Mrs. C. (sharply). It does contain cream, and not milk!
Mr. C. (pouring some of it from the pitcher into a glass). Now, see there. Do you call that cream? Cream! It’s more like skim milk.
Mrs. C. (wearily). Can’t you comprehend, John? Socially it is cream. You never ask for milk in your coffee but always for cream.
Mr. C. (impatiently). I don’t care one continental what it is socially. Practically it is milk. (Drinking from the glass into which he has poured from the pitcher.) Yes, that’s milk all right. (Pushing the pitcher towards Mrs. C.) Taste it yourself Martha. See if it isn’t milk.
Mrs. C. (nervously sipping her coffee). That isn’t the point at all. Of course when it’s in a drinking glass it may be milk, but when it’s in a cream-pitcher it is always cream.
Mr. C. (still more impatiently). But pouring it into a drinking glass doesn’t change its real nature. If it’s milk, it’s milk, and if it’s cream, it’s cream!
Mrs. C. (again sipping her coffee). Yes, it is just the same in the pitcher as it is in the glass, only we call it, politely, cream when it is in the pitcher and milk when in the glass.
Mr. C. (crossly). Well, what has politeness to do with it, anyway? If it’s milk in the glass it will be milk when it’s in the pitcher.
Mrs. C. (sipping her coffee with a half smile). Don’t you see, John, that it’s cream when it’s in the cream-pitcher?
Mr. C. (still more crossly). I suppose that if that pitcher contained only water it could be called cream!