Date:  Fri, 20 May 1994 16:15:17 -0400

From:  Martha Howard <UN106005[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WVNVAXA.WVNET.EDU>

Subject: Soda fountain memories



I have read with interest all the various and sundry comments on terms for

coke, pop, etc. and remembering my youth, probably farther behind me than

yours is for you, I wondered if any of you every had a tin roof, a Boston

cooler, a gingerale float, a black cow, a chocolate coke (in my college days

in Ann Arbor, we used to congregate at a place in the Arcade or at Drake's

for our daily "coke" fixes. And, coke dates where what you agreed to go on

when you weren't sure you really wanted to spend much time with the person

who had just asked you out. They were also cheaper,, cokes were a nickel.

When I was in the Navy, in training at communications school at Mt. Holyoke

College, I learned of two more soda fountain delights. Mt. Holyoke Angels

were made of angel food cake, vanilla ice cream, and butterscotch syrup.

Vassar Devil consisted of chocolate cake, chocolate syrup, and chocolate

syrup.  It was then that I learned also that the NE term for what I had

always called coke, gingerale, or pop was "tonic" One day, four of us--

all mid-westerners, went on weekend leave to Boston and really living it

up, we went into a Walgreens and ordered chocolate milkshakes. The soda

jerk took some milk, put some chocolate syrup in it, put it in the container,

and on the mixer, mixing it thoroughly before pouring it into glasses which

he then placed before us. Astounded, one of us said, "What happened to the

 ice cream?" In a disgusted voice, he replied, "If youse had wanted a

frappe, why didn't you say so?" In Boston, obvious, a milk shake was just

that--shook milk. I hadn't thought of these lovely things for a long time, until

you all started your scholarly inquiries into these matters. I have long since

graduatedto scotch ( or when feeling flush, Glenlivet or Glenmorangie). I

suppose I should be glad it isn't metamucil. Martha Howard, West Virginia

University, Professsor Emerita (loveliest term in academia!)