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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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Drinking Suicides
Kaylin Robinson
1
2008/09/13 - 10:33am

Back in the early 60's and growing up in Central Indiana both boys and girls had suicides especially at the Morgan County Fair.

Chris
2
2008/09/13 - 11:27am

Living in Wisconsin when I was younger, it was a common practice to order a suicide soda. I can remember ordering this often at summer camp where my girlfriends and
I not only ordered the drink but drank it too. So yes girls also order this drink. This was in the early 60's. Hearing this on the show today made me think it's been a long time since I had this drink, maybe I should order one next time I'm out….then
again, it doesn't seem to be a taste I have craved over the years so maybe not.

Kathy
3
2008/09/13 - 7:50pm

When I think of "Suicides" I think of 7-11 Slurpees. In the summer, on Sunday afternoons after church, the best way to get a Suicide was to start hinting to Dad a block or 2 before the 7-11: "Gee Dad, its hot" and "I sure am thirsty." It rarely ever failed (thanks Dad!).
And yes, I am a girl (girls like them, too!). Even now that I am a thirty-something-year old, sometimes I just need that that frozen sugar combo (even if it is just Coke and Cherry mix).
I sure am thirsty!

Guest
4
2008/09/14 - 7:48am

chris here, in milwaukee ... i love your program, always have ... in response to the guy who called about mixing different kinds of pop/soda to make a suicide, i know we did this in central indiana in the early '70s. as a small boy i often helped out in the concession stand while my brother played little league and i know we served lots of "suicides". we charged 5 cents more for these concoctions and yes, and customers were almost exclusively boys (whose mothers were not accompanying them to the counter!).

great memory evoked!

Jean from central In
5
2008/09/14 - 10:07am

Back in the early and mid-fifties, we used to make flavored cokes often, mostly for teenagers, both male and female. I worked at a soda fountain and would often pull a coke for a customer. No self-serve then. The most common flavors ordered were cherry, chocolate, lemon, and vanilla. Once in a while, a customer would order one with all the flavors, and that we called the infamous suicide coke.

I forget what a soda fountain coke cost then, probably 10 cents, because a cup of coffee was five cents, and simple sundaes with one fair sized scoop of ice cream were 15 cents. Black and white sundaes had half chocolate syrup and half marshmallow. A customer could also order chocolate ice cream with marshmallow syrup. A fancy sundae with two scoops of ice cream and chopped nuts and whipped cream was 25 cents, and a banana split was 35.

Jean from central Indiana

Guest
6
2008/09/14 - 10:21am

Hello, my Name is Deric Stowell, from San Diego CA. i grew up in Homedale, Idaho, and we used to do the same thing; mix pop together to make a mix. but we called it sasparilla. Same thing?

Tom M
7
2008/09/15 - 8:09am

Hate to admit it, but I have a different memory of a "Suicide" from my teen years. A Suicide was sneaking into someone's parent's liquor cabinet and siphoning off a small amount of liquid from every bottle into one glass. A drawing of cards and the winner amongst the assembled Zit-Rangers got to down the Suicide Cocktail.
Tom from Milwaukee

Kitty
8
2008/09/17 - 10:36am

I loved this episode (I love them all!!) and smiled when I heard you all wonder about whether girls drank them too. We sure did! I remember doing self-serve sodas at the country club in Florida around 1976. We would put a little Coke, 7-Up, Grape, and Orange soda all in one cup. It was yummy and rebellious at the same time!

Martha Barnette
San Diego, CA
820 Posts
(Offline)
9
2008/09/17 - 1:28pm

Zit-Rangers!!! Tom, I'm stealing that.

Deric, I always thought sasparilla was a drink with one specific flavor. Anyone else?

And geez, judging from everyone's comments here and in email, I guess there were girls who drank this stuff on a regular basis. Kitty, I think you summed it up: "yummy and rebellious at the same time!"(Although I have yet to be convinced about the yummy part.) 🙂

Martha Barnette
San Diego, CA
820 Posts
(Offline)
10
2008/09/17 - 1:29pm

Oh -- and did anyone else totally misread this thread title? At first, I took "Drinking" as a participial adjective modifying "Suicides."

Peg
11
2008/09/17 - 2:27pm

Sarsparilla (or sarsaparilla) is/was a carbonated drink made from Smilax oficinalis (?)roots. Apparently quite bitter but "good for you" like a tonic. Like root beer or birch beer. I think later it was made popular by mixing birch beer with sassafras which would be like today's root beer.

Guest
12
2008/09/17 - 6:26pm

martha said:

Oh — and did anyone else totally misread this thread title? At first, I took “Drinking” as a participial adjective modifying “Suicides.”


Yes, indeed. And it sounded so strange in this forum that I had to read the topic. Talk about attention-grabbing...

Faux Frenchie
5 Posts
(Offline)
13
2008/09/22 - 9:48am

When I was a teen in Springville, Utah, in the 80s we had a drive-up burger joint that would actually make one of those for you if you asked for "a wild Indian" (un-PC, I know!). I don't know if the folks at this particular greasy spoon invented that name or were using a term that was already common in the area. For that matter, I don't even know if that place exists any more, but I do seem to remember girls getting them too.

Martha Barnette
San Diego, CA
820 Posts
(Offline)
14
2008/09/22 - 10:44am

Faux Frenchie, thanks for this. I hadn't heard that one, un-PC as it is!

George Baugus
15
2008/09/24 - 8:15am

my name is George Baugus I am from Osceola Ar. I just love words.Thank you for teaching us for about words.

Martha Barnette
San Diego, CA
820 Posts
(Offline)
16
2008/09/24 - 3:38pm

Hi, George. Thanks for your kind words about the show.

You're from Mississippi County, Arkansas? Boy, would we love to be on in your part of the country! Lots of great Southernisms there that we'd love to get onto the airwaves. What's your local public radio station, George?

Cinna
17
2008/10/04 - 6:28pm

I'm a California girl, about the same age as the caller. When I was a kid, we called a cup of mixed-up soda a Kamikaze. I still like Coke with a splash of 7-up and a lemon wedge. Refreshing!

Martha Barnette
San Diego, CA
820 Posts
(Offline)
18
2008/10/06 - 2:27pm

Thanks for this contribution, Cinna.

-- Martha, now pretty darned thirsty

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