Basics, for those who can't puzzle out the fuzzy image: blue (northwest) is pop, red (south) is Coke, tan-brown (northeast) is soda. I have a couple of questions:
Where's tonic? I grew up in New Hampshire, and the summer people from New York always teased us for calling it tonic. Which they, but surely not we, insisted on pronouncing as "tahnic."
What is it with St. Louis?
Meanwhile, this is as good a time as any to recall the early 80s, when I had the great good fortune to sojourn at length in Rome. For some reason I still thought I needed to drink decaf. The only available variety was a fiendish Danish concoction called "Hag" (hey, here it is!--link). "Hai decaf?" you would ask. The waiter would reply. "Hag."
But no, he wouldn't. Think about it. An initial aspirate, and a final consonant. Two sounds utterly alien to Italian speech. "'Ag-guh," the waiter would struggle. "Si," I would respond, "Hag."
Over time, I have come to learn that I can do without decaf, and certainly do without powdered sludge. The Italians, meanwhile, seem to have learned that they can do without ag-guh. I haven't seen it there in years.
Hat tip: Boingboing, and Boingboing sources (link).
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