What kind of Coke do you want?
Over on wtf_stupid a discussion thread came up about how in certain regions of the US, any soft drink is called a “coke” regardless of brand or flavor.
I couldn’t help but wonder what it’d be like if the genericized brand name thing extended to food. What if all food was by default called the name brand of one popular food item?
“Hey, I’m hungry. Let’s go get a Big Mac.”
“Okay, what kind of Big Mac do you want to eat?”
“I was thinking of getting pizza. Or maybe Chinese takeout Big Macs.”
“I’m vegan, can you make my Big Mac a garden salad?”
“Okay, but let’s get sushi too, it’s Dad’s favorite Big Mac.”
“And some pasta salad Big Macs for mom?”
“Sounds good! Now, what kind of Coke will we all be having with our Big Macs…?”
etc.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
OMG. I’ve wondered about that one too. It’s bizarre.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I’m very happy with my Midwest “Pop” thank you very much. Soda, what’s a soda? And the whole Coke thing…bizarre.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I don’t think you can really extend the brand-name-to-generic-stuff quite as far as to say “big mac” is synonymous with all food. However…. there are several things that are really like this, for example, do you ask for a “facial tissue” or a Kleenex? An “adhesive strip” or a Band-Aid? BTW - it’s called a synecdoche: when a part is used to refer to the whole, or something specific is used to refer to something general. (Ack, memories of English class creeping up from the depths of the brain…)
June 27th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
@Ann: “Pop” is a verb or an onomatopoeia, dangit! ;-)
@Amber: Thanks, I didn’t know what they were called. Although I personally really try not to use such terms if I can avoid them, I’d just as soon ask for a tissue or a bandage and hope my point has gotten across.