# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**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, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/41 "2007-02-02T19:47:37Z")
If it’s a small pack (about a large handful of nuts), you just pour the whole pack into the bottle of Coke. (You first drink enough of the coke to make room, of course. Don’t make a mess, child.) Ideally, to properly recreate the experience, you would need an old-timey glass bottle of coke. I think you can still get those in some grocery stores around here. Not sure about up North, though. If not, plastic will have to do, I guess. Ice is right out. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/42 "2007-02-02T19:57:14Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Great catch! This has been Hijack City, right? [/QUOTE] Okay - here’s another related hijack. As a kid, I remember watching one of those 70’s detective shows - Mannix? Cannon? Ironside? - where The Professor from Gilligan’s Island (Russell Johnson) played the criminal. I seem to remember that they had lured him to a studio where they were broadcasting live in an attempt to gather clues or something from the public - like a version of America’s Most Wanted - and he was acting like he was an interested party and the good guys where trying to get him to implicate himself. Anyway, I distinctly remember the victim or a witness being on the air and describing how the perpetrator “put peanuts in his Coke” right when the detectives were watching Professor Bad Guy do it. He kinda looked around to see if anyone saw him and he stopped. It wasn’t long before he got busted… Bizarre - I haven’t thought of that for a good 30 years… ---
**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 2, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/43 "2007-02-02T20:24:30Z")
[QUOTE=WordMan] As a kid, I remember watching one of those 70’s detective shows - Mannix? Cannon? Ironside? - where The Professor from Gilligan’s Island (Russell Johnson) played the criminal. Anyway, I distinctly remember the victim or a witness being on the air and describing how the perpetrator “put peanuts in his Coke” right when the detectives were watching Professor Bad Guy do it. He kinda looked around to see if anyone saw him and he stopped. It wasn’t long before he got busted… [/QUOTE] Yep, that is correct. Unfortunately, I have also drawn a blank on exactly which show it was, but the scene was just as you described it. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/44 "2007-02-02T21:08:13Z")
I recall RC Cola in the stores here (although I can’t say as I’ve noticed it in the last few years), so it isn’t (wasn’t) entirely a US Southern thing. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/45 "2007-02-03T00:39:24Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] **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. [/QUOTE] > **[Boiled Peanuts History and Recipe](https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/BoiledPeanutsHistory.htm/)** > > Boiled Peanuts - the Southern Snack Food Boiled peanuts are a traditional snack food in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, northern Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi (I have heard that Texans ---
**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 3, 2007, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/46 "2007-02-03T06:13:46Z")
[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] Since the lazy Southern “O” is similar to “en” and since I’m originally from a part of Minnesota where we pronounce everything painfully correctly (since some of the Northern European languages, especially German, are more or less phonetic ) I heard it as “en”. Even after several years living in VA at an age when accents are easily acquired I never could make out the difference between the Southern short E in “pen” and short I in “pin” or the long “A” in “car” vs the short “O” in “core” though if I am tired I pronounce them the same. And I truly hadn’t thought of peanuts in cola (where I was, Coke) for DECADES before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/47 "2007-02-03T07:40:51Z")
RC Cola was quite big in Australia in the 1970’s. They declined, however, after they ran a suggestive TV ad (woman sitting at a restauant table slips her foot out of her shoe and runs it up her boyfriend’s calf) that caused a ruckus. I recall a letter to the editor in the Brisbane Courier-Mail complaning loudly about how the Roman Catholic Church would stoop to such smut to sell it’s soft drink. How I laughed! ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/48 "2007-02-03T13:25:19Z")
My boss who’s from Texas once was talking about putting peanuts in her RC and a guy in the office thought she said “putting penis in my RC”. Penis ensued. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/49 "2007-02-03T13:46:34Z")
Wow! It’s taken this many posts for me even to consider the upshot of these queries. With as many flavorings added to and coated on peanuts and other nuts, you’d think that somebody would have packaged for sale such things as RC Peanuts, Pepsi Peanuts, Coke Peanuts, and so on. The latest rage in these parts are the Wasabi/Soy and Chili/Lime flavorings for almonds by Blue Diamond. I think I’ve even seen another concoction, but the ones mentioned are all we’ve been buying. They ain’t cheap! Anybody ever see such a product? Maybe there will be potato chips with some sort of co-drank flavor, too, to go along with the Buffalo Wings, Barbecue, Cheddar Chili, French Onion, etc. Maybe we could get rich with the idea… ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/50 "2007-02-03T16:12:17Z")
The peanuts in Coke practice isn’t strictly limited to the South. When I was a boy in the 70’s working at my Grandpa’s northwest Iowa gas station, the hired man did this. He was born and raised in Aurelia, Iowa. To be fair though, I’ve never seen anyone else in Iowa, Nebraska or Minnesota do this. Possibly Rufus spent some time in the South in the Army or something; I didn’t know him that well. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/51 "2007-02-03T16:19:12Z")
Sounds like a Southern version of [boba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/52 "2007-02-03T16:20:18Z")
Getting back to the “why” part of the OP, I like the truck driver explanation. This habit was born in the era before cupholders were standard equipment in vehicles, so combining your peanuts and coke would keep a hand free for driving. Also it occurs to me that this might have been sort of a poor man’s meal during the Depression. A nickel for the peanuts, a nickel for the coke. That’s quite a few calories for a dime. Good for the hobo on the go. (Though I don’t think Coca-Cola ever picked that up as an ad campaign.) ---
**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 3, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/53 "2007-02-03T17:24:44Z")
[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] Ray Stevens ‘sampled’ a lot more than that from Brother Dave. I think it was BDG who made this style of talk popular. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/54 "2007-02-03T17:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=kayT] My boss who’s from Texas once was talking about putting peanuts in her RC and a guy in the office thought she said “putting penis in my RC”. [/QUOTE] Did he think ‘RC’ meant ‘Recreational Cavity’? ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/55 "2007-02-03T18:32:15Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Some people just pronounce “R” as “R-uh.” You hear that a lot from black Southerners, for some reason. (Or maybe for no reason.) [/QUOTE] I think R-uh is the way Brother Dave pronounced “R”. You got it. ---
**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 3, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/56 "2007-02-03T23:57:18Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] I never could make out the difference between the Southern short E in “pen” and short I in “pin”. . . [/QUOTE] In the South, a short ‘e’ before an ‘m’ or ‘n’ is often pronounced as a short ‘i.’ [QUOTE=dropzone] . . . or the long “A” in “car” vs the short “O” in “core”. . . . [/QUOTE] Not sure what this means. I’ve heard Richard Gephardt pronounce “corporation” as “carporation,” and Gary Sinise as Harry Truman pronouncing “report” as “repart,” but I’ve never heard that in the South. On the other hand, reversing them, I have heard Richard Petty pronounce “car” as something like “koh-er.” I think it might just in the “before an ‘r’” case, so the word “pour” would rhyme with “car” as “poh-er” and “koh-er,” respectively. Less common, but I have heard that occasionally. And note that it becomes two syllables in that instance. And, btw, **spoke-** , 46. ---
**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 3, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/57 "2007-02-03T23:59:42Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Some people just pronounce “R” as “R-uh.” You hear that a lot from black Southerners, for some reason. [/QUOTE] Which reminds me of the trademark of one of the local wrestlers from the 1970s, Rufus R. Jones. He used to say, “Da name is Rufus Aruh Jones, and the Aruh stand for ‘guts!’” Somehow, it seemed to make sense back then. ---
**Author:** ![Valearl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Valearl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valearl)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320/58 "2007-02-04T02:47:00Z")
I put peanuts in my coke when I was a kid. The best were the tiny 6 ouncers that were so cold that the inside would turn slushy and the outside would frost over when popped open. I just can’t imagine doing it now with the plastic bottles. The only place I have seen glass bottles for cokes in a long time has been in southern California that were bottled in Mexico, and over in Iraq when I played in the sandbox there a few years ago. As to making cola flavored peanuts, well that would be just wrong! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanuts-and-rc-cola-why/390320.md?page=2)