Say, friend - you got any more of that good sarsaparilla?

[essentialsaltes]

The current Skeptical Inquirer has a nice Joe Nickell article on the origins of soda. Not a strong link to skepticism other than the origins of most sodas as quack cures. But some interesting things, like the early origin of the term 'pop':

[Ginger ale is] "a nectar, between soda water and ginger beer, and called pop because 'pop goes the cork' when it is drawn."
--Robert Southey, 18-fucking-12.

Or that the original name of 7 Up was for people who were not into the whole brevity thing: Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda

And yes, that means it had lithium in it, to keep you happy. Fortunately or unfortunately, medicinally relevant levels of lithium are similar to toxic levels, and thus there's no longer any lithium in 7 Up.

Comments

[aaronjv.livejournal.com]

awesome