re: Lexicographic Capitalization page 6

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.

I've heard this Philadelphian diphthong in the wild a little bit I think it's something like the RonE (@U).

I repeat: Erk, this can't be!

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 ... "Pepsi Cola" on it. The fact remains that "coke" has a generic use as a synonym for carbonated beverage, quite

In a VERY, very limited dialect area. I could go all the way upstairs to check DARE and find out where, but I won't.

apart from its otherwise more specific use as a term for "Coca Cola".

(And whoever has the discrimination problem was referring to the flavor, not the packaging.)

Peter T. Daniels (Email Removed)

And here I thought you were a Democrat. When I ... Pepsi to your customers. That is how it should be.

That's not correct.

Yes it is.

Many convenience stores dispense both Coca Cola and Pepsi from their dispensers.

Did you happen to notice the word 'restaurant' in your rush to dispute me?

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.

As I said, if a restaurant serves Coke, it can't serve the Pepsi crap. Coca-Cola won't let them. That is how it should be, for how many Democrats want to dine in the vicinity of Repubs?
Charles Riggs
There are no accented letters in my email address.

Nonsense. It depends entirely on if the restaurant has signed an agreement with one or the other beverage makers. Many do because the beverage maker's side of the agreement is to supply free stuff like the dispenser, signage, coolers, or other equipment. If the restaurant's sign has a Pepsi or Coke logo on it, you know the restaurant has such an agreement and the beverage maker paid for all or part of the sign.

Tony Cooper
Orlando FL

Has nothing at all to do telling the two brands ... a generic use as a synonym for carbonated beverage, quite

In a VERY, very limited dialect area. I could go all the way upstairsto check DARE and find out where, but I won't.

http://www.popvssoda.com/countystats/total-county.html

As I said, if a restaurant serves Coke, it can't serve the Pepsi crap. Coca-Cola won't let them. That is how it should be, for how many Democrats want to dine in the vicinity of Repubs?

What?
Maria Conlon

You've gotta be joking me.

"Joking me" seems odd. "Kidding me," sure, or "You've gotta be joking."

Is "joking me" common usage?
Maria Conlon

I was under the impression that the trademark had been given up at the Treaty of Versailles...

Many people seem to be, but this is just wrong. It confuses three separate events, of which the only connection with the treaty is that one of them was possible because the US did not sign it.

Rather, they did sign it, but this was null and void because the US Senate did not ratify it.
As to the Aspirin trademark:
(-1) For reasons that seemed good at the time, before the war the Bayer company had established a separate US-based subsidiary for their North American sales. This company had the rights to both the name Bayer and the trademark on Aspirin.
(0) While the US was at war with Germany, German-owned assets in the US were subject to seizure. But this was not a mass forfeiture upon the declaration of war; assets were only seized individually when the US government was ready to do something with them.

(1) Because the US Senate did not ratify the treaty, the US remained at war with Germany until a separate treaty was signed and therefore the asset seizures continued. One of these seizures was the subsidiary mentioned above. It was sold at auction to Sterling Drugs, which thereby acquired the rights to the name Bayer and the Aspirin trademark in North America.
(2) Not long after this, there was a lawsuit in the US where a competitor argued that Sterling, or the Bayer subsidiary it had acquired, had failed to defend the trademark and "aspirin" had become a generic word. The court agreed.
(3) A similar case in Britain, involving Bayer rather than Sterling, produced the same result there.
(4) A similar case was also brought in Canada, but under the Canadian trademark laws of the time, a similar ruling against Sterling was not possible. So Sterling continued selling Bayer Aspirin in Canada.

(5) Many decades later, Bayer bought back the rights to their own name in the US and Canada (and the Aspirin trademark with the latter).

This is all from memory, but I'm sure I have it right. The book where I read about it (except for item 5) is called "The Aspirin Wars".
Mark Brader "... Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan Toronto are Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan, (Email Removed) and I am not." Steve Summit

You've gotta be joking me.

"Joking me" seems odd. "Kidding me," sure, or "You've gotta be joking." Is "joking me" common usage? Maria Conlon

Not bloody likely. Remember this was Riggs.
dgb