Heaven: 2021 Proof Americans and Brits speak a different language

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  • mousethief wrote: »
    So do milk and tea not count as soft drinks?
    In some UK establishments, tea and coffee are beverages, and soft drinks means fruity stuff.

  • mousethief wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    mousethief wrote: »
    "Soft drinks" is a collective term and rather formal. The restaurant serves cocktails, beer, wine, and soft drinks. Nobody would say, "I'm making a store run for soft drinks." Or at a big store, "Boy they sure have a lot of different kinds of soft drinks." In fact I'm not sure I've ever heard the term used where it wasn't referring to a restaurant or printed on its menu.
    They would here (NC). That’s what they’ve traditionally been called here (aside, as I said, from Cokes). That is changing some—with people moving here from Away, one hears soda more often. But “I’m making a run to the store for soft drinks” or “do we have enough soft drinks?” would certainly be heard here.

    So do milk and tea not count as soft drinks?
    Not here, no. Soft drinks here means carbonated beverages.

  • Diomedes wrote: »
    When I was a child a delivery lorry would come to the house next to ours and deliver bottles of fizzy drink - the manufacturers of which were 'Corona'! I've a feeling that Corona were a South Wales firm but I'm not sure.

    I remember getting 10p back when you returned the bottle...
  • Do Americans generally distinguish between ginger ale and ginger beer? I don't think so, but my research is very limited.
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    I had relatives from Massachusetts who called pop "tonic".
  • Do Americans generally distinguish between ginger ale and ginger beer? I don't think so, but my research is very limited.
    Ginger ale is very common, mostly as a bar mixer. Ginger beer is almost unheard of. I first came across it in Bermuda about 30 years ago (mixed with black rum it's a Dark and Stormy). Some specialty stores carry it; I think Trader Joe's does.
  • The only carbonated drink I remember from my childhood, other than mixers, is Tizer, which was absolutely forbidden. However the gravedigger (our frequent partner-in-crime) used to dispense small glasses of the sickly stuff in his hut during school holidays. Looking back, I suspect that Nanny/Mama knew all about it, probably provided extra cash for it, because it kept the rule-breaking manageable.
  • I have always understood Ginger Beer is fermented, Ginger ale is not. The ale is just carbonated water and ginger and I would guess sugar, like any other soft drink. They are in two difference sections at my grocery store in the US.
  • We call ginger ale the sweet, vaguely ginger flavoured pop.
    Ginger beer is the one which bites back, sometimes called Jamaican ginger beer. It can bite as much as jerk goat. Never had jerk sheep.
    Both are fizzy.

    The term "alco pop" has some usage for excessively sweet relatively high alcohol content fizzy drinks. They often are the bright blue colour of Windex.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Neither ginger beer or ginger ale here is normally alcoholic (there may be one or two around that are). The beer is pale and cloudy, the ale clear and deep tan. The ale is the one used as a mixer as well as a soft drink.
  • And then there's Vernor's.
  • NicoleMRNicoleMR Shipmate
    Oh yes, Vernors. *happy sigh* I love Vernors but you can't get it here in New York City that I know of.
  • Its availability in Washington State appears to wax and wane.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Diomedes wrote: »
    When I was a child a delivery lorry would come to the house next to ours and deliver bottles of fizzy drink - the manufacturers of which were 'Corona'! I've a feeling that Corona were a South Wales firm but I'm not sure.

    I remember getting 10p back when you returned the bottle...

    It was 3d (in old money). Three empties and a penny got you another bottle. Lemonade came either white or brown. There were lurid novelties like orangeade, limeade and raspberryade, but I fancy they were more expensive - 11d rather than 10d.

    They came from the Cantrell & Cochrane factory on the Castlereagh Rd (who claim btw to have invented ginger ale).
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Generally 3d here back in .the pre-decimal days (14th February 1966, and the jingle will spoil my sleep for the night). But some were 4d, from memory Schweppes. They also came in non-standard sized bottles.
  • Decimal Day in the UK was 14th February 1971.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Copycats! I have no idea of any linkage between the date and its being St Valentines Day - or any other reason for the selection.
  • Robert ArminRobert Armin Shipmate, Glory
    And then there's Canadian Ginger Beer, which is a gentler form of the beverage. Does it have any connection with Canada?
  • orfeoorfeo Suspended
    edited April 2020
    I was tremendously excited when I found Australian (Bundaberg) ginger beer in a specialty drinks store in California.

    Unfortunately my Californian friends weren't as excited as I was. They thought it was okay.

    But yes, "ginger beer" is not alcoholic unless you specifically say it's alcoholic ginger beer. Which is uncommon, but not unheard of. Plain ginger beer is a soft drink.

    I don't think it's very common for anyone to say they were going to get "soft drinks" unless they were in a restaurant or club or something and meant they were getting several glasses for different people. If you were buying bottles in the supermarket you would most likely say "soft drink", regardless of how many bottles you were buying.

    And yes, a soft drink absolutely must fizz. It doesn't simply mean lacking alcohol. Come to think of it, I'm wondering now whether alcoholic ginger beer would still be regarded as a soft drink...

    Ginger ale really only tends to be consumed here as a mixer I think. Even then I think it's become a lot more common in relatively recent times.
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    My mother used to drink ginger wine. Horrible stuff.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Crabbie's by any chance? I passed an advertisement for that - 'Kick Off With A Crabbie's' I assume that's what it said, but the first two letters were hidden by trailing foliage...
  • The nippy ginger beer variety we see here is called Pirate. Cutlass to your tongue, you scurvy rat!
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    That's right Firenze. She used to drink it diluted with hot water.
  • rhubarbrhubarb Shipmate
    I often enjoy a glass of Stones Green Ginger Wine and dry ginger ale. You only use a small amount of the wine which is topped up with lots of dry ginger. Tasty and refreshing.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    orfeo wrote: »
    Ginger ale really only tends to be consumed here as a mixer I think. Even then I think it's become a lot more common in relatively recent times.

    Brandy and dry (ginger ale) used be a fairly common "ladies" drink. I tried it once and it tasted pretty awful. I imagine it would be even worse with ginger beer. At a bit of a tangent, brandy, lime and (chilled) soda is pretty good on a hot summer afternoon.
  • LydaLyda Shipmate
    orfeo: "And yes, a soft drink absolutely must fizz. It doesn't simply mean lacking alcohol. Come to think of it, I'm wondering now whether alcoholic ginger beer would still be regarded as a soft drink..."

    I don't know but in the US apple cider is not alcoholic unless it's "hard". My guess is that soft drinks are an alternative to hard ie alcoholic drinks. But this is just speculation.

    From "Today I found out":
    "It turns out, soft drinks aren’t just flavored carbonated beverages. “Soft Drink” refers to nearly all beverages that do not contain significant amounts of alcohol (hard drinks)."

    Personally I've never heard coffee or tea referred to as soft drinks.

    The article also attributed the origin of the term to the advertising industry which needed a more universal term to encompass the regional names- soda, pop, fizzy drinks, coke, minerals, etc.

    Here is the article: https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/07/why-carbonated-beverages-are-called-soft-drinks/
  • Lyda wrote: »
    I don't know but in the US apple cider is not alcoholic unless it's "hard". My guess is that soft drinks are an alternative to hard ie alcoholic drinks. But this is just speculation.

    That is how I have always heard the term used, and used it.
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    Soft drinks used to be listed in cafes/restaurants as 'Minerals', short for Minneral waters', I suppose.
  • Robert ArminRobert Armin Shipmate, Glory
    Can anyone answer my query about Canadian Ginger Beer? Is it Canadian, or known in Canada at all?
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    @Robert Armin is that what's sold as 'Canada Dry' here? Is it called that in Canada, or just 'Dry' or something else?
  • Canada Dry is a brand name, at least in the US. Aside from ginger ale, they make a number of products, including tonic water, seltzer water, club soda, lemonade and one of my favorites—Wink (grapefruit based).

  • It's a brand name. Nothing more.

    There is no such thing as Canadian bacon though.
  • Heh,
  • Robert ArminRobert Armin Shipmate, Glory
    I'm most aware of it as made by Schweppes.
  • Canada Dry is owned by Dr Pepper.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    NOw, is he the son or the father of Sgt Pepper?
  • I don't think pepper is actively involved.
  • Robert ArminRobert Armin Shipmate, Glory
    It's a very large family. A Pepper Army, in fact.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    It's a very large family. A Pepper Army, in fact.

    That's the würst pun ever.
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    One of my kids is not like the others. She got her start in life up through the first five years on the east side of the Mississippi. She refers to carbonated drinks as "soda." The other three have lived nearly all their lives west of the Mississippi. They refer to those drinks as "pop."
  • Why do north Americans talk about "funeral services", plural, when the rest of us use the singular for the same singular event? I asked a minister and he had no idea either.
  • Why do north Americans talk about "funeral services", plural, when the rest of us use the singular for the same singular event? I asked a minister and he had no idea either.

    I've never heard "funeral services" used for a single service.
  • Gramps49 wrote: »
    One of my kids is not like the others. She got her start in life up through the first five years on the east side of the Mississippi. She refers to carbonated drinks as "soda." The other three have lived nearly all their lives west of the Mississippi. They refer to those drinks as "pop."

    This has, of course, been studied.
  • mousethief wrote: »
    Why do north Americans talk about "funeral services", plural, when the rest of us use the singular for the same singular event? I asked a minister and he had no idea either.

    I've never heard "funeral services" used for a single service.

    Around here (southern Ontario) you'll see it all the time in death notices and obituaries. Perhaps it's a regional usage, but I've seen it elsewhere, too.
  • mousethief wrote: »
    Why do north Americans talk about "funeral services", plural, when the rest of us use the singular for the same singular event? I asked a minister and he had no idea either.

    I've never heard "funeral services" used for a single service.
    Nor have I.

    mousethief wrote: »
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    One of my kids is not like the others. She got her start in life up through the first five years on the east side of the Mississippi. She refers to carbonated drinks as "soda." The other three have lived nearly all their lives west of the Mississippi. They refer to those drinks as "pop."

    This has, of course, been studied.
    Yes. Of course, things are changing. My kids picked up “soda” from TV (and maybe from friends at school whose parents were from Away) even though they certainly never heard “soda” at home.

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    edited April 2020
    I always like the French Pompes Funèbre. I know it just means 'funeral services' but it suggests winding cortèges and plumed horses.
  • orfeoorfeo Suspended
    Lyda wrote: »
    I don't know but in the US apple cider is not alcoholic unless it's "hard".

    Whereas here in Australia I'd expect all "cider" to be alcoholic. You'd have to specify non-alcoholic cider.

    No doubt various Australian travellers in the USA have been deeply disappointed when they've ordered a cider and got some kind of fruity soft drink.

  • mousethief wrote: »
    Why do north Americans talk about "funeral services", plural, when the rest of us use the singular for the same singular event? I asked a minister and he had no idea either.

    I've never heard "funeral services" used for a single service.

    Around here (southern Ontario) you'll see it all the time in death notices and obituaries. Perhaps it's a regional usage, but I've seen it elsewhere, too.

    I just checked the obit of a friend who died in Montreal, which states that, "Les funérailles auront lieu le 02 juin..." (The funerals will take place on the 2nd of June...) so a form of it is used in Québec too. I've only ever seen it in print; never in conversation. Perhaps it's a newspaper convention. Not really important - just a curiosity.
  • mousethief wrote: »
    Why do north Americans talk about "funeral services", plural, when the rest of us use the singular for the same singular event? I asked a minister and he had no idea either.

    I've never heard "funeral services" used for a single service.

    Around here (southern Ontario) you'll see it all the time in death notices and obituaries. Perhaps it's a regional usage, but I've seen it elsewhere, too.
    Usually it is just "funeral", and I've never heard the term "death notice". Obituary or obit for short. (Though some of my friends call them the older adult sports pages, which record only the losses.)
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    edited April 2020
    That's been a real change since I was a teenager - you bought Mountain Maid cider at the local shops and milk bars where you bought other soft drinks. Later on, alcoholic cider became available, and the Mountain Maid first put Non-Alcoholic on its labels in large characters, then changed to juice. I don't remember seeing it at all for the last 30 years. It may still be around, just than I've not been where it's sold. It was a clear drink, about the colour of dry ginger ale, and very unlike the apple juice you buy now.

    From memory, the Mountain Maid used boast its use of Tasmanian apples on the labels.
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