"soda" in Minneapolis

[A. Maberry]

I grew up with "stringbeans" in Oregon, but heard "green beans" frequently
as well. I myself consistently refer to them as "stringbeans."

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu


On Fri, 9 Aug 2002, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

> At 11:49 PM 8/8/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> >Here's something I find strange:  when I slip up and say
> >"stringbeans" rather than "green beans," I'm understood.
> "Stringbeans" was the common term when I was growing up in Minnesota (40s
> and 50s).  "Green beans" is the Midland term, but it's obviously spreading
> with commercial canning, etc.  Nonetheless, the older regional term will
> continue to be familiar for a while yet.  "Soda" is spreading commercially
> too, and perhaps "sophisticated" Minneapolitans have picked up on it; but
> it's not the general term in Minnesota.  Interestingly, I switched from
> "pop" to "soda" when I lived in St. Louis in the 60s and then back to "pop"
> in southern Indiana (Blgtn) and southern Ohio.  The combination "soda pop"
> is more narrowly South Midland; it appears in novels of Appalachia
> (Giardina, Smith, et al.).  My father's cousins in southern Illinois (in
> the urban Edwardsville/Collinsville area but of coal mining stock) said
> "sody pop"--following a pattern common in AppEng.
>