Soft Drinks: pop, soda, coke, et al

[gailr]

... the only thing that isn't Coke and is certainly regional is Good Ol SWEET TEA!!! Which should be added to the yankee test because the further north you get the less sugar is put in tea. ..

On trips through the South, various members of my family have attempted ordering "unsweetened tea". The waitress usually looks appalled and attempts to "reason" the deranged Northerner into liking tea that must be chewed (noisily!) before it can be swallowed (leaving a good inch of insoluble sugar sediment trapped below the ice at the bottom of the glass). She then monitors us closely, until we leave...

So refreshing to get home and drink iced tea straight up and bitter--the way it was intended!

-gailr

[Perry]

I have no trouble getting unsweetened iced tea in the South. However, it is true that down here "tea" is always sweetened, and one has to specify "unsweeteneed tea" in order to get this more refreshing beverage.

[kelli701]

I've got one for you! I grew up in Northwestern Louisiana, and was "taught" that Yankees drank Pepsi. I don't think they even had Pepsi in the grocery stores in my hometown. We called everything Coke - "What kind of Coke do you want?" Given that, I am proud that I only scored 61% Rebel on the quiz. I now live in Charleston, SC and it seems that everyone here calls them "soda".

[sluggo]

Grew up in Southeast PA but have lived all over- in Eastern PA we were drinking soda while our interstate rivals in Pittsburg were drinking pop, which I've also heard from there, across Ohio and definitely into Michigan and Illinois.

In New Orleans, like so many other things, none of the above apply. It's a "cold drink".

I don't know what circles y'all travel in but virtually anywhere I go in the South I always get a choice of Sweet or "Unsweet" tea.

(My score: a perfect 50%, befitting of a half-breed. I should just rename myself Mason Dixon)

[tcward]

... the only thing that isn't Coke and is certainly regional is Good Ol SWEET TEA!!! Which should be added to the yankee test because the further north you get the less sugar is put in tea. ..

On trips through the South, various members of my family have attempted ordering "unsweetened tea". The waitress usually looks appalled and attempts to "reason" the deranged Northerner into liking tea that must be chewed (noisily!) before it can be swallowed (leaving a good inch of insoluble sugar sediment trapped below the ice at the bottom of the glass). She then monitors us closely, until we leave...

So refreshing to get home and drink iced tea straight up and bitter--the way it was intended!

-gailr

Sorry, Gail, I have to know... where in the world was this? No self-respecting Southern establishment would serve sweet tea with undissolved sugar! The only proper way to prepare sweet tea is to add the sugar while the water is still piping hot -- one of my prime complaints about restaurants that insist that you can sweeten unsweetened ice tea, because it is impossible to add enough sugar to the ice cold drink to make it taste sweet at that point, as it just plain won't dissolve...

Speaking of sweet tea, my wife and I were appalled to find that Richmond, Va., somehow had crossed into Yankee territory over the decades -- the former Capital of the Confederacy no longer served sweet tea in many locations, and you had to ask for it sweetened beforehand in those places that did have it. That is just wrong.

-Tim

[Bailey]

... the only thing that isn't Coke and is certainly regional is Good Ol SWEET TEA!!! Which should be added to the yankee test because the further north you get the less sugar is put in tea. ..

On trips through the South, various members of my family have attempted ordering "unsweetened tea". The waitress usually looks appalled and attempts to "reason" the deranged Northerner into liking tea that must be chewed (noisily!) before it can be swallowed (leaving a good inch of insoluble sugar sediment trapped below the ice at the bottom of the glass).


-gailr

Sorry, Gail, I have to know... where in the world was this? No self-respecting Southern establishment would serve sweet tea with undissolved sugar! The only proper way to prepare sweet tea is to add the sugar while the water is still piping hot --
-Tim

I believe that is called hyperbole, a sort of poetic license exaggerated to prove a (non)point. I'm way North and I love sweet tea. It is sweet because I carefully swirl the hot water with added tea bags>>green and black<< and 1/2 a cup of sugar to fully dissolve, why drink bitter when sweet is so good? I think the South can be forgiven a heap of idiosyncracy for the invention of sweet iced tea.( no offense, I'm just trying to be funny here)

mark

[gailr]

... the only thing that isn't Coke and is certainly regional is Good Ol SWEET TEA!!! Which should be added to the yankee test because the further north you get the less sugar is put in tea. ..

On trips through the South, various members of my family have attempted ordering "unsweetened tea". The waitress usually looks appalled and attempts to "reason" the deranged Northerner into liking tea that must be chewed (noisily!) before it can be swallowed (leaving a good inch of insoluble sugar sediment trapped below the ice at the bottom of the glass).


-gailr

Sorry, Gail, I have to know... where in the world was this? No self-respecting Southern establishment would serve sweet tea with undissolved sugar! The only proper way to prepare sweet tea is to add the sugar while the water is still piping hot --
-Tim

I believe that is called hyperbole, a sort of poetic license exaggerated to prove a (non)point. ...

mark[/quote]

hmmm, just curious to see how many nested quotes we can get going here....

Mark is correct in that some "hyperbole" has crept in. (And how dull our board might be without some energetic branching off.) The--admittedly few--places I've visited so far in Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas jump immediately to mind as serving tea cushioned on a sedimentary white layer, like the finest deep sea sand. I have considered doing a core sample. My point: the waitperson insists that "It is unsweetened, sugah."

If one orders "sweet tea" to get the results Tim is describing, how in reintarnation does "plain, unsweetened ice tea" wind up like this?

Here in Denver, my sister-in-law serves iced tea brewed strong enough to dissolve any spoon dangled over the rim with sweeteners. It's as scary as the other extreme at first, but it grows on you...

-gailr

[AdoAnnie]

Being diabetic I always ask for unsweetened tea. My husband, on the other hand, is still a Southern sugarholic and wants his sweet. Two glasses on the restaurant table, both empty except for the melting ice cubes, in need of refilling and more than once I've had my glass refilled by a very polite wait staff from the pitcher of sweet tea. Then I have to ask for a fresh glass 'cause you just can't unsweeten sweet tea.

It was a big deal in our house when I was a kid to be allowed to drink sweet tea. Children drank Kool-Aid, grown ups drank tea. You knew you'd made to big person status when you were offered a glass of tea.

[Wheeling1792]

I grew up in central Ohio and we always called it pop. My mom was from the youngstown area and she also called it pop. I moved to northern West Virginia when I was 11 and they call it pop there. My dad lives in the Pittsburgh area and they call it pop. Now I live in Middle Tennesssee and people here call it soda or coke. However I remain stubborn and still call it pop. I only scored a 38% on the Rebel-Yankee test and until a year ago I had only lived 30 miles north of the Mason Dixon line.

[AdoAnnie]

reintarnation

My hubby, reading over my shoulder, wants to know if "reintarnation" is coming back as a redneck.

[Stargzer]

... the only thing that isn't Coke and is certainly regional is Good Ol SWEET TEA!!! Which should be added to the yankee test because the further north you get the less sugar is put in tea. ..

On trips through the South, various members of my family have attempted ordering "unsweetened tea". The waitress usually looks appalled and attempts to "reason" the deranged Northerner into liking tea that must be chewed (noisily!) before it can be swallowed (leaving a good inch of insoluble sugar sediment trapped below the ice at the bottom of the glass).


-gailr

Sorry, Gail, I have to know... where in the world was this? No self-respecting Southern establishment would serve sweet tea with undissolved sugar! The only proper way to prepare sweet tea is to add the sugar while the water is still piping hot --
-Tim

I believe that is called hyperbole, a sort of poetic license exaggerated to prove a (non)point.


hmmm, just curious to see how many nested quotes we can get going here....

Mark is correct in that some "hyperbole" has crept in. (And how dull our board might be without some energetic branching off.) The--admittedly few--places I've visited so far in Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas jump immediately to mind as serving tea cushioned on a sedimentary white layer, like the finest deep sea sand. I have considered doing a core sample. My point: the waitperson insists that "It is unsweetened, sugah."

If one orders "sweet tea" to get the results Tim is describing, how in reintarnation does "plain, unsweetened ice tea" wind up like this?

Here in Denver, my sister-in-law serves iced tea brewed strong enough to dissolve any spoon dangled over the rim with sweeteners. It's as scary as the other extreme at first, but it grows on you...

-gailr[/quote]

Well, at least one more level.

Interesting use of the URL tags to get your link to the high-strung tree trunk, Gail.

"You have to understand how a starship works."

[Herr_Olen]

I was born in Dallas, but raised from Houston to New Orleans to East Texas. and when I was in high school i used to call it soda; but now-a-days i call it anything from soda to coke to drink(this last one being the most common).

[Tanteniff]

I grew up on Long Island, NY. We call it soda. When I went away to college, I had a boyfriend from Upstate New York, (Rochester). We went out to a sandwich shop and I was completely baffled when he asked for a "sub and a pop". I had no idea what he meant. (For me it was a hero and a soda.) It caused our first fight.

[Perry]

reintarnation

My hubby, reading over my shoulder, wants to know if "reintarnation" is coming back as a redneck.

I think it is more specific; i.e. coming back as someone from North Cacalacky, The ____heel State. [Tim, did I spell this correctly?]

[sluggo]

reintarnation

My hubby, reading over my shoulder, wants to know if "reintarnation" is coming back as a redneck.

I think it is more specific; i.e. coming back as someone from North Cacalacky, The ____heel State. [Tim, did I spell this correctly?]

Aha! The second time I've heard tell of North Kakalaki. Never seen it spelt though...