Starbucks.

Before any more companies attempt to get all fancy and cute with names for sizes, lets make something clear.

There are a number of predetermined sizes for food and drink that have already been tried, tested and agreed upon and make instant sense.

For those of you who are still unsure, they are:

Small

Medium

Large

and after supersize me...

Extra Large

If that wasn't enough, some decided to swap Small for Regular.  The reason: probably to encourage consumers to order the next size up.  Not only does this increase the consumers calorie intake in high fructose corn syrup and saturated fats, but businesses are also able to gorge off the added sales.  On a positive note, a medium or large is definitely easier to pronounce than "can I have a regular please?" The crazy thing is, companies such as Starbucks actually employ psychologists to work on these kind of logistics.  

So what is the reason behind Starbucks attempt to use such ludicrous names?

Let's take a quick look:
Small= Tall
Medium= Grande
Large= Venti

So here's my analogy: since Starbucks was originally from Seattle and owned by a bunch of hippies, who obviously appreciate "unusual" and "weird" ideologies, Tall appears to be an appeal to that sensibility.  Next is Grande. Spanish for Large. Again, attempting to be all cute by appropriating foreign words. But they can’t all be the same language....  In walks Venti, Twenty in Italian. Oh I get it! It’s 20 ounces!

My first attempt at ordering from Starbucks ended in complete confusion.
Me: "Can I have a small Soy Chai please?"
Starbucks: "Ok, so a tall Soy Chai for the lady please!"
Me: "No, can I have a small please?"
Starbucks: "Tall?"
Me: "No, small....."

I have learnt my lesson though.