The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy

[Joel S. Berson]

I can't remember -- is 1995 before or after the remodelling of South
Station?  In any case, I can hop on the T and go look.

Joel

At 5/22/2007 03:49 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>I remember posting some years ago of my delight in noticing that the
>>large refreshment stand in the middle of South Station in Boston
>>listed its soft drinks under the generic category label
>>
>>TONICS
>>
>>I fear that that sign and very possibly the refreshment stand itself
>>are no longer extant.
>>
>>LH
>
>after some delving, I turned up that prior post--it's older than I thought:
>
>Date:         Wed, 6 Dec 1995 09:41:01 EST
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
>From:         Larry Horn <LHORN at YaleVM.CIS.Yale.Edu>
>Subject:      Re: pop and soda
>
>Rudy Troike worries,
>
>>         Virginia Clark's report on the demise of "tonic" is a devastating
>>blow (especially when coupled with the loss of "Chesterfield") to the
>>linguistic lore of all our American English courses. Can anybody else in
>>the Boston area confirm this? Say it ain't so!
>
>I can't help with chesterfields, but I can reassure Rudy and anyone
>else concerned that the reports of the demise of superordinate
>"tonic" are at least somewhat exaggerated.  South Station in Boston
>has a large menu board over its main snack bar at which it lists
>"coffee", "iced tea", "milk", and "tonics" (I seem to recall an
>itemized sublist under the last, featuring the usual colas and root
>beers and the like).

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org