How did soda pop come to be called a soft drink? Does it have something to do with being the opposite of hard liquor?
soft drink
n. In both senses also called soda pop, also called regionally cold drink, drink, pop1, soda, soda water, tonic.
A nonalcoholic, flavored, carbonated beverage, usually commercially prepared and sold in bottles or cans.
A serving of this beverage. See Regional Note at tonic.
So… yes?
so why hard liquor
hard to get, stomach, or pay for?
Because it hits you like a brick if you can’t handle it? shrugs I’m sure there is a resident liquor expert who can explain the difference.
hard liquor
n : distilled rather than fermented
Distilling is (to be vague) the purification of the solution, so in a sense, it is the “hard” version of beer or wine. Keep in mind that early soft drinks weren’t anything like soft drinks are now (which is generally shown by what Coca-Cola was turning into what it is now).
+1
thanks
Does soft drink only apply to carbonated beverages, then? What about fruit juices? Are they a category on their own?
when someone says… wanna drink?
it can sound like you are offering liquor.
so mix without hard liquor is a soft drink.
juice is juice… to differentiate it from say…fruit flavored syrup used flavoring.
Here in Texas we call them cokes. That is how we know the difference. Someone asks me if I want a coke, then I say “sure grab me a Dew.” If you want a Coca Cola, then you would just say, “just get me a reg. coke.”
Y’all are trying to hard.
One definition of “hard” is “fermented, alcoholic,” as in “hard cider.”
One definition of “soft” is “nonalcoholic.”
“Drink” in one sense encompasses both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and in another is understood to mean only alcoholic ones. The word “drink” by itself doesn’t have a meaning of “only nonalcoholic beverage,” so the term “soft drink” fills that role.
While tea, coffee, juice, water, etc. can properly be called soft drinks, most people are in the habit of asking for them by their specific names, leaving “soft drink” to cover pop, Kool-Aid, etc.
I still cringe when I hear my father-inlaw ask for a “Dope” from the fridge.