re: Lexicographic Capitalization page 5

And if you can't tell Coke from Pepsi, we pity you.

We do indeed. (This is probably the first time I've agreed with Mr Daniels.)

I still think of "coke" as the generic even though I generally choose Pepsi at one of those multiple-choice beverage dispensers.

And here I thought you were a Democrat.
When I want a Coke, I'll leave any restaurant if I learn it serves Pepsi I can't abide the stuff. For those not in the know, Coca Cola won't allow you to sell the Real Thing if you insist on selling Pepsi to your customers. That is how it should be.

As a matter of update, I can't remember hearing "biro" used generically in Br since about 1967.

You've gotta be joking me.

It may well be in use, and I may have heard it without actually remembering; but the reason I remember ... recently heard it used that way. I think most people just say "pen", attaching "ball-point" if the distinction is important.

In Ireland, I hear 'biro' far more often than 'pen', the ball-pointedness of it being taken for granted.

(-)

She was obviously from Philadelphia, and seemed to have no awareness of the Philadelphia "o".

I see no 'o' there.

Kentucky is sort of southern, but not dramatically southern.

They seem only to have the Kernels, it's true, but they do have the fried chicken.

I still think of "coke" as the generic even though I generally choose Pepsi at one of those multiple-choice beverage dispensers.

And here I thought you were a Democrat. When I want a Coke, I'll leave any restaurant if I learn ... to sell the Real Thing if you insist on selling Pepsi to your customers. That is how it should be.

That's not correct. Many convenience stores dispense both Coca Cola and Pepsi from their dispensers. Some fast food places dispense one or the other, but that's because the beverage's maker has supplied them with the beverage dispenser and entered into a promotional contract.

Tony Cooper
Orlando FL

When I want a Coke, I'll leave any restaurant if I learn it serves Pepsi I can't abide the ... to sell the Real Thing if you insist on selling Pepsi to your customers. That is how it should be.

Why should choice be removed? Drink your Coke and stop messing with other people's drink choices

Besides, soda drinkers should be united against the real enemy - saccharin in fountain diet soda.

(Re discussion of "capitalization of proprietary words in various dictionaries")

I'm sure they could try it!

The big difference here is whether "you" are Padraic Brown, individual poster, or a major dictionary publisher. A trademark holder could have a lot to lose if a big dictionary implies that the word is longstanding or generic.

They could. That's not my concern (I am a single user of the language called American English not a dictionary publisher).

Therefore it is worth his or her while to give the dictionary grief about it, and it is worth the dictionary's while to find a way of listing and labeling the words that makes everyone happy.

Sure. In this case, they labelled it in a way that doesn't reflect normal usage. It only reflects the "officially sanctioned" use. Which I have no problem with!
Padraic.
la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.

And if you can't tell Coke from Pepsi, we pity you.

Has nothing at all to do telling the two brands apart. That's easy, cos one comes in a red can and says "Coca Cola" on it and the other comes in a blue can and says "Pepsi Cola" on it. The fact remains that "coke" has a generic use as a synonym for carbonated beverage, quite apart from its otherwise more specific use as a term for "Coca Cola".

Padraic.
la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.

She was obviously from Philadelphia, and seemed to have no awareness of the Philadelphia "o".

Is that the one that can be approximately described as /uV/? If so, that also approximates the Latvian "o", except in loan words.
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/