Sodas (and beer)

Carlos Thompson <chlewey@...> wrote:

> On discution on soda, pop and coke...
>=20
> Just for the records, in Spanish there is a babel=20
> if you want a soda outside your enviroment.
> In Bogot=E1 (and most central Colombia) you could=20
> freely ask for a "gaseosa" (if the waiter will=20
> ask you for narrowing your order or will throw=20
> any soda s/he wants... so you better ask for a=20
> "coca-cola", "quattro", "sprite", "manzana", "pepsi",=20
> "colombiana", etc.)  You can also use the word "soda"
> but you get a carbonated flaworless water without any sweet.
Oh, you have Quattro too! In Argentina you usually ask
for "una gaseosa" (just about any soda), or "una coca"
(Coke), etc. Never heard of "fresco"; that must have
been "refresco", which is rare here, but exists.

Here "soda" means carbonate flavorless water (Seltz water,
I think it's called), usually in a special container
called "sifo'n" (with a stick you press to let water
and gas out), though it can come also as "agua gasificada"
(gassified water) in a common glass or plastic bottle.

And then there's beer, usually "cerveza", but also
"porro'n" (the name of the bottle where it comes, which
is nevertheless exactly like other bottles!), and the
colloquial "birra" (borrowed from English, I guess, tho
I'm not sure that it was a direct borrowing). And of
course, soft beer in pressurized containers, "chopp"
(where is that from?).


--Pablo Flores

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