# Peanuts and RC Cola: Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320 "2007-01-31T20:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/21 "2007-02-01T20:02:17Z")
Moxie is great! There are a couple of places around here that carry it, and I go through about a 6-pack a month. The wife hates it, which is fine, because that leaves more for me. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/22 "2007-02-01T20:24:54Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Anybody else call a Coke a “dope”? [/QUOTE] My dad used to say “Get me a co-cola dope!” But you got the sense he was being humorously anachronistic, parroting something an old-timer might have said when my dad was a kid. When I was in college in the 80s, there was an old soda fountain on campus that still went by its anachronistic nickname, “The Dope Shop.” [QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe] Maybe I’m too young (24), but for me coke was always Coca-Cola. [/QUOTE] Yeah, it’s a generational thing. It was a previous generation of Southerners that called all soft drinks “Cokes.” Television and other mass media killed that regionalism, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/23 "2007-02-01T20:34:54Z")
[QUOTE=toadbriar] But could either of you finish a can of Moxie? > **[Moxie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie)** > > Moxie is a brand of carbonated beverage that is among the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It was created around 1876 by Augustin Thompson as a patent medicine called "Moxie Nerve Food" and was produced in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is flavored with gentian root extract, an extremely bitter substance commonly used in herbal medicine. Moxie was designated the official soft drink of Maine on May 10, 2005. It continues to be regionally popular today, particularly in New Englan... [/QUOTE] I’ve read countless back issues of Mad Magazine, so when I spotted Moxie at a BevMo, I picked it up. It tasted like cough syrup. Which I suppose I should’ve picked up in since the guy on the label looks like a scolding doctor. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/24 "2007-02-01T20:49:49Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Yeah, it’s a generational thing. [/QUOTE] Show of hands: When saying “Coca-Cola” how many of you enunciate all four syllables? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/25 "2007-02-01T21:00:56Z")
Bring a load a’ RC Cola, TV dinner, Plate of Twinkies, it takes a pink burrito For to keep me clean. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/26 "2007-02-01T21:06:45Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Show of hands: When saying “Coca-Cola” how many of you enunciate all four syllables? [/QUOTE] “Co-cola” is the proper pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/27 "2007-02-01T21:20:11Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] The word “coke” in the South is synonymous with any soda; root beer is a coke, Orange Crush is a coke, grape Nehi is a coke. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing. On these boards. Never actually heard it used that way IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/28 "2007-02-01T21:40:03Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Show of hands: When saying “Coca-Cola” how many of you enunciate all four syllables? [/QUOTE] Hey, when did they slip that “ca” in there? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/29 "2007-02-01T21:40:24Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing. On these boards. Never actually heard it used that way IRL. [/QUOTE] Perhaps more evidence that it’s a generational thing among Southerners. How old are you, **Earl**? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/30 "2007-02-01T23:06:34Z")
Mmmm… peanuts and RC cola. Road trip food! BDG pronounced it ‘ar - oh - see’ to my ear (3 syllables as opposed to the 4 mentioned above). Growing up in north Texas we heard this exchange a lot: “I’m going to the store, do you want a coke?” “Yeah!” “What kind?” My answer was usually, “Seven-up”. > [@](#): > > **Brother Dave** : > “Don’t ever, don’t ever, don’t ever > Sometimes, won’t you > Do it” ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/31 "2007-02-01T23:10:08Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] If you use roasted peanuts, they’re better in Mountain Dew or Sundrop. Only boiled “bald” peanuts should be put in RC Cola. [/QUOTE] Why would you ruin a perfectly good Sundrop that way? ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/32 "2007-02-02T00:10:02Z")
I preferred my Moon Pies with an Ale-8-1. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/33 "2007-02-02T03:53:17Z")
As a young lad in southern Oklahoma I often accompanied my Dad to the gas station in town (Kenefic, if you must know), where we would sit out on the porch (yes, the gas station had a front porch) and drink our cokes with redskin peanuts. My “coke” was usually an orange Nehi or sometimes grape. My Dad’s would be a Coca Cola or Dr. Pepper. All of the sodas came from an open top cooler full of chilled water. This was the type of dispenser where the bottles were suspended by their necks along racks in the top of the cooler. Putting a dime in the slot would allow a mechanism at the end of the rack to slip open when you slid your bottle down to the end. There was a bottle opener built into the end of the cabinet that had a box under it to catch the bottle tops. We always drank the sodas there and put the empties into a soda crate so we didn’t have to pay the deposit of 2¢. Also, these were all 10 oz. bottles. For a nickel, you could get a 6 oz. Coca Cola from a different vending machine. It only had Coca Cola in it and it was operated by a big metal handle that made a very distinctive _ka-chunk_ when you pressed it down. As to why I put peanuts in my soda, well it’s the same reason I sometimes put cornbread in my milk and ate it with a spoon - because my Dad did it. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/34 "2007-02-02T04:16:22Z")
I just asked my Alabamian mother if she did that. She said, “Yep. On the way to school.” She said they used those little Spanish peanuts. I also asked if there was a certain brand…Coke, RC or whatever. She said her choice was Pepsi. I might have to try it. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/35 "2007-02-02T04:44:28Z")
I’m from Texas and my mom would tell me how she used to do that as a kid all the time… I thought it was weird as well, but I never tried it. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/36 "2007-02-02T18:02:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Liberal** > If you use roasted peanuts, they’re better in Mountain Dew or Sundrop. Only boiled “bald” peanuts should be put in RC Cola. I guess I’m going to have to try this now, but I’m a Northerner, and I’d hate to do it “wrong”. It sounds like I can use any pop. Should the peanuts be salted or unsalted, or does it not matter? Do I put a few in at a time, or a whole handful? Does it have to be a single serving bottle, or can I do this in a glass? (With ice?) Is this roasted Vs. boiled thing just **Liberal** ’s preference, or one of those nuances that outsiders will never get right? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/37 "2007-02-02T18:11:30Z")
Red skinned peanuts are the best. Put a few in the bottle, it’s going to fizz up from the salt. Then you drink the soda and eat the peanuts will be in the last few sips, nice and marinated. ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/38 "2007-02-02T18:17:41Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Anybody else call a Coke a “dope”? [/QUOTE] I’ve never heard of that, but if you have it without peanuts or alcohol in it, would that be considered drinking it “straight?” Now I want to go to a bar and ask for a Straight Dope. [QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] BDG pronounced it ‘ar - oh - see’ to my ear (3 syllables as opposed to the 4 mentioned above). [/QUOTE] That explains Ray Stevens’ reference to “R-O-C co-cola” in the song “Ahab the Arab.” I’ve always wondered about that. Southern culture is so fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/39 "2007-02-02T18:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=Charger] That explains Ray Stevens’ reference to “R-O-C co-cola” in the song “Ahab the Arab.” I’ve always wondered about that. [/QUOTE] Great catch! Now that’s got me wondering if my memory of Brother Dave’s pronunciation isn’t clouded by the Ray Stevens version. Since I don’t have any of their records to go verify from, I’m just admitting the possibility that my earlier comments in this thread may be inaccurate. As far as that goes, I have been trying to remember for quite some time which Southern comedian preceded Brother Dave with his way of speaking. At times I think it may have been Andy Griffith and his “What it was was football” bit from the 50’s in the pre-Stan-Freberg records. And no, it wasn’t Jerry Clower or Jerry Reed, either. This has been Hijack City, right? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/40 "2007-02-02T19:40:36Z")
Some people just pronounce “R” as “R-uh.” You hear that a lot from black Southerners, for some reason. (Or maybe for no reason.) **ZenBeam** , I don’t know what friend **Liberal** is going on about with this boiled/roasted thing. I never heard of putting boiled peanuts in anything. The peanuts that go in Coke, in my experience, are just the [plain roasted peanuts](http://www.absnacks.com/images/ab101.jpg) (salted) that come in those little plastic packs you see at convenience stores. Redskinned or plain, as you prefer. (Not _dry_-roasted or honey-roasted, mind you. Though feel free to experiment.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320.md?page=3)