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This question is so strange to me! What dialect of English do you speak? Soda generally means like Coca Cola or some other sweetened, carbonated beverage. It do

This question is so strange to me! What dialect of English do you speak? Soda generally means like Coca Cola or some other sweetened, carbonated beverage. It doesn't mean soda water (though I can understand the confusion), which we can seltzer or sparkling water. It absolutely does not include lemonade! I never in a million years would think of lemonade as remotely related to "soda". Our lemonades are not carbonated, and are just lemon juice, water, and sometimes sugar. The question is so surprising to me. Where are you from? To you, what does "soda" mean? What does "lemonade" mean?

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
Lemonade in the UK is carbonated, so it is very similar to what we in the US call soda.
stavros 5y ago
What does "mean" mean?! I love your sense of wonderment at different cultures, wait until you hear about what "chips", "pants", and "fanny" mean in the UK!
prawn 5y ago
They might be in Australia. Lemonade here is carbonated (like 7Up). Soda would be soda water. Sweetened, carbonated drinks are generally called "soft drinks". Lemon squash would be more like a homemade lemonade, but still sweetened and carbonated (can't remember if you have Solo in the US).
distances 5y ago
Hehe, sorry for the language confusion and derailing the topic! I'm not a native speaker and have always assumed that "lemonade" can be used as a generic term for all carbonated soft drinks, cola drinks included. I think my confusion comes from the Finnish loan word "limonadi" which is an umbrella term for carbonated sweet drinks. And now checking what real lemonade looks like -- I think we'd call that lemon soda but it wouldn't definitely belong in the "limonadi" category. So a bit confusing inversion of terms during some cultural adoption! Edit: I see the usage is closer to UK naming convention, so maybe that's the history.
- losvedir 5y ago
  Fascinating, thanks! Yeah, here in the US, I don't think you can call a carbonated beverage "lemonade", even if it has lemons in it. That would be "lemon soda", I suppose, though I don't think I've ever seen that. Lemonade is a mixture of still water and lemons, sometimes sweetened, with ice, that you drink out on the porch during summer in the afternoon. Your question hit me like: "does 'wine' always mean 'beer', in Finland, or only sake (rice wine)?" I knew there must be a culturally different usage of language somewhere but I had no idea where! Turns out it was lemonade that was different. TIL that other places have carbonated lemon drinks.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

Lemonade in the UK is carbonated, so it is very similar to what we in the US call soda.

stavros 5y ago

What does "mean" mean?! I love your sense of wonderment at different cultures, wait until you hear about what "chips", "pants", and "fanny" mean in the UK!

prawn 5y ago

They might be in Australia. Lemonade here is carbonated (like 7Up). Soda would be soda water. Sweetened, carbonated drinks are generally called "soft drinks". Lemon squash would be more like a homemade lemonade, but still sweetened and carbonated (can't remember if you have Solo in the US).

distances 5y ago

Hehe, sorry for the language confusion and derailing the topic! I'm not a native speaker and have always assumed that "lemonade" can be used as a generic term for all carbonated soft drinks, cola drinks included. I think my confusion comes from the Finnish loan word "limonadi" which is an umbrella term for carbonated sweet drinks. And now checking what real lemonade looks like -- I think we'd call that lemon soda but it wouldn't definitely belong in the "limonadi" category. So a bit confusing inversion of terms during some cultural adoption! Edit: I see the usage is closer to UK naming convention, so maybe that's the history.

losvedir 5y ago
Fascinating, thanks! Yeah, here in the US, I don't think you can call a carbonated beverage "lemonade", even if it has lemons in it. That would be "lemon soda", I suppose, though I don't think I've ever seen that. Lemonade is a mixture of still water and lemons, sometimes sweetened, with ice, that you drink out on the porch during summer in the afternoon. Your question hit me like: "does 'wine' always mean 'beer', in Finland, or only sake (rice wine)?" I knew there must be a culturally different usage of language somewhere but I had no idea where! Turns out it was lemonade that was different. TIL that other places have carbonated lemon drinks.