On a recent show, a listener asked about the use of the term “suicide†to describe a mixture of several different types of soft drinks.
When I played little league in Phoenix, Arizona in 1964-1966, the players got a free soda at the end of every game from the snack bar. I can remember that a popular drink was a “suicide†- cola, rook beer and orange soda. The drinks were mixed by the volunteers who worked behind the counter.
Toward the end of my little league career, the servers at the snack bar stopped serving suicides. As I remember, we were told that the soda manufacturers had instructed that “suicides†could not be served instead the soda brands were supposed to be served in their original forms.
One of the hosts suggested that the term “suicide†may have come from the ghastly color of the drink - and suggested that the drink may have been yellowy or greenish. Our suicides weren't greenish - they had a brownish (cola/root beer) color with a bit of orange tint.
I can't remember that we ever had an explanation for the name “suicideâ€.
Rob
Thanks, Rob. I bet the soda manufacturers HATED to have their products mixed in that way. All their careful R&D going right out the window with the push of a button.
Related: one of our callers said that homeless people who mix different kind of alcohol in the same way also call them suicides. How that information was come by I do not know.
By the way, we have more comments about suicide sodas here.
When I was a kid, in Cincinnati, Ohio we called it a "bomb".
In Maine in the 80's we varied between calling it a suicide and a monster mash. Depending on the ratio of different options, it could very much look like a bubbling cauldron. Occasionally we would stick inanimate objects into the drink when the owner wasn't looking so that they would then get startled when they tipped the cup back and something rolled down and hit their upper lip. 🙂
at boy scout campchin be gota in wisconsin in the sixties it was the "in" thing to order a suicide. which wwre dispensed from the old fashionedsoft drink machine on the back counter with a red coca cola base and clear top."cant you just see one?"no one at all cared that they were seling themback in the day. their suicide was as many or all of the flavors available and ice cold they were pretty good to me imade them for myself in the plant cafeteria for a lunch beverageas late as 2003 still thinking they wre pretty good.probaly just the influence of a leftover grin from being a kid.
real"stand by me" stuff eh?