Cuba Libre inappropriate?

[KnottedTwine]

Spanish speaker here, non-native, used to be fluent but have lacked practice over the years. Anyway. In Canary Islands on holiday recently, DH always sends me to the bar as he thinks ordering drinks in Spanish gets better service / bigger measures and he's often right. His drink of choice in the evening is a rum and coke - or Cuba libre as I was always taught it was called. Was told off by a barman who said that was not an appropriate term unless I was a communist?

I had had a couple of "copas de cava" myself, and wasn't up for a lengthy debate about caribbean politics. So just said in English "Ok, rum and coke then". I do know there is the "cubata" but I always thought that was dark rum and not white rum like Barcardi.

Muchas gracias, guapas.

I'm a non-native Spanish speaker myself and wonder if the barman was just being a bit of an arse because he knew you weren't Spanish or canarian? I'd have asked why he said that and what I should order instead, but I'm perhaps more confident in speaking Spanish. You're right a cubata is usually dark rum. Next time, order Bacardi and coke and wait for the barman to tell you that's usually called a Cuba Libre....

Interestingly, I remember my mum always ordering a Cuba Libre on holiday but definitely have become more aware of it being a ron y Coca Cola instead.

I didn't get the impression that he was being an arse. The hotel where we were staying was probably 50% British guests, rest a mix of other European nations including Spanish. I am clearly not Spanish when I speak, but have no problems being understood and I was one of the few non-Spanish guests who tried to speak Spanish beyond a gracias or dos cervezas por favor.

Ron y coca cola it is then. Or he can just start drinking something else.

(As an aside, my teenage son has always said how totally pointless foreign languages are as everyone speaks English. Until there was a couple at the next table in a cafe and I was translating for him.)

Ron y Coca Cola/Diet Cola has been the standard for a while now.

I've seen Cuba Libre on drinks menus in Spain recently but accept things change over time

Also - is diet coke or coca-cola light no longer a thing in Spain? It;s all Coke Zero. COntinental diet coke never tasted the same anyway.

Yeah to be fair it’s often on menus, but if it’s not and I was ordering it; I’d use Ron y Coca Cola. I think I was corrected in a similar way for using Cuba Libra when I lived over there nearly a decade ago so avoid using that name unless it’s clear that where I am uses that name so it doesn’t risk offence.

I have asked for Cuba libre in several Spanish cities, and Mexico, without any hesitation, I get what I ask for.

Oh it wasn't that he misunderstood, not at all. It was that the name was not the appropriate term.