“May I have a cup of coffee?” は間違い？

『その英語、ネイティブにはこう聞こえます』(David A.Thayne、小池信孝 著、主婦の友社 刊)によると、飛行機の中でキャビンアテンダントに「コーヒーを下さい」というとき、May I have a cup of coffee?　というと、特にa cup of coffeeはマグカップに入ったコーヒーを思い浮かべてしまうため、特にエコノミークラスなどでは不自然になってしまうそうです。

(※ 出演者が話した言葉をそのままテキストにして掲載しています。)

Yeah, I mean nothing wrong with that. But again the things you learned and then you will practice is different. Things change it depends on the situation depends on whom you are talking to. So you can not always exactly talk as you learned. Then you make this kind of mistakes, which are not like huge mistakes. People will understand you. But you will not sound as native speaker or as colloquial. As colloquial is like friendly talking. Colloquial means like a friendly way, casual way.It too much sounds like if you are coming from schooler talking.

Q: So what do you say in a flight to ask coffee?

Can I have coffee please, or I’ll take coffee. Also it is too polite, you know, “May I have a cup of coffee?”

Q: So, also you have to be careful not to be too polite.

Yeah, sometimes too polite also it bit a like you make the distance or it sounds too funny. You can say, you know, “Coffee please.”