Cafes, eateries, restaurants

Cops relax timings for cafes, eateries, said a headline in one of the Bangalore newspapers. At first, I did not bother about the headline. A little later I wondered what exactly is the difference betweeen a cafe and an eatery.

The Oxford Dictionary I have says that a cafe is a small restaurant selling light meals and drinks. In North American English, it also means a bar or nightclub.

Eatery, on the other hand, is an informal expression for "a restaurant or cafe."

So, why did the newspaper use this headline? The news report has another word " eating houses". A little research did not show any discerning difference between the two words. Which means this is bad sub-editing. The only explanation for the error is the need to fill the 'white space' for the two-line heading.

It is a fact that the quality of English in Indian newspapers are really pathetic. While it's not my case that newspapers should follow Strunk and White, it is really sad to see lack of basic English grammar and usage rules in most of the papers. This also mean that even newspapers have started to neglect English. This trend is really dangerous, especially for students. To know contemporary English, please find something else to read.