It's 3 p.m. on a weekday, at the counter of a neighborhood café. The barista holds out a cup and says, "Your Americano has come out (honorific)." The foreign student standing next to me whispered to me. "Is the coffee a high-status person?" ## You're not raising the coffee In Korean, '-시-' is attached to the actions of someone you need to show respect to. Like "선생님이 오세요" (The teacher is coming). That's why many people think "나왔습니다" is the correct form for coffee. Most servers know that too. Even so, they keep using it. ## Why do they keep using it? It's hard to say there's just one reason. Still, many people think the strong wish to treat customers more politely made the honorifics spill over onto objects. Many staff members also worry that short, plain speech in front of customers might come across as unfriendly. Some say that because they were taught at work to "use honorific speech with customers," they got confused about how far to take it. So this phrase is closer to a greeting directed at the customer than a statement about the coffee. ## Tips You Can Use Right Away When you hear it, don't worry about it; just say "Thank you" and take it. If you have to say it yourself, "Your coffee is ready" is the safest choice. Koreans themselves often talk about whether this phrase is correct. So there's no need to blame the people who use it. If there's an expression you're curious about, you can also ask on the National Institute of Korean Language website.