad:

sutoresu shakai kaihō ōen Inryō ストレス社会解放応援飲料 ("beverage that supports liberation from 'stress society'").

The label also notes that "FREE Tea" contains GABA extract, which is supposed to give the tea a soothing quality.

"FREE Tea" made big waves on Twitter recently when a non-Japanese Asian took the English name literally (in the wrong sense) and drank a bottle of it in a store without paying. See:

"Foreigner accused of shoplifting tea in Japan, label to blame" (RocketNews24, 11/1/16)
"When a drink gets lost in translation" (BBC News, 11/8/16)

[h.t. Nathan Hopson]