Professor who refused to follow rules for ordering says Starbucks is ‘fascist’

A professor of English has sparked an international row over "linguistic fascism" at Starbucks.

Lynne Rosenthal has gathered followers all over the world after she was allegedly thrown out of the coffee shop for refusing to follow Starbucks etiquette.

The academic, in her sixties, ordered a plain bagel at a Manhattan branch but refused to add "without butter and cheese" when asked, saying she had made clear what she wanted.

When she became infuriated by staff insistence she follow the rules, three police officers allegedly threatened to arrest her and threw her out.

Today London commuters backed her call for plain speaking, while Britain's Plain English Campaign spokeswoman, Marie Clair, said: "Customers should order in the language they want and staff shouldn't force them to use certain terms.

"This case is as bad as the way coffee chains insist on grande' and tall' to describe drink sizes, instead of small, regular and large. It drives customers mad. We get hundreds of complaints a year, particularly from London commuters.

"It's not only Starbucks that's guilty. This corporate language is about image and marketing and sales; it doesn't help customers understand what product they're buying."

Coverage of the row on US news blog the Huffington Post generated 1,000 comments. The Economist weighed in with analysis, accusing Professor Rosenthal of a lack of decorum.

At Starbucks in Gloucester Road today, customer Will Tenney, 18, said the corporate language was an "inconvenience". But Joanna Symes, 40, from Wandsworth, said: "I've never been corrected on an order."

Prof Rosenthal said staff insistence on her listing items she didn't want was "linguistically stupid".

She added: "I'm a stickler for correct English." Starbucks staff who saw the clash said she took an aggressive tone, called the barista serving her an "asshole" and "refused to answer a reasonable question".

A Starbucks spokesman insisted the company was "completely relaxed" about how people order their coffee and how they refer to sizes but did not comment on the bagel row. He said: "There are no rules and customers have always been able to ask for drinks any way they want."