Why is coffee with shochu or awamori called コーヒー割{わ}り "split / divided coffee"?


About five nights ago I went out with a local friend to a traditional Okinawan
club in Naha.

We were of course drinking 泡盛{あわもり} (awamori) with water and ice.

But the girl working there had a drink with us and poured in a bit of a can of
coffee into her awamori.

Tonight I'm trying it myself in the guesthouse after asking the owner if it's
a normal thing here and not just a peculiarity of that girl in the club.

He tells me it is popular in Okinawa and called コーヒー割{わ}り (kōhī-wari). Indeed
I get Google hits and it seems the same is done with condensed milk in place
of the coffee and/or 焼酎{しょうちゅう} (shochu) in place of the awamori.

None of the hits were in English or if they were don't provide much
information. There's nothing in Wikipedia or WWWJDIC.

I don't understand why the name uses ～割り which seems to mean "split" or
"divide"? This makes it sound like the coffee is "cut" or watered down with
the spirits.

What am I missing? Could it be one of those Japanese abbreviations where half
a word is missing?




「[割]{わ}る」 here means "to dilute".

See meaning #II-4 in
[http://kotobank.jp/jeword/%E5%89%B2%E3%82%8B?dic=pje3&oid=SPJE04759100](http://kotobank.jp/jeword/%E5%89%B2%E3%82%8B?dic=pje3&oid=SPJE04759100)

「[泡盛]{あわもり}のコーヒー割り」 = "awamori diluted with coffee"

Other common terms containing 「割り」:

ウイスキーのソーダ割り/[水]{みず}割り

[焼酎]{しょうちゅう}のウーロン[茶]{ちゃ}割り

