Sodas

On discution on soda, pop and coke...

Just for the records, in Spanish there is a babel if you want a soda outs=
ide your enviroment.  In Bogot=E1 (and most central Colombia) you could f=
reely ask for a "gaseosa" (if the
waiter will ask you for narrowing your order or will throw any soda s/he =
wants... so you better ask for a "coca-cola", "quattro", "sprite", "manza=
na", "pepsi", "colombiana",
etc.)  You can also use the word "soda" but you get a carbonated flaworle=
ss water without any sweet.

In the Colombian Caribbean region, you will probably been understood if y=
ou ask for a "gaseosa" but the word they use is "fesco" (pronounced /'fre=
xko/ or /'freko/)... or even
"fresco embotellado" _bottled fresh_.

I can recall al the anecdots I have about the generic names of soda... I =
remember when I was a kid that I ask for a "gaseosa" in Spain and they br=
ought to me a sweeted flaworless
carbonate water.  Or once that my father asked for a "gaseosa" /gase'osa/=
 in El Salvador, after the waiter couldn't understand him, my father aske=
d for a "coca-cola", then the
waiter said "ah!, una gasiosa" /ga'sjosa/  (the /j/ pronunciation of stre=
ssless "e" are comon infront of a stressed vowel).