Comments on: The Quick 10: How 10 Well-Known Beverages Got Their Names

By: gamerjohn

gamerjohn — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:01:27 +0000

I thought Mental Floss had an article about type faces a few months ago and in it Dr Pepper was Dr. Pepper until a change in the type face made the period look like part of the capital P of Pepper.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:43:12 +0000

From a recent article in Slate:
The original Fanta was a Nazi product. When Pearl Harbor ended the flow of Coca-Cola syrup to German bottlers, German Coca-Cola chief Max Keith—who sported a tiny Hitler-style mustache and celebrated the Führer’s 50th birthday at company conventions—formulated an alternative. He blended together an ever-changing combination of dregs, like leftovers from cheese production, the fibrous remains of apples that had been pressed for cider, and whatever surplus fruit he could acquire from Italy. He sweetened the soft drink with saccharin and named it Fanta, after the German word for fantasy or imagination. It sold well, especially once food became scarce and buyers began using Fanta as a soup base. When the international parent company reunited with its German branch after the war, it discontinued Fanta.

By: Clay

Clay — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:17:53 +0000

The Dr in Dr Pepper will never be at the end of a sentence. Pepper will always be at the end.

By: Walter

Walter — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:40:18 +0000

I thought Squirt was named Squirt because it makes you squirt.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:44:47 +0000

I worked in a lab near Dr. Cade when he invented Gatorade. One story that circulated at the time was the Dr. Cade, a trained urologist, would give lectures to medical students that began, “Gentlemen, today we are going to talk about wee wee.”

Melissa

By: Bicycle Bill

Bicycle Bill — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 09:41:33 +0000

When Tab was introduced, it was the Coca-Cola company's diet cola. Since they now have two other labels of diet cola (Diet Coke and Coke Zero, along with all their sub-varieties like caffeine free, with lime, etc) I find it rather odd that Tab, although just a shadow of its former self, is still being produced and sold as well. Also want to mention that back in the 1970s, after Coca-Cola realized that Mountain Dew wasn't going to be a flash-in-the-pan fad drink and they needed to market a citrusy-sweet product of their own, they came up their own version of Mountain Dew. The name of their product? White Light'ning. -"BB"-

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:39:49 +0000

Nutmeag, that’s true in Oklahoma and Missouri as well!

By: tiddo

tiddo — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:42:25 +0000

I do believe that Canada Dry actually refers to ginger ale being non-alcoholic, instead of, or in addition to, the ‘not sweet’ appellation. Especially since ginger ale is usually quite sweet, as opposed to ginger beer, which is quite strong and sometimes alcoholic.

By: Vila

Vila — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:38:23 +0000

In East Tennessee, Mtn. Dew was once known by a name lifted from the Lil’ Abner newspaper comic strips: “Kickapoo Joy Juice” and the label printed on the bottle featured various characters from the comic strip. This was only for a period of about 2 to 3 years, then the Mtn. Dew name was adopted. There is an old store in the little town where my parents grew up that has a shelf lined with Mtn. Dew bottles illustrating the evolution of its name and lables. If you ever have occasion to drive thrugh the oldest downtown section of Jacksboro, TN. check out the storefronts across the street from the courthouse.

Vila

By: nutmeag

nutmeag — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:38:36 +0000

We here in good ol’ Texas just call it all “coke,” despite the name designations for the various sodas.

My favorite story is when a friend was up in Wisconsin and tried to ask what kinds of coke a restaurant served. The waiter gave her a funny look and said, “Regular . . . diet. . .?”

I suppose all do speak our own language down here.