“Foreign Firms Eye Indian Lesbian, Gay Travel Pie.”
The most interesting thing in the article concerns not India but Nepal. Nepal! Which has an out gay parliamentarian!
Recently, Nepal’s first openly gay MP Sunil Babu Pant launched his country’s first travel agency for the LGBT group. The travel package included a spectacular wedding ceremony, complete with bridal finery and dancing troupes in the lap of Mt. Everest.
However, the first group bookings of Pink Mountain Travels and Tours that have come in are not from bridal pairs or honeymooning couples but surprisingly, from gay Buddhists who want to follow the Buddha’s footsteps and meditate in his birthplace.
Also, this being my second despicable “pie” pun of the month, I was shocked—shocked—to find that the slang sense to which I allude is not recorded in the supermariffic updated online OED. Are we dealing with a regionalism? Is this a pop/[lowercase] coke/soda situation? Oh, which reminds me of this (clickable-by-county!) map, which I cannot believe exists:
But what is the Other people are calling soda pop?
I’m born and raised in the PNW, and I say “soda.” Fuck that map.
TONIC. Ahem.
In the county where I grew up (Williamson, TN: 80%-100% coke), when you order a coke at a restaurant, the server asks you what kind.
Also, the word of the day is “isogloss”.
In Massachusetts, in Middlesex county anyway, the “other” would be tonic. You either ordered soda or tonic. And at the risk of offending Bostonians, my impression (a data set garnered through tireless hours working at Baskin Robbins scooping ice cream) was that the word “tonic” for soda was used mostly by the original (okay, not “original” original…) Irish Catholic families, not transplants…
Re: Pie. Hmm, I could’ve guessed, but it hasn’t made its way into the over 30 set’s lexicon in western Canada, as far as I can tell. Perhaps Backyard B. will contradict me, though…goodness knows, I don’t get out much…
“Tonic” is distinctly missing from the map.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_acce…
@5 & @3 — I’d have been #3 (when I looked), but that’s what I get for spending the time finding a damn source. 🙂
And I find that the term “tonic” is fading from usage.
Is Alaska really that split up? I don’t think I know anybody from Barrow or Nome, but I call it pop and so do all other Alaskans I know.
@5: “Pie” in that sense certainly has made it into my lexicon, but I may not be typical. Years of army life have given me an extensive sex-and-vulgarity related vocabulary.
My earliest exposure – ahem – to this particular expression was in the form of “hair pie” – not sure if the contraction to simply “pie” is the result of a shift in language or grooming habits. (See also “bearded clam”.)
Oh, look. Some one posted the soft drink map on Slog again.
@9 “Years of army life have given me an extensive sex-and-vulgarity related vocabulary.”
Life is simply not fair. I want one of those…
@7: I could belive it. A lot of regionalisms fade with time. I don’t get back to Boston that much anymore, but every time I do, it seems like fewer and fewer people sound like Tom and Ray Magliozzi. And, therefore, presumably fewer people say “tonic”.
In Scotland, the generic term is (or at least used to be) ‘ginger’. As in, “What kind of ginger d’ye want?” “Raspberry.” Crazy.
Still waiting for my whiskey, Zeugma.
@8: If you actually click through, some states have barely any respondents. I count at least 6 counties in Alaska that only had 1 respondent, meaning that obviously that’s going to be slanted 100% toward whatever they say. Only 5 counties in Alaska even have responses into the double digits.
Why do you get whiskey, OuterCow, was it the “India” picture?? Was that you?
This particular “pie” slang entered my awareness like it did most children of the 80’s, through repeated viewings of Revenge of the Nerds, where it is used repeatedly. A “travel pie”, however, sounds something more akin to a “walking taco”, which South Dakotans should know is EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE. That’s right, chilli, cheese, and sour cream poured int a Fritos bag.
TONIC. Say it right. Wista.
It boggles my mind how this pop/soda map has appeared on blogs approximately every six months since 2003.
Here is the list of “other.” http://www.popvssoda.com/stats/TOTAL.htm…
“soft drink” and “tonic are most popular, but coming in at #10: “hot man gravy.” Who knew?
@16 Indeed, t’was moi, Canuck. Now I did receive a paper star ornament in the mail with no return address that I have a hunch may have been the cowardly runner-up prize. Zeugma had mentioned hesitation over the possible legal troubles of sending alcohol through the mail to a possible minor, something I’m very much not. Hell, I’m usually the drunkest person at Slog Happy.
@1, you allude to the correct answer in your own question. The correct answer is “soda pop”. Not “soda”, not “pop”, certainly none of this “tonic” or “coke” malarkey. Soda pop. D’yuh wanna soda pop? I got Fresca and Tab. Oh, wait, and one Cragmont Strawberry.
As a kid my family moved from NY to Massachusetts (Middlesex County @5!). I remember a new neighbor asking me if I wanted any “tonic.” Assuming she meant “tonic water”, I was horrified. She meant soda, of course. I suppose one could argue a potential soda/soda water misunderstanding, but pop just sounds stupid.
That this generic names for soft drinks by county data has not been merged with Cook Partisan Voting Index or other political numbers for some truly exciting graphs is a crime!
Craaaaaagmont! Yum. This is one hell of a gay pie soda pop post, Zeugma. Well done, you.
What, no one says “phosphate” any more?
lol people do not say tonic, you hipsters
My great grandparents, grandparents and parents were all born and raised in Washington and all say `soda`
I had no idea the Eastern side of Wisconsin was so CONFUSED!
Also, what is that brown hole in the middle of the Mississippi river valley (centered on Rush Limbaugh, it would seem)?