# Soft drinks?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 16, 2001, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604 "2001-08-16T18:47:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/1 "2001-08-16T18:47:27Z")
Why are beverages such as coke called soft drinks?What makes them soft.are there such a thing as hard drinks?I know this question is dumb but still it bugs the hell outta me cause I have nothing better to do.
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/2 "2001-08-16T18:51:39Z")
Drink a six pack of Coca-Cola and then pound down six shots of vodka and report back to us on the difference between soft drinks and hard drinks.
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### Author:  [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/3 "2001-08-16T18:52:10Z")
I think hard refers to “hard alcohol added to make it a cocktail”. Hence, soft would be non-alcohic. I don’t have time to go do a websearch, but I’m pretty sure there’s plenty of material available on the net about this.
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### Author:  [@isam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isam)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/4 "2001-08-16T19:24:43Z")
well, I tried to do a search for the origin of the term “soft drink” but didnt come up with much except pages which list synonyms (sp?) and some other off topic stuff.
However, i’d have to agree with the previous posters as the reason its called a “soft” drink is because of the non-alcoholic nature of the beverage.
Just as a non-alcoholic piña colada is called a Virgin Piña Colada … it doesnt really have anything to do with the ingredients per se
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### Author:  [@MrDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDeath)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/5 "2001-08-16T19:53:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by isam \*
> **Just as a non-alcoholic piña colada is called a Virgin Piña Colada … it doesnt really have anything to do with the ingredients per se**
It _doesn’t_? Darn, I guess I’ll just have to go back to drinking the regular ones then.
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/6 "2001-08-16T19:56:31Z")
From [m-w.com](http://m-w.com):
Main Entry: soft drink
Function: noun
Date: 1880
: a usually carbonated nonalcoholic beverage; especially : SODA POP
Which seems to corroborate the claim that ‘soft’ specifies ‘non-alcoholic’, but the phrase ‘soft drink’ has come to mean soda pop rather than something non-alcoholic.
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### Author:  [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/7 "2001-08-16T20:03:09Z")
Just a WAG, but when “soft drinks” were originally marketed there were only a few types of beverages. You had your liquor, beer, juice and milk. Since beer was the only one of the group that had any carbonation, one might guess that soft drinks would be most readily assosiated with them by the ignorant consumer.
Since you’ve basically got 2 carbonated beverages on the market. One has alcohol and is “hard” its natural to label the other as “soft”.
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### Author:  [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/8 "2001-08-16T20:16:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Omniscient \*
> \*\*Since you’ve basically got 2 carbonated beverages on the market. One has alcohol and is “hard” its natural to label the other as “soft”. \*\*
OK, then to turn this question around, why are drinks **with** alcohol called “hard”?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2001, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soft-drinks/76604/9 "2001-08-16T22:41:59Z")
Benjamin Rush the physician divided alcoholic drinks into hard (whiskey, and other distillates) and soft (beer, wine). So the modern meaning has contradictory beginnings.