"soda" has regional meanings


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Posted by Ed Kiser on February 06, 2005 at 13:46:12 from 205.188.116.6 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Re: grog, rum posted by Jon on February 05, 2005 at 22:55:30:

In the USA, "soda" can mean different things.

In the north, a soda is a bottled carbonated flavored drink. It can be bought at a soda-fountain, dispensed by a soda-jerk. In this case, the syrup is separate from the carbonated water, and is mixed at the time the purchase is made.

In the SOUTH, "soda" means a mix of carbonated water squirted onto icecream in a tall glass, with possibly a bit of whipped cream on top, with a cherry on top of that, eaten with a long spoon and drunk through a straw - so the icecream has to be a bit mushy. What the northerners call a "soda" (like Coke or Pepsi) the Southerner would call a "soft drink" to distinguish it from something "hard" that is, containing alcohol.

This created some confusion, as I was raised in the South, but moved to Florida in '75 when I was 40. This far south is not the expected Southern culture but is primarily populated with transplants from the North. So the language is used as it was in New York, not as in Atlanta. "Let's go get a soda" meant "have a Coke" - but I thought it meant carbonated icecream combination. With the Southerner's typical reasoning, I just figured those Yankees just did not know any better.

It is just a regional difference in dialect and usage, like the Northern waitress will say, as she serves the meal, "Enjoy". Just the plain verb, which we in the South feel needs a Direct Object as a transitive verb. Enjoy... what? At least say, "enjoy it" or "enjoy the meal" or "enjoy the dinner" but to just say the plain "Enjoy" just left my Southern ears just hanging waiting for the rest to follow.

But we learn to adapt. Now if only my neighbors understood what a beck and a tarn are...

Language...learning... differences of cultures and customes... differences of another time... it is all a part of appreciating All Things Ransome.

Thanks to you folks for being great teachers of this fine art...

Ed Kiser, Transplanted Good ol' boy from North Carolina (the SOUTH) now putting up with being as if I'm am way up North, even though this is South Florida (there - that should ruffle some feathers...)


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