[TYPO3] TypoScript copy operator for "variables"/"properties"?

[Niels Fröhling]

Hy;

Is there a "standard" recommendation to create the effect of 
property-copying in typoscript like this?:

socialthing {
  british = tea
  ostfriesisch < british
}

I know this doesn't work because (I assume) "british" isn't actually an 
object like:

socialthing {
  british = TEXT
  british.value = tea
  ostfriesisch < british
}

The problem is, that I basically create very huge "lists" of typoscript 
"variables", of those several should
just contain copies of others (because they are the same, but may become 
"specialized" later).
As the "lists" contains a lot of distinct entries as well as very big 
contents, the typoscript becomes
absolutely unmaintainable if I would copy by myself:

socialthing {
  british = tea ...
  ostfriesisch = tea ...
  indian = tea ...
  australian = tea ...
  ...
}

Maybe it would be nice to actually define real lists (like CSS):

# "object"
socialthing {
  # "list", multiline content
  british, ostfriesisch, indian, australian (
    tea
  )
  # "list", multiline content
  austrian, elsalvadorian (
    coffee
  )
}

Well, anyway I just want to know how to approach this "problem", or how 
it's generally solved by you.

 Thanks
    Niels