What is the difference between "buy the bill" and "pay the bill" and where do they come from?

1, different pronunciation

Cantonese "pay the bill" and "buy the bill" in the "buried" and "buy

2, appeared at a different time

The word "pay the bill" has a long history, originating in Cantonese. Because of the restaurant industry in Guangdong, there used to be a traditional practice of eating first and then paying the bill.

The word "pay the bill" originated in the early years of Guangzhou port Guangzhou and Hong Kong between the commercial bills, local payment, pick up the goods in a different place, the current pay "buy" is actually a bill of lading.

3, the source of different

"Buy a single" word is Mandarin, in the 1990s began to appear and gradually popular. The term "pay the bill" comes from Cantonese, but the meaning of "buy the bill" and "pay the bill" are not the same. In the Cantonese dialect, paying the bill after eating is called "埋单", which is difficult for northerners to understand because it has a specific meaning in the Cantonese vocabulary: "埋单" is interpreted as It means "to pay the bill, to settle the bill".

References:

Baidu Wikipedia: Buying a bill

Baidu Encyclopedia: pay the bill