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Archiver > APG > 2008-02 > 1204057085


From: Claire Keenan Agthe <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Dialects, Language, Regionalism
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:18:05 -0500
References: <669581.54715.qm@web84101.mail.mud.yahoo.com><C3250961-CEBB-4903-806B-21234D80F821@theinsightworks.net>
In-Reply-To: <C3250961-CEBB-4903-806B-21234D80F821@theinsightworks.net>


On Feb 26, 2008, at 2:54 PM, philip thorne wrote:

> ...where in the
> U.S. do people say soft-drinks?

As far as I know, that's a marketing / menu term. The sellers of
coke/soda/pop use it as a generic term (to avoid the whole soda/pop/
whatever debate, no doubt), but I don't think anyone uses it in
everyday speech. But maybe I'll be proven wrong...


> ...because liquor is something that everyone drinks in the
> Eastern Caribbean...
> anything other than liquor is called a soft-drink because it's the
> opposite of something hard like Jack Iron Rum. So if I am visiting a
> relative and they ask me what I want to drink and I want juice or
> soda I'd say, can I have something soft.

Well, I would say "soft drink" means soda/pop/whatever, but, I, too,
would sometimes use "soft" to mean not hard liquor. But I don't know
how common that is...


> ...And NO I don't think that NYC is the center of the universe.

Of course not, that's Boston, and it's the "hub." ;-)


Claire

Claire Keenan Agthe

Don't forget --
16 March 2008 - Irish genealogy conference, Genealogical Society of
Pennsylvania
3-6 Sept. 2008 - FGS conference, Philadelphia



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