# Do words no longer have meaning in commercialland?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 22, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965 "2005-05-22T17:29:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/1 "2005-05-22T17:29:43Z")
Last night I watched a commerical for a new hot sauce. The pitch was that it was delicious and NOT hot. “It’s delicious and I can taste it because it isn’t hot at all!” Well then, what you got there is just sauce, stupid. Stop calling it hot sauce.
Just now I see a Kool Aid commercial where Mr. Voice Over asks the kids what flavor Kool Aid they want: “Orange!” “Blue!” “Strawberry!” cry the delighted children old enough to know that blue isn’t a flavor.
And do NOT start me on “fuzzy slippers on my teeth.”
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/2 "2005-05-22T17:41:17Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Just now I see a Kool Aid commercial where Mr. Voice Over asks the kids what flavor Kool Aid they want: “Orange!” “Blue!” “Strawberry!” cry the delighted children old enough to know that blue isn’t a flavor.
Eh, I’m 18 and I still say blue or red as a flavor. It’s easier than saying “strawberry” or whatever it is. The person serving knows what I want.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/3 "2005-05-22T17:56:01Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Last night I watched a commerical for a new hot sauce. The pitch was that it was delicious and NOT hot. “It’s delicious and I can taste it because it isn’t hot at all!” Well then, what you got there is just sauce, stupid. Stop calling it hot sauce.
>
> Just now I see a Kool Aid commercial where Mr. Voice Over asks the kids what flavor Kool Aid they want: “Orange!” “Blue!” “Strawberry!” cry the delighted children old enough to know that blue isn’t a flavor.
>
> And do NOT start me on “fuzzy slippers on my teeth.”
See George Carlin’s bit on product claims such as “homemade” and “kitchen fresh”.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/4 "2005-05-22T18:23:25Z")
“It is green.”
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/5 "2005-05-22T18:40:28Z")
Red is a flavor cuz that’s my favorite kinda of sody pop.
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/6 "2005-05-22T20:03:15Z")
Part of the problem is that the definition of hot sauce is no longer dominated by Tobasco. It’s come to mean anything you add to alter the taste of a dish. I have heard A1, and Worcestershire sauce both asked for as ‘hot sauces.’ I don’t like it, but I don’t think we can blame the advertising bozoes for this one.
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Just now I see a Kool Aid commercial where Mr. Voice Over asks the kids what flavor Kool Aid they want: “Orange!” “Blue!” “Strawberry!” cry the delighted children old enough to know that blue isn’t a flavor.
Just what does the blue stuff taste like? The (few) times I’ve tried it, it’s not really tasted like anything, so blue seems more accurate than raspberry, or whatever else they call it.
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### Author:  [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/7 "2005-05-22T20:12:04Z")
> [@monstro](#):
>
> Red is a flavor cuz that’s my favorite kinda of sody pop.
So you like cherry, er, strawberry, uh, cranberry, I mean . . .? You must be easy to please. 😉
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/8 "2005-05-22T20:35:32Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#):
>
> I have heard A1, and Worcestershire sauce both asked for as ‘hot sauces.’
As a hot sauce afficionado, I find that utterly obcene.
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/9 "2005-05-22T20:42:09Z")
As an A1 fan, _I_ find that utterly obscene.
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### Author:  [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/10 "2005-05-22T20:54:57Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> As a hot sauce af **f** icionado, I find that utterly ob **c** ene.
As a language aficionado, I find _this_ utterly obscene. 😛
> [@OtakuLoki](#):
>
> It’s come to mean anything you add to alter the taste of a dish. I have heard A1, and Worcestershire sauce both asked for as ‘hot sauces.’
So ‘hot’ is utterly meaningless?
How does hot sauce differ from chilli sauce?
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### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/11 "2005-05-22T20:56:17Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Just now I see a Kool Aid commercial where Mr. Voice Over asks the kids what flavor Kool Aid they want: “Orange!” “Blue!” “Strawberry!” cry the delighted children old enough to know that blue isn’t a flavor.
“Blue” is too a flavor. It is a flavor not found in nature, but consistently found in many food products whose main ingredient is “high fructose corn syrup.” They’re also the color blue.
It’s like “purple” which purports to be grape - but tastes like neither grapes nor grape juice, but “purple.”
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/12 "2005-05-22T21:06:47Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#):
>
> “It is green.”
It’s people, damnit!
Stranger
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### Author:  [@ethanwinfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethanwinfield)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/13 "2005-05-22T21:12:12Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl]
Just now I see a Kool Aid commercial where Mr. Voice Over asks the kids what flavor Kool Aid they want: “Orange!” “Blue!” “Strawberry!” cry the delighted children old enough to know that blue isn’t a flavor.
[QUOTE]
I have found that if I ask the kiddos what color they want, they will tell me a flavor. If I ask what flavor, they reply with a color.
ME: What color do you want?
KIDDO: Watermelon.
ME: What flavor do you want?
KIDDO: Pink
I blame the cake industry for having white cakes (and frosting now) and yellow cakes. Damn them! Heaven help us when brown becomes a flavor.
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/14 "2005-05-22T21:19:21Z")
> [@ethanwinfield](#):
>
> I blame the cake industry for having white cakes (and frosting now) and yellow cakes. Damn them! Heaven help us when brown becomes a flavor.
As anyone who has ever read a thread of mine can tell you, with this, as with everthing else, I place the blame solidly on the…
**Carnies!**
That’s right, it is due to the actions of Carnival operators, and circus folk. As I recall, a group of clowns were soaking their red clothing in a barrel, and the water was used to make lemonade. Thus, pink lemonade was born, as was the idea of marketing something based soley on color.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/15 "2005-05-22T21:27:36Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Last night I watched a commerical for a new hot sauce. The pitch was that it was delicious and NOT hot. “It’s delicious and I can taste it because it isn’t hot at all!” Well then, what you got there is just sauce, stupid. Stop calling it hot sauce.
The denaturing of hot sauces in this country down to blandness is an ongoing process. Lots of people must like it (what is this new dingbat sauce they’re advertising, anyway?) but I would appreciate the hot mustard packets at Chinese take-out joints actually being the maxillary-sinus-clearing flamethrowing condiment I enjoy, and not French’s with a mild attitude.
It’s gotten ridiculous when you have to _specify_ decently hot food at places where it should be the rule, not the exception. I ordered a dish at my favorite Mexican place the other evening, and was asked if I wanted the spicy version (yes, naturally). Dang, everyone knows that unless food causes rivulets of sweat to run off your scalp, you’re not ridding your body of toxins and getting those hippocampal neurons to fire properly. 😃
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/16 "2005-05-22T22:20:28Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#):
>
> So ‘hot’ is utterly meaningless?
>
> How does hot sauce differ from chil **l** i sauce?
It has to be said:
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#):
>
> As a language aficionado, I find this utterly obscene. 😛
(Yes, I **know** I’m setting myself up for a clobbering via Gaudere’s Law, but it still had to be done.:p)
I don’t think ‘hot’ is utterly meaningless. Yet. It is getting there. I’d first heard the arguement that hot sauce A was better than hot sauce B because it added flavor, not heat, back in 1987.
As for hot sauce and chili sauces. I think of chili sauces as being exemplified by Heinz Chili Sauce, a ketchup-like mix that includes some mild chili peppers. (And therefore useless for anything but making Thousand Island Dressing.) Hot sauces are IMNSHO something like [Tabasco](http://www.tabasco.com/main.cfm), or [Dave’s Insanity Sauces](http://www.davesgourmet.com/), where a very little adds a lot of ‘heat’ or flavor to a dish. Because of this, I’m always confused by those packets of chili sauce you’ll see at some restaraunts. 😉
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/17 "2005-05-22T22:21:22Z")
> [@monstro](#):
>
> Red is a flavor cuz that’s my favorite kinda of sody pop.
And that’s why we like Faygo.
> [@Stranger On A Train](#):
>
> It’s people, damnit!
Right genre, wrong source.
No one wants to put any blame on Taco Bell and their “mild sauce” for making people think of hot sauce as less than hot?
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### Author:  [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/18 "2005-05-22T23:19:47Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#):
>
> Just what does the blue stuff taste like? The (few) times I’ve tried it, it’s not really tasted like anything, so blue seems more accurate than raspberry, or whatever else they call it.
Windex?
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### Author:  [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/19 "2005-05-22T23:21:33Z")
Taco Bell isn’t as bad as Taco Tico. I went there for the first time last semester, and got a little cup of mild, hot, and volcano, so that I’d know how hot each was.
The mild was sweet, and not hot at all. Like watered-down ketchup.
The hot may have had a bell pepper thrown in it or something. I could discern a little heat.
Volcano? Volcanoes are known for spewing liquid rock. This “volcano” sauce was much less than that. I had to use a little plastic dixie thing (fast food workers know what I’m talking about.) for each of my tacos.
Volcano, my ass.
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### Author:  [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-words-no-longer-have-meaning-in-commercialland/304965/20 "2005-05-22T23:25:30Z")
**Otaku** , chili is American. Chilli works too. Har!
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