Jason English
The Number of the Day: Zero
by Jason English - August 9, 2010 - 3:00 AM

There is no period after “Dr” in Dr Pepper.

Explanation: From Snopes: “The period went missing in 1950 when the company changed the font. When presented in this new style, the lower case ‘r’ consisted of a small slanted line with a dot at its upper right. Well and good, but when a period was trailed after that new-fangled ‘r,’ the period and the r’s dot seemed to form a colon and alter the ‘r’ into an ‘i.’ With the period there, ‘Dr. Pepper’ looked like ‘Di: Pepper.’ The solution was to drop the period. The font has changed again since then, but the period remains AWOL.”

[Source: A 12-pack I saw at Stop & Shop. See previous Numbers of the Day here.]

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Comments (6)

  1. Cool… but I never understood the “23″ bit. Yeah, 23 flavors, all of them artificial, thanks for reminding me that I’m drinking mostly chemicals.

    posted by Mark on 8-9-2010 at 10:38 am

  2. Mark, the 23 flavors originally put into Dr Pepper were natural flavors, one of which was prune juice. I want a Dr Pepper now, but alas, everything these days is artificial. I need a Dublin!

    posted by Tinkerschnitzel on 8-9-2010 at 1:37 pm

  3. Sorry, Tinkerschnitzel, the makers of Dr. Pepper claim there has never been prune juice in Dr. Pepper. I don’t know what’s in it, but I love it!

    ;-D

    posted by Hyacinth on 8-9-2010 at 2:34 pm

  4. Dropping the period isn’t a big deal with trade marks. It is much easier to trade mark something incorrect, so it is done all the time.

    Look at “Kool-Aid” and Toys “R” Us (R is of course backwards in logo.

    posted by Morris on 8-9-2010 at 4:46 pm

  5. Is there anywhere to buy Dr Pepper with real sugar instead of corn syrup? We heard they sold se for their anniversary, but we have looked everywhere in Chicago.

    posted by Vanessa on 9-14-2010 at 12:45 am

  6. Vanessa, I saw some of the real-sugar Dr Pepper several months ago at a Rite Aid here in metro Detroit, but none since. It may all be sold (or expired) by now.

    posted by Sandy Wood on 9-14-2010 at 8:29 am

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