I grew up in Haverhill, Essex county, Massachusetts. I went to college
in Boston and, eventually, law school in New York City. I didn't
realize the unique language with which I was raised until I brought my
fiancée, who was raised in New Jersey, home to my folks. The visit was
fraught with tension and nervousness on both our parts and my mother,
in an effort to be cordial, asked whether Joan would like a "tonic".
Joan, on her part, immediately worried that she appeared weak or
sickly, for why else would she be offered a medicinal brew.
The
confusion was cleared up by my explaining that, in this region of
eastern Massachusetts, the generic term for a carbonated soft drink was
"tonic". This term is utilized, it seems, in only a handful of
Massachusetts counties in the north-east part of the state and in a few
areas of New Hampshire and southern Maine.
As I have grown and
moved around, I am fascinated by the variations of terms for common
foods in America. In this article, I will discuss generic names for
soft drinks and milk, syrup and ice cream combinations. Future essays
will address the terms used for what I had always called a "submarine"
sandwich and the variety of stuff that is put on hot dogs and
hamburgers throughout this country. (I believe it should be a major
felony to allow ketchup on a hot dog to be consumed by anyone over the
age of 10.)
But first, let us address names for soft drinks.
Drinks
are considered "soft" to distinguish them from "hard" drinks that
contain alcohol. For the purposes here, I limit the term "soft drinks"
to carbonated beverages, although it is true that non-carbonated fruit
drinks such as lemonade or iced coffee or tea would also fit the
definition. As I was growing up, and even now, I consider soft drinks
as being brown (cola or root beer), or clear (citrus flavored
combinations such as 7-Up) or slightly colored (as ginger ale).
As
I have written, in the small area of Massachusetts where I grew up, the
term for any soft drink was "tonic". No one would have referred to
"soda" because that was a wholly different drink, a carbonated plain
water, known to the rest of the country as "club soda" or, in New York
and Miami, "seltzer".
As one travels north or south from my
home town, the generic name for a soft drink shifts to "soda" and
moving west from the New York-New Jersey area, the term is "pop". In
the middle, as a transition, the phrase "soda-pop" is common. According
to a comprehensive survey, cited under Resources, the far southwest is,
also, "soda" country and "pop" is mostly common in the mid-west.
Interestingly,
in the south, except where it has been corrupted by vacationing and
expatriate New Yorkers, the term "coke" is used often to describe all
cola-type beverages, a fact that must drive the Coca-Cola company nuts!
Back to New England for a moment. There was a popular cola-type
tonic in our area which was a true medicinal-type tonic. It's name was
Moxie and it deserves some special recognition. First, I think the
stuff tastes vile, although I have not been introduced to its revival
as a drink to be mixed with bourbon and other forms of liquor. Moxie
claims to be the first mass produced soft drink, created by a Dr.
Thompson of Maine. It was first marketed as a true tonic, a patent
medicine, guaranteed to cure "loss of manhood" and other assorted
diseases. The drink, which tasted absolutely horrible, was the origin
of the word "moxie" as, "He showed a lot of moxie."
The drink
lost all popularity outside of the northern New England States (it was,
in 2005, declared the "official soft drink of Maine"). There is a web
site that lists places throughout the United States where one can
purchase Moxie, including a small store in Lutz, Florida, where I live
now. Several years ago, I saw a display in that store and tried a can.
It still tasted lousy.
Meanings of soda and other ice cream treats.
I
have discussed my mother's offering Joan a "tonic" and the latter not
understanding that this term for a soft drink was, in New Jersey, not
comprehensible; in Jersey and in many other areas, the term was "soda".
But soda had a number of other meanings to the New Englander.
Soda,
by itself, was what the rest of the country knows as "club soda",
carbonated water. An "ice cream soda" on the other hand, was prepared
in a tall glass, first with an ounce or two of milk, then a squirt of
syrup (chocolate, strawberry, coffee, whatever). The glass was then
filled almost to the top with soda water, under pressure. The final
touch was the scoop of ice cream floating on the top.
It should
be noted that this same drink, without the ice cream, is known in New
York City as an "egg cream". Since the drink has neither egg nor cream,
it is an illustration of crazy New Yorkers.
Leave off the soda
water and mix syrup and milk, one gets what we called in New England a
"milk shake". Travel south to New York and in many other places, a milk
shake is the same drink with ice cream beaten or blended by a machine.
In New England, this type of milkshake, with ice cream, is a "frappe"
[pronounced frap] and, to further confuse matters, in Rhode Island for reasons no one understands, the same mixture is a "cabinet". Go figure.
Regions hold their special terms to be very important.
The
United States is a large country, large enough to have many areas of
diversity. Stuff we eat is just an example of the ways we are
different.
Célébrez les différences
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