Culture: Two nations divided...

[Luke Hatley]

Ray

I remember Corona, in all its flavours, delivered to your door every week by the 'Corona Man'. It had a clip-on cap that would keep the 'fizz' in.

I went out for a drink with my daughters a couple of weeks ago, and one of them asked for a Corona. I said that I didn't know it still existed . . . and then found out that it's now a Mexican lager beer! I must get out more!

Terry

Terry when you get the Corona...........be sure and get the wedge of Lime to put in it..

[cem]

It's only in recent years that it's been called soft drink here in Tasmania. We always referred to it as cordial (and still do here at home) and that term covered all the bottled soft drinks. I know elsewhere Cordial is the syrup that is mixed with water but here at home we call it water cordial. The names of Pop and Soda are never used unless you're having scotch and soda.

Tony.

It's always been soft drink in Western Australia and cordial is the syrup mixed with water or in the case of my young niece drunk straight if she can get away with it (talk about a sugar high). Pop isn't used here either, soda is used for soda water which some older folk drink though I reckon it tastes like fizzy vinegar and scotch is only mixed with coke.

Clair

[gary]

Ray,

I'd forgotten about the Corona man until you mentioned it. His visit was a highlight of the week. And you got money back on the bottles so they could be re-used - as kids we used to go round and find any discarded bottles so we could make a profit. If I remember correctly, 'discarded' had a broad interpretation.

We did have ginger beer that my Dad made from a 'ginger beer plant' he kept in the shed - the most exciting drink around as you never knew when one of the bottles would explode if he got the mix wrong. Sort of non-alcoholic Russian roulette.

Gary

[UKRay]

'Liberating' returnable bottles and cashing them in was a full time occupation and a major source of income for some kids where I came from. Two enterprising idiots even started liberating them from round the back of a shop and taking them into the same shop for a refund... That didn't last long!

I like the idea of coke syrup being a universal panacea, Dave. My dear mother wasn't so gentle. We used to be given a particularly foul tasting cough medicine called 'Obridges' every time we looked a bit 'peaky'. It was amazing how quickly you recovered if there was any chance of another dose....

I wonder if they still make that stuff? I haven't seen it for years.

Does anyone remember when some cough mixtures contained enough chemicals to make you high? I remember being on a bus one winter, sipping the stuff out of the bottle to combat a tickly cough. I got completely stoned and missed my stop! You could buy that stuff over the counter too! LOL

Ray

[TigerPal]

Your Obridges sounds about like the infamous Hadacol tonic which was available in the US during the early 50's. It was allegedly 100 proof alcohol, with some honey and various vitamins stirred in. It was taken off the market because of its alcohol content, and million of kids were thankful for that LOL. According to some tales, the first batches were mixed in a woodel barrel, using an outboard motor as the stirrer! And the name supposedly came from the makers comment "well, I hadda call it something".

[roo4u]

i watch alot of bbc america...graham norton is hilarious they dont have shows as evil and funny on us tv.....one of my favorite actors is robson green...ill watch anything he is in. fav writer is val mcdermid, her books are so well written. robert palmer, musical genius, r.i.p. i dont have too much trouble with the slang because usually can decipher based on context, though fanny is an interesting one. i find it interesting the difference in accent from different parts of england...some are so mild you can hardly tell.

[ferret]

Does anyone remember when some cough mixtures contained enough chemicals to make you high? I remember being on a bus one winter, sipping the stuff out of the bottle to combat a tickly cough. I got completely stoned and missed my stop! You could buy that stuff over the counter too! LOL

Ray

Used to know a re-enactor who put "benolyn" in his home brew, most of us would avoid it unless realy desperate and/or drunk.

[tonyc1]

Some horrible home administered medicines when I was a child were Cod Liver Oil, Brewers Malt and another chunderous brew was called Scott's Emulsion. I hated showing signs of sickness when I was little, I really did!!!

Tony.

[Azaz]

One South African delicacy I have not seen in the USA is jam / preserves made from watermelon peel - is it made anywhere here?

The closest I can think of is pickled watermelon rind. Hope this helps.

[Sticky]

When i was a kid we use to have the van come to our street which sold Lowes pop.

When it came round you would here all the other kids in the street shouting "The pop mans here"

Ice cream soda was my favourite:)