In Spanish, “carne,” which translates as “meat,” can refer to both all meat, or to beef, a specific kind of meat. We discovered local speakers saying “meat” to refer specifically to “beef”—as in, "I’ll have one meat empanada and two chicken empanadas.
Reminds me of where I grew up, we used “coke” to mean soda/pop. As in, want a coke? Which kind? Coca Cola, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, etc.
I am assuming you’re from the southern-ish US, and so am I. I’ve always thought that while it’s true enough, there was more nuance to that trope than is given out. At least in my experience, using “Coke” like that wasn’t an all-purpose term, exactly, but more of a social dance where the word does more work than it would elsewhere, but also retains its meaning as a specific product. This would be as opposed to something like Kleenex, where there is still an understanding that there’s a brand with that name, but the sense of its being a generic synonym for tissue is much more important and “semantically compact,” if you will.
Like, I don’t think anyone would offer you a “Coke” if they didn’t think that full-sugar Coca-Cola was one of their available options, and if you ask for a “Coke” you may well be planning to pick something else if they offer, but you’re usually signifying, as a social grace, that you’re willing to accept full-sugar Coca-Cola (and probably Pepsi) as an option if that is all they have or the other choices are not to your liking.
By asking for the regionally dominant product, you’re showing that you know what’s easy and normal, and that you’re a part of the same regional culture and you don’t intend to be difficult. I guess I’ve heard people say “what kind of coke do you/y’all have?” but even that is more just skipping a skip in the same type of interaction.
Or maybe I’ve just thought to much about this, and I’m trying to square a circle when no one asked.
Reminds me of where I grew up, we used “coke” to mean soda/pop. As in, want a coke? Which kind? Coca Cola, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, etc.
I am assuming you’re from the southern-ish US, and so am I. I’ve always thought that while it’s true enough, there was more nuance to that trope than is given out. At least in my experience, using “Coke” like that wasn’t an all-purpose term, exactly, but more of a social dance where the word does more work than it would elsewhere, but also retains its meaning as a specific product. This would be as opposed to something like Kleenex, where there is still an understanding that there’s a brand with that name, but the sense of its being a generic synonym for tissue is much more important and “semantically compact,” if you will.
Like, I don’t think anyone would offer you a “Coke” if they didn’t think that full-sugar Coca-Cola was one of their available options, and if you ask for a “Coke” you may well be planning to pick something else if they offer, but you’re usually signifying, as a social grace, that you’re willing to accept full-sugar Coca-Cola (and probably Pepsi) as an option if that is all they have or the other choices are not to your liking.
By asking for the regionally dominant product, you’re showing that you know what’s easy and normal, and that you’re a part of the same regional culture and you don’t intend to be difficult. I guess I’ve heard people say “what kind of coke do you/y’all have?” but even that is more just skipping a skip in the same type of interaction.
Or maybe I’ve just thought to much about this, and I’m trying to square a circle when no one asked.