SeattleHistoryCompany.com
| "Soda Pop" History |
(NOTE: Much of the following information is quoted from Collecting Soda Pop
Bottles by Ron Fowler, Seattle History Company, Seattle, Washington, ©
1984 and 2006 [visit SHC Books For Sale for details]. Permission is
granted to quote from this material only if credit is provided by properly
citing the source, including the www.SeattleHistoryCompany.com URL.)
"SODA POP"
Blasting along the coast highway, I spied the magic words "OLD BOTTLES"
handwritten as an afterthought on a weather worn "ROCK SHOP" sign. The
tires squealed as I screeched to a halt and did a quick u-turn to park in
front of an aging antiques store.
The elderly proprietor nodded "hello" as I entered his cluttered shop. I
wound my way thru piles of rocks and assorted junk, and sure enough, he had
several shelves of bottles. At first I was sorry for bothering to stop, but
then I spotted a Hutchinson soda peeking its head up from the back of a
shelf. I gently picked it up, hoping for some great rarity. Alas, the bottle
wasn't embossed and the bottom was missing. The shop owner told me
"that's a real rare bottle you're holdin' there; that's the bottle that gave
'soda pop' its name." He then repeated the tired myth about the term
"pop" being derived from the "popping" sound made when opening a Hutchinson
bottle by pushing the stopper down with the palm of one's hand. This yarn
about Hutchinsons (and other soda bottles utilizing internal closures) just
doesn't hold, shall we say, carbonated water. Here are several references
predating Charles G. Hutchinson's 1879 patent (year emphasis added):
Widespread use of internal closures didn't occur until the 1880s. In my
opinion, the word "pop" most likely originated from the sound made when
externally stoppered bottles were opened, i.e. as the corks were released.
This sound was even occasionally the source of humor as evidenced by this
article from the June 2, 1883 Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper:
A BARKEEPERS STORY
The other morning a couple of Eastern tourists walked into the barroom of
the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
"Want Napa soda lemonades, I suppose, gentlemen?" said the cocktail artist,
noticing they were newcomers.
"Yes, we believe that is the correct thing for strangers to do," replied the
guests.
"All right," returned the barkeeper, picking up a couple of bottles and
preparing to push the wires off the cork; "just keep quiet while I groan,
please." And, with his eyes fixed on the door, he exploded both corks in
rapid succession, following the reports with the most dismal and bloodcurdling
moans possible. After a short pause the whisky mixer shook his head. "I
guess there ain't any around just now," he said, as he proceeded to
compound the California substitute for nectar.
"Ain't any what around? What the deuce does all this mean?" said the
mystified strangers.
"Why, you see, there's generally lots of English globe trotters in the house
– these fellows who think the bowie knife and 'man for breakfast' times are
still on the go here. So, whenever I open a bottle of soda, I just groan
once or twice, and the way the Johnny Bulls rush in from the billiard room
and reading rooms to get a look at the corpse is just too good for anything.
Come in after dinner tonight and I will show you some fun."
© 2008, Seattle History Company
Bottles by Ron Fowler, Seattle History Company, Seattle, Washington, ©
1984 and 2006 [visit SHC Books For Sale for details]. Permission is
granted to quote from this material only if credit is provided by properly
citing the source, including the www.SeattleHistoryCompany.com URL.)
"SODA POP"
Blasting along the coast highway, I spied the magic words "OLD BOTTLES"
handwritten as an afterthought on a weather worn "ROCK SHOP" sign. The
tires squealed as I screeched to a halt and did a quick u-turn to park in
front of an aging antiques store.
The elderly proprietor nodded "hello" as I entered his cluttered shop. I
wound my way thru piles of rocks and assorted junk, and sure enough, he had
several shelves of bottles. At first I was sorry for bothering to stop, but
then I spotted a Hutchinson soda peeking its head up from the back of a
shelf. I gently picked it up, hoping for some great rarity. Alas, the bottle
wasn't embossed and the bottom was missing. The shop owner told me
"that's a real rare bottle you're holdin' there; that's the bottle that gave
'soda pop' its name." He then repeated the tired myth about the term
"pop" being derived from the "popping" sound made when opening a Hutchinson
bottle by pushing the stopper down with the palm of one's hand. This yarn
about Hutchinsons (and other soda bottles utilizing internal closures) just
doesn't hold, shall we say, carbonated water. Here are several references
predating Charles G. Hutchinson's 1879 patent (year emphasis added):
- Cecil Munsey addressed this subject in The Illustrated Guide To
Collecting Bottles by citing English poet Robert Southey's 1812
description of ginger ale as "a nectar, between soda water and ginger
beer, and called pop, because pop goes the cork when it is drawn."
- While discussing the history of "cocktails" in his excellent volume
Drink: A Social History Of America, author Andrew Barr quotes
Frederick Marryat, an Englishman who toured America during the
1830s, detailing his travels in A Diary in America (London, 1839).
Quoting Barr: "Marryat...was greatly impressed by 'the pleasantness,
amenity, and variety of the potations.' In New York for Independence
Day in 1837, he was amazed to see the whole length of Broadway
lined with booths 'loaded with porter, ale, cider, mead, brandy, wine,
ginger-beer, pop, soda-water, whisky, rum, punch, gin slings, cocktails,
mint juleps, besides many other compounds, to name which nothing but
the luxuriance of American English could invent a word.'"
- John F. Mariani, author of The Encyclopedia Of American Food & Drink
also touched on this topic while discussing the history of seltzer water:
"Flavors were soon added to seltzers, and such mixtures were called
'soda pop' by the 1840s, but the word seltzer has continued to mean
an unflavored carbonated water to this day."
- The 1859 United States Census cited 123 plants bottling "Mineral
Waters and Pop."
Widespread use of internal closures didn't occur until the 1880s. In my
opinion, the word "pop" most likely originated from the sound made when
externally stoppered bottles were opened, i.e. as the corks were released.
This sound was even occasionally the source of humor as evidenced by this
article from the June 2, 1883 Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper:
A BARKEEPERS STORY
The other morning a couple of Eastern tourists walked into the barroom of
the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
"Want Napa soda lemonades, I suppose, gentlemen?" said the cocktail artist,
noticing they were newcomers.
"Yes, we believe that is the correct thing for strangers to do," replied the
guests.
"All right," returned the barkeeper, picking up a couple of bottles and
preparing to push the wires off the cork; "just keep quiet while I groan,
please." And, with his eyes fixed on the door, he exploded both corks in
rapid succession, following the reports with the most dismal and bloodcurdling
moans possible. After a short pause the whisky mixer shook his head. "I
guess there ain't any around just now," he said, as he proceeded to
compound the California substitute for nectar.
"Ain't any what around? What the deuce does all this mean?" said the
mystified strangers.
"Why, you see, there's generally lots of English globe trotters in the house
– these fellows who think the bowie knife and 'man for breakfast' times are
still on the go here. So, whenever I open a bottle of soda, I just groan
once or twice, and the way the Johnny Bulls rush in from the billiard room
and reading rooms to get a look at the corpse is just too good for anything.
Come in after dinner tonight and I will show you some fun."
© 2008, Seattle History Company
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