Today’s Music: Prisencolinensinainciusol (picked by todday’s author.)
Days Til Spring: 38
It’s no secret that I enjoy both drinking and traveling, and traveling to go drinking.
Today, Linda Vernon has taken time from her busy schedule of cheering up Edgar Allen Poe (He was very unhappy about the Pottery Barn’s intriguing story about him), and bringing us the cutting edge of thoughts that scientists are thinking about, to tell us why it’s so important to keep our traveling in mind when drinking.
(Even if she wants me to switch to Pepsi.)
So read! Enjoy! And stop by Linda’s site and follow!
(It’s the easiest way to get into her will…)
My Brain Peanuts Remembers Soda Pop
by Linda Vernon
Drinking soda in the fifties was a lot different from today. First of all, soda came in a bottle. In Washington state, where I grew up, there was no such thing as drinking a can of soda. No siree!
We drank a bottle of pop or we drank nothing at all.
Back then, when you bought a bottle of pop, the pop was yours to drink — but you had to give back the bottle because you were merely renting it. After all, you had to pay a 2-cent deposit on it, for crying out loud, and not taking it back for a refund could seriously affect the budget.
So everyone always returned their pop bottles to get their two-cents back because two-cents in the fifties would buy enough gas to get you to Canada from anywhere in the United States.
The only people who drank out of a can were beer drinkers. But beer cans were worthless so beer drinkers didn’t worry about getting their deposit back. They would simply chuck the empties out of the window of whatever speeding vehicle they happened to be drunkenly swerving down the highway in.
Today, we would consider this drunk driving but in those days we simply considered it littering. And in the 1950’s, littering was America’s favorite pastime — as much a way of life as Polio, onesie gym clothes, and radio-active cleansing cream.
But whether you were drinking out of a bottle or drinking out of a can, you would have died of thirst in the 1950’s if you didn’t have one of these.
It was a combination bottle/can opener, and it was a wonderful little gadget. One end would pry off the caps of Debby and Bobby’s pop bottles while the other end would puncture a hole in Mom and Dad’s beer cans. (The only thing this can opener wouldn’t do is open a bottle of wine, but this wasn’t a problem because in the 50’s only Europeans drank wine.)
I think it’s fair to say that the bottle opener was as much a part of the foundation upon which the togetherness of the fifties family was built as smearing butch wax on crew cuts, stenciling on eyebrows or hiding under desks together to survive atomic blasts.
I remember my grandparents only drank Pepsi which they always referred to as Peps. Pepsi was for those who think young. Not only did my grandparents think young, they were young. When I was five, my grandmother was only 44. (Back then people started families way younger so they could get it out of the way quicker and have more time to drink Peps.)
Now let’s say you only drank half the Peps in that rented bottle of yours. What would you do? Well, instead of pouring it down the drain, you would save the remainder of the Peps by utilizing another ingenious type of gadget that people just referred to as that bottle thingy.
That bottle “thingy” I’m referring to was a rubber gasket that went into the top of the bottle to seal in the carbonation as well as that delicious Peps refreshing flavor. After all, you spent a whole dime for that bottle of Pepsi, and you wouldn’t want it to go to waste.
Not if you were ever going to afford that trip to Canada!
I wasn’t alive in the fifties, but your tale is so vivid that I feel that I was! Hilarious. (I do remember ten-cent bottles of Coke, though. And by “Coke,” I mean any ol’ soft drink. That’s what we call them down south. For example, “Hey, Stacy. You want a Coke?” “Yeah, that would be great!” “What kind?” “I’ll take a Seven-Up, thanks.”) ❤
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Funny, every time I visit my favorite bartender, every drink is a pint of Guinness.
“Hey, I’m not drinking tonight. how about a diet coke?”
“Sure”
*pint of Guinness appears.*
I have the greatest friends!
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You do! I want to move to New York City. Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came . . . or is that Boston?
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Has to be Boston.
In NY, they’re happy when you leave.
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I guess no outsider can ever really know New York City because it’s probably like quantum physics, and the act of staring at New Yorkers changes their behavior.
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Well, it’s not Philly – The City of Brotherly Shove
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Do they have bumper stickers that say that? Because they should and I want one!
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LOL, Well, you can probably modify the real one (The City of Brotherly Love), just mark out the L and use red marker to pencil in SH.
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Ahahaha!
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Was that an “evil villian’s laugh” I heard, there, Linda? Methinks we should meet for coffee and pursue that dark side… 😉
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Aha! It seems like Cokes were a dime for the longest time! And you’re comment that you called every kind of soda Coke reminded me that when I was in high school, we called every form of entertainment that wasn’t going to the movies, “going to get a Coke.” Coke really had it all going on! 😀
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Took me a while ’til I learned what that was all about. During a small period of my food service work history (when I worked for Sbarro’s in the food court of the mall, actually) I did have a regular customer that used that term. He never did explain the Southern connection but explained enough that I figured it out.
When that Southern connection WAS explained to me, I asked why. I was told it was likely because Coca-Cola is headquarted in Atlanta.
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Yes, it was – and it was first bottled in Monroe, Louisiana. (They’re very proud of this fact.) ❤
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I loved this.
1. Can I really buy all of those things on Ebay?
2. Can I make my picture captions in blue?
3. People still throw beer bottles out of the window of the New Jersey Turnpike. It’s an official state sport.
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1. Yes.
2. YES!
3. Yeah, well…Jersey…
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Thanks Samara! And yes on all three of those things. People still throw beer bottle out the window on the New Jersey Turnpike? That’s enough to make me want to go back east for my next vacation! I’ll collect them all and sell them on E-bay! 😀
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Great post, Linda!
Yes, they absolutely do! As I told Guap, it’s an official state pride. I wish I could claim pride in this, but I’m a New Yorker. So I just watch in awe…
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Ha! Now that sounds like my kind of spectator sport, Samara.
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According to this: http://my10thingsblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/10-things-i-hate-about-millennials/, if you paint the bottles and stick a bird on top, you’ll get more money for them on Ebay. 😉
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You could make a fortune on shipping alone!
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I see that in your opening stanza you use the terms “pop” and “soda”. That’s a regional difference. I grew up in Cleveland and if you asked for a soda, you got a tall glass of root beer with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it. If you asked for a pop, you got can of Coke. In New York City, a soda will get you that can of Coke and a pop will get you a punch in the eye.
Coke used to have coke in it. The good old days, indeed. Fur shizzle.
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You can still get that in NYC.
You just have to buy in the right neighborhoods… 😉
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Or work at the right companies.
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To this day I still call a soda a pop. I’ve got to remember not to do that if I ever go to New York City! In California we call all pop, soda. And we call sacks, bags. I’m used to saying sacks. Whenever I ask a clerk to put my pop in a sack they look at me like I said something in Arabic. (And the only thing I know in Arabic is Fur Shizzle.) I think in New York, if you tell someone to put your pop in a sack you might be asking someone to kill your dad?
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The Pacific Northwest, and any other areas settled by Midwesterners, inherited that term and many other regional linguistic differences. Yes, I have a nerdy fascination with etymology and linguistics.
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That’s interesting. I wonder why that is?
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Well, again, it has to do with those that settled the area– being those that came from the Midwest, and then the Western Plains areas. I only dabble in these studies, but linguists get very specific on how English changed along these lines, even more particularly how pronunciations changed on the lower West Coast (specifically California), compared to the Rocky Mountains area and the Pacific Northwest.
What’s more entertaining is meeting a person who has memorized all these regional differences, and after asking certain questions, can accurately determine where an individual is from (i.e., regionally), if not always precisely (i.e., hometown).
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Yes, that quite a talent alright. Native Californians do pronouce their short ‘a’s” differently I’ve noticed
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Interesting. I’m wondering if there’s some correlation between using Dorothy Grey face cream and the inability to finish a bottle of Pepsi. Gotta be….
Very funny and well written post!
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I think scientists are using Dorothy Grey cream and Pepsi in their nuclear fusion research.
Linda consistently writes the funniest stuff.
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Ah thanks Alex. I think it was called Dorothy Grey face cream because it turned your face gray. I can’t finish a bottle of Pepsi either . . . hm . . . I’ve never connected the two before. But I’m sure there’s a correlation if we dig deep enough!
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Stylin’ – we have some of those pop covers (but not from Ebay!) – we had the plastic kind because, well, my husband’s family is is Scottish – and well, those were cheaper 🙂
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I once bought a guitar cheaply off ebay.
It was great, for eight seconds.
Then it exploded.
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And they don’t include that TIDBIT, do they in the description????
I thought about buying a kidney on Ebay, but I’m afraid of just those consequences.
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On the other hand, I think the iron lungs are discounted.
but the shipping will kill ya.
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Hee hee –
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Well that would explain that cheap kidney price tag!
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They just don’t disclose as they should on Ebay!
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Really. They need a USDA for kidneys.
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I hate when I get out-wierded!
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Don’t feel bad, it hardly ever happens.
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Thanks…I think…
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and other exploding things.
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I may have to start up an exploding kidney E-bay store around the fourth of July. (Timing is everything in E-bay commerce.)
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Whoo hoo!
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Ahaha! And I bet they waited for them to go on sale too!
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Damn straight.
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phew! for once i’m lost for words. i thought life was supposed to have been simpler in the 50’s
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Nah. They just say that to boost tourism there.
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well that’s one ticket i know not to buy.
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Well it was simpler in that there were far fewer safety rules, no seat belts, no baby car seats (I don’t know what they did with the little babies in the car — maybe put them on the floor to begin with so they wouldn’t roll off the seat.) You could have a loaded gun in the car and nobody batted an eye. They just assumed you were going hunting . . .and we really did throw our garbage out the car window . . . ah the good old days.
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I thought there were still places like that. Maybe you’ve been living in the city for too long. And btw they had carrycots!
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Carrycots! LOL! I vaguely remember those! Mainly I remember the little car chairs that hooked over the front seat with a cute little steering wheel.
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yes, i was thinking about those too. but i didn’t get the steering wheel. (my mother couldn’t afford someone else thinking they were in the driving seat!) guess it’s a bit hard to drive with a baby crawling around your feet.
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Haha! Your mother sounds like my mother!
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http://www.babble.com/baby/history-of-the-car-seat/
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Wow, I’m still caught up on: “When I was five, my grandmother was only 44.” Oy. Now I feel really old.
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Yep.
I also remember soda in glass bottles. And not the “retro” ones they sell now.
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I know! Isn’t that amazing? People are so much younger for so much longer now! 😀
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Thanks to Linda for that ‘pop’ of nostalgia! I’m a Coke gal but my husband loves his Peps- and he prefers it from a bottle than from a can. He says it tastes different. 🙂
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I’ll stick with Diet Coke. Diet Pepsi is just too sweet.
But definitely better from a bottle.
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I agree that diet Pepsi is too sweet. I like diet Coke better too. But what I really love is Diet A&W Rootbeer.
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Diet Sunkist Orange.
Enjoying a cold refreshing bottle of it right now at my desk!
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Oh nice. If only it had a shot of banana effervescence, it would be the perfect soda pop.
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Ooh! Ooh! And I could be the soda jerk!!!
waitaminute…
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And you could buy your clothes at Nerdstroms.
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freekin’ awesome… man, we did used to litter… I remember those commercials with the Native American looking at the trash and shedding one tear… that was pretty moving…
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It really was and it was really the first time we ever really considered what we were doing.
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you just never thought about it
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No we never did. It seems like Lady Bird was the first person to start an anti-litter campaign.
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I don’t remember that
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Probably because you are just a baby.
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wah
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like the kids these days don’t think about it when they do it
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They can’t think about that. They are too busy trying to learn how to smoke.
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well there you go
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They still bring that commercial out every so often…
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I bet that was one of the top ten most memorable commercials ever made.
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It is a classic
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I still use those bottle thing-ys. I just close up wine bottles with them (after I take out the straw). But I still call them thing-ys!
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I like the more advanced model of those – the thingamabobs.
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Sometimes when we have Champagne, we need to use thingamajiggies. Or we just stick a spoon in it.
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I’ve always found the thingamajiggie to be much more versatile than the thingy.
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Oh they are handy alright. Too bad there’s not a way you can save the flavor and keep in the straw!
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Isn’t it? Wine is always so much better through a straw — especially Boones Farm (remember that???)
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I never drank Boons Farm but I did drink Spinata with a straw and lots and lots of ice.
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What if you already lived in Canada?!!
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Then you can spend the gas money on Poutine, and Moose viewings.
But you still have to do all the rest.
In French.
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What if I don’t like poutine and I get moose viewings free?
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If you don’t like poutine, I’m not sure you’re canadian…
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Oh I’m so Canadian but I’m a very picky eater. No garlic, no onion, no fried foods, the list goes on.
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Well then you can go anywhere in the United States and Mexico and maybe even into parts of Guatemala.
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Boy peanuts is smart, phew!
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Yes well Peanuts doesn’t want to brag but Peanuts knows how to use something called The Google . . .
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The Google eh?!
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You had me nodding along in agreement, right up until all that babbling on about Pepsi. I’m not familiar with that word. I thought we were talking about sodas, pops… you know, coke: Coca-Cola Classic.
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We have to make allowances. Linda is from the west coast
(They’re weird out there!)
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I’m from CA…. born, raised, never left (other than vacations)…
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Boy, I’m just digging myself a hole in the comments lately!
I’m a New Yorker, born and raised.
Pretty sure we’re worse.
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Could be, hard to say. I’ve met a few New Yorkers. You all seem like good people to me.
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We’re on our best behavior outside of our enclave.
Unless you try to feed us pizza or bagels.
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I’ve been warned about that before. No sudden movements. Keep my hands to myself.
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Don’t they taste right?
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as emphatically as possible, NO!!!
Montreal is “famous” for its bagels. We went out of our way to try them.
Eh.
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We have a chain of fast food pizza here called New York Style Pizza. Do you have those there? I’ve always wondered if they really were like New York Pizza’s.
I love bagels I may have to go to NYC just to try one.
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We can do a food tour if you come!
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Mm. . . Now that would really be fun! And Zoey can bring us some oven-baked Poutine . . .
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She can ride in on her Moose!
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Oh yes! I hope she rides her Lipizzan Moose!
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Who’s worse — Californians or New Yorkers? We should have a worse off.
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Oh wow! A native Californian. Natives are rare It seems like everybody is from somewhere else. I’ve only been here since August 9, 1981 and still feel kind of new.
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I’ve only been here since June of that same year… I don’t feel new at all.
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How about that! We arrived here at almost the same time. Using vastly different modes of transportation, but still!
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Its a small world, as they say… over and over and over again…
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LOL!
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Please make them stop!!
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We were weird before weird was cool. (It is cool isn’t it?)
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Matt, what’s wrong with you? Are you going to dis Dr. Pepper next? 😉
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What? I love Dr. Depper. I understand the hypocrisy in that statement… but, the Dr. is so much better than Mr. Pibb it pains me to even compare them in jest.
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Bwahahaha… I’m just giving you a really hard time.
There are people that love Mr. Pibb more. Like those who love Mello Yello compared to Mountain Dew. Or Fresca, compared to Squirt.
And they will argue bitterly over why their choice is best. Hehe.
I loved Pepsi Blue and all the myriad color/flavor varieties of Mountain Dew. Then I found I have a very low tolerance for caffeine (disrupts my sleep). Oh well.
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All soda fans have their favorites, which they will argue are better than every otehr version.
Which overlooks one key point:
They all taste like battery acid.
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Except for Root Beer. It tastes like root beer flavored battery acid. Yummy!
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Are you a supertaster? They really do taste like battery acid to you?
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Uh oh. Low tolerance for caffeine. No more soda for you.
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No more caffeinated soda, anyways.
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Linda is just hilarious. 🙂 I remember those shapely Pepsi and then Coca-cola bottles. I think they were much nicer to drink from than the cans.
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Thanks Imelda! And yes they were lots more fun to drink from. As long as you didn’t find a spider in the bottom of the bottle which was rumored to have happened before.
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Linda’s wit often keeps me on my toes.
Those old bottles were great. Especially if you stuck them in fire, then twisted them!
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Ha! My grandma had a bunch of those bottle thingys, in 70s yellow and avocado green. They’re definitely one of the things lodged in my mind that I associate with my grandparents house. They were also Peps drinkers but they wasted everyone’s time and still added the ‘i’.
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I believe that 70’s yellow was called Harvest Gold. I had a fridge that color for years and years.And those bottle thingys are such a grandparent thing aren’t they? It sounds like your grandparents knew how to really take their time and savor their Peps (i) moments.
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Harvest Gold… Avocado green… that takes me back… although I had a strong dose of the late ’70s, thankfully, I have not encountered shag carpets.
I gasped in horror as an Aussie blogger told me they are available at IKEA now in numerous colors.
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Oh no no! Please! Not the dreaded shag carpet making a comeback! Just when the very last house in America had finally gotten rid of its green and blue shag wall to wall carpet –the horror begins all over again!
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When I told her that my parents had skipped over the whole shag carpet trend, she said they had good taste, hehe. But yes, they appear to be back (after just checking now) although IKEA seems to specifically avoid the word “shag” and simply says “high pile”.
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I’m not sure “high pile” sounds any better…
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No matter how they try update it, it’s still shag carpeting, I’m afraid.
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I remember finding those in the junk drawer at my folks and thinking “what are these?”. Then my parents yelling at me not to put them in my mouth because I might get sick.
Hmm…
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Hmm . . .
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I suddenly realized I’ve been ignoring the biggest up side of olditutde: NOSTALGIA! Wow. All the stuff I remember that no one but other old folks remember. Of course, there are many things I’ve forgotten — until someone reminds me I used to know it. BTW, I have several bottle openers and remarkably, they haven’t improved on the design. Turns out, you still need’em from time to time. Who’d’ve thunk it?
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Ha! Oh I know what you mean about oldtitude, Marilyn. It’s interesting how one little thing like soda pop can open all kinds of doors to long-forgotten memories. I didn’t realize you could still buy the bottle openers. I’m surprised they haven’t given them ergonomically designed hand grips or something.
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Almost everything reminds me of something from “back when” 🙂 The one thing years give you are memories. If only we could turn them into cash.
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Gosh wouldn’t that be nice! I can remember lots of wonderful things from way back when, it’s remembering what I had for lunch that trips me up!
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Isn’t it weird? I can remember stuff I learned in kindergarten, but not yesterday. I need a motherboard upgrade and more RAM!
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Me too Marilyn! I need a defrag!
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I couldn’t get by without the bottle & can openers on my pocket knife.
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The Swiss Army knife … the answer to everything wherever you are. I’ve repaired computers, cars, bicycles … opened bottles, cans … Some of the big Leatherman thingies are a whole workshop.
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Yep! I didn’t want one at first, because I didn’t think I could justify the expense, but I use that knife all day long.
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It’s THE thing you definitely want when you are stranded on that desert island.
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–
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Up until recently one of Australia’s States ran a 5 cents per glass and plastic bottle recycling scheme. It seemed to be based on the same concept, you own the liquid inside, but not the vessel. Coca Cola always had the best TV ads back in the day.
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Wow! 5 cents. That’s pretty generous. A person could actually makes some money collecting cans and bottles! Coke did have the best tv commercials. I liked their print ads too.
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In the parks near me, on summer days, people scour the park for empty cans and bottles to redeem.
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Seems like the only way to get everyone to recycle is to include that nickel incentive…
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It’s no joke about the gas money to Canada. That’s how my parents ended up here!
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Well Canada wouldn’t be such a bad place to end up as long as they remembered to bring their long underwear!
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Now they would need to buy the bottle with the lucky cap to get back.
I never win those…
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Great post, brilliant comments and by the
way, I like bagels ( the NY one’s I Mean) 🙂
Andro
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We did try the ones in Montreal. They’re just not the same.
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Thanks Gray! I’m going to have to order a genuine New York Bagel off e-bay or something. I don’t think I’ve had one that I know of.
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What part of Washington state did you grow up in, Linda? I’m still within the state… if I said “near Nukieland” I’m sure you could figure out what part I’m in, with reasonable accuracy…
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I grew up in Southeastern Washington and I went to high school in Walla Walla. Nuikieland? Hm . . . are you by any chance near Hanford?
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Wa-Hi, eh? I’m in Kennewick. Not as close to Hanford as Richland or West Richland, but it often doesn’t matter to a lot of outsiders I speak to. I would gather that you appreciate the distinction, however.
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Oh yeah. I know the difference. You’re probably still just as radiated in Kennewick as your would be in Richland though. Of course, it’s all safe and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. Everybody lives to a ripe old age there.
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Pingback: MEMORY DOGS | SERENDIPITY
That bottle opener thingy is cool. I want one!
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Try the gift shop of your local museum.
Or ebay!
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This was all still true in the 60s in rural Virginia. When I was a kid, one of the ways we got the money to buy a “drink” (which is the word we used for soft drinks) was to collect the bottles that people had tossed out of their windows and return them for the deposit (I think it was a nickel then). It was a two mile walk down a country road from our house to the country store. We’d usually find enough bottles to be able to buy a drink and maybe a pack of nabs or some ice cream. A few years ago I visited with the woman who ran the store back then. She was in her 90s and nearly blind when I visited her, but as cheerful as ever and remembered me well. Even after all those decades, she was still fretting over how often people bought drinks without paying the deposit (because they promised to return the bottles and that’s how nice she was) then never returned the bottles. I imagine most of the bottles we sold to her were from people like that.
Anyway, great post. Thanks for stirring up some memories.
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That’s funny!
There was a guy near me that had a food cart outside the construction yard I worked at for a while. years later, I ended up living in the area, and saw a tiny luncheonette. Went in, and it was the same guy!
He still remembered me (“4 hotdogs, mustard, two with kraut, and a diet coke bottle, right?”)
We had a good chat about the passing years and changes in the neighborhood.
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Oh I remember doing the same thing. You really had to work for a “drink” back then. I remember also walking down to the gas station (the only place open on Sunday in our town) and buying an ice cream bar called a Sidewalk Sundae. (Which is really a cool name for an ice cream bar now that I think about it.) Oh wouldn’t I love reconnect with the couple who ran that gas station now! That is so sweet that she still remembered you. What a truly nice person she was. There were so many people like that back then. They really enjoyed each day as it came. And their customers were almost like their family. Those days really were like life in Mayberry. We’re lucky to have all those wonderful memories of a simpler time!
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What I loved were the .05 Coke machines, with the big handle you pushed to deliver the icy product. To make ours last longer, my brother and I would push a hole in the cap with the ice pick, and drink it that way.
Then, we returned the bottle for our refund. Loved me some glass bottle refunds!
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You guys had an ice pick! What a great idea. I wish I would have thought of that!
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In England, it was always called ‘pop’ A bottle of pop was a great treat when I was a kid. My favourite was ‘Dandelion & Burdock’. I’d never heard of Coca Cola or Pepsi.
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Never heard of Coke or Pepsi???
What is this backwater, “England” that you speak of? 😉
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I lived in a small mining town. we weren’t up with the latest fashions. 😀
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Disgusting. I remember all that stuff and some you didn’t mention…which makes me older than dirt…feeling sick now. Let me sulk in private. I’ll be in touch…..Jots
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It’s a good thing, Jots! It means we can mock all the whippersnappers who don;t know about anything. 😉
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Spot on!
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Haha! I’m older than dirt too,Jots, but I try to put a younger spin on it by calling it Potting Soil! 😀
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I remember collecting empty bottles as a boy. This was in the mid seventies and holy crap if empty bottles weren’t everywhere! We never stopped to wonder WHY this was since we were too busy collecting money so’s we could buy candy and cigarettes. Ahhh, childhood in the age of Grand Funk and bell bottoms.
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Please tell me you weren’t wearing an earth-tone turleneck with those bell bottoms, Cayman.
I’ll still respect you. I’ll just be laughing while I do it.
*Full disclosure – there’s a picture somewhere of a very young Guap in exactly that kind of turtleneck.
And possibly earth tone corduroy pants.
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No turtleneck but the corduroys? You better believe it.
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You need to change your profile picture to that one!
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I was “of age” in the seventies. I was probably the one littering all those empty bottles for you kids in your bell bottoms. (Though I was wearing bell bottoms too and I wore my hair like the mom in That Seventies Show.)
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Linda,
You look amazing, so whatever you were littering the streets with back in the age of Grand Funk Railroad? I want some. And by some, I’m talking recipe. Tell you what, you get a pass this time, young lady. Don’t let it happen again. Okay, if you let it happen again there isn’t a hell of a lot I could do about it. But man, it sounds authoritative, doesn’t it?
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Well thank you! I must say there’s nothing like collecting old pop bottles and drinking the dregs to keep one’s complexion rosy. (I once tripped over the golden spike int he Grand Funk Railroad so that should tell you something — I’ll let youo know when I figure out what.) And you do sound authoritative. I hope you’re a boss or a dictator or something. You have a flair.
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I always wanted to be a dictator, which probably has something to do with the fact my Papa was born in Havana. But I would fail miserably when it came to coups, especially if they clashed with Happy Hour. Priorities, yanno?
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Oh I know what you mean Cayman “Castro” Jr. 😀
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Wonderful post Linda! I live in WA state… had no idea you were from here. Like you, I fondly remember drinking my sodas (always a treat) from bottles, and collecting empty ones from grassy lots, to get money for candy… ah, back when we played outside. Really enjoyed this!
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Oh I’m so glad you liked it. And you’re from Washington? How about that! We always spent our bottle money on candy too! Apparently we Washingtonian kids could never get enough candy, (I still can’t actually!)
Ah yes! The days when we played outside and no one supervised us or paid any attention to what we were doing as long as we were home for lunch on time — and the real reason we didn’t eat much lunch was because we had just got done eating four pounds of black licorice! Oh the good ol’ days!
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No, I’m not FROM WA, but I live here now. I was born in CA (where I collected bottles) and grew up in south of Boston. I don’t eat as much candy anymore either… 😉
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Ha! Well how about that. I was born in Oregon, but grew up in WA and now I live in Ca. I think we just switched places! 😀
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Only if we skip Boston. 😉
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I remember these days all too well! And going & collecting pop bottles from the ditches & construction sites, so you could buy a chocolate bar for 10 cents or penny candy (which actually cost a penny)!
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Those were the good old days, alright! I always liked buying ten pieces of penny candy. You really got a lot of entertainment and deliciousness for one thin dime! 😀
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