Date:  Wed, 6 Dec 1995 07:43:21 -0600

From:  Alan R Slotkin <ARS7950[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]TNTECH.EDU>

Subject: Re: pop and soda



>     Some of my students use pop; some use soda; almost none uses soda

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

> carbonated beverage. Have any of you encountered that? 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.

>

> Virginia Clark

Coke is the standard term in Middle Tennessee for any non-alcoholic carbonated

beverage. It's all I ever hear, although I still use "soft drink" from my

youth in Florida.

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Alan R. Slotkin

Professor of English

Box 5053

Tennessee Technological University

Cookeville, TN 38505



Phone: 615-372-3262

FAX: 615-372-6142

e-mail: ars7950[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tntech.edu

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