Date:  Wed, 6 Dec 1995 06:04:31 -0600

From:  Natalie Maynor <maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU>

Subject: Re: pop and soda



> but a lot of them tell me that they use "coke" for any non-alcoholic

> carbonated beverage. Have any of you encountered that?



I have encountered it in my own speech and the speech of most people around

me all of my life.



> Tonic, which

> students from around Boston did use when I first started teaching (centuries

> ago), seems now to mean the liquid to which one adds gin and a slice or

> wedge of lemon.



To me tonic=what you drink gin with; soda=either what you drink scotch with

or an ice-cream drink; pop=the sound a whip makes.

  --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)