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Why are soft drinks, such as lemonade etc., called soft drinks?

Andrew Leach
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alexlo
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    I've never heard of lemonade referred to as a soft drink, only various carbonated drinks (sodas). Where is lemonade called a soft drink? Br.E.? – Doc May 08 '14 at 19:47
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    @Doc: Here are 552 written instances of "soft drinks such as lemonade", and toggling between US/UK corpuses on this NGram suggests the usage is in fact twice as common in AmE as in BrE. Conversely, although I'm perfectly familiar with *hard liquor*, I must admit it has more of an "American" feel to me. – FumbleFingers May 08 '14 at 20:05
  • @FumbleFingers Interesting. I wonder if it's a regional thing or maybe I'm just oblivious to it's use. – Doc May 08 '14 at 20:27
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    Lemonade and its differing uses from region to region are the subject of a whole other question. – choster May 08 '14 at 20:33
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    There two types of apple cider: Soft & Hard. – Blessed Geek May 08 '14 at 23:12
  • @Doc: I think *it's* the kind of word that's highly likely to be much affected by regional preferences (but I wouldn't go so far as to say dialects). There are also socio-economic differences - in my area, pop is downmarket, fizzy drink is "middling", and carbonated/sparkling just don't really work for sweetened/flavoured drinks. – FumbleFingers May 08 '14 at 23:14
  • @BlessedGeek, outside the US, the word "cider" exclusively refers to an alcoholic drink brewed from fruit. Usually apples, though the term is occasionally applied to drinks brewed from pears or other fruits. It is only in America that it can be applied to apple juice. – tobyink May 09 '14 at 12:33
  • In America, non-alcoholic cider and apple juice are two different things. Apple juice is filtered to a clear golden appearance and a weak flavor, cider is opaque brown with a stronger flavor. – Jeanne Pindar May 09 '14 at 13:54
  • @tobyink I seem to recall seeing 'low-alcohol cider' in Tesco, alongside some 'low-alcohol beer'. – WS2 May 11 '14 at 10:05
  • @Doc: There is carbonated lemonade, which I would refer to as a "soft drink". Lemonade (carbonated or uncarbonated) is also often available as an option from a drinks machine, in which context I would probably classify it under the umbrella of "soft drinks". – herisson Feb 28 '15 at 19:02

4 Answers4

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This made me think of why hard drinks are alcoholic. I have found that

big or hearty drink of liquor (1620s)

is probably the origin of hard liquor.

liquor: Narrowed sense of "fermented or distilled drink" (especially wine) first recorded c.1300. To liquor up "get drunk" is from 1845.

Hard meaning intoxicating, spiritous, 'strong'" sense, surprisingly, dates at least from 1879 (see edit below supporting its earlier use), from Boston Times about someone brought up on charges:

Before the court, for selling hard liquor, when he had only a licence for selling ale.

For Australia and New Zealand, it's recorded in 1890.

As for soft, "of beverages, non-alcoholic, non-spiritous," there is a citation from 1880 in the OED online, and a quote from 1891 by a brigade commander, General Robinson, that of the "Canteen" or "Post Exchange" system.

Each regiment had a "canteen" of its own, where the men could buy, at a price which would give a small profit, soft drinks, beer, cigars, pipes, etc.

There is a British Soft Drinks History devoted to soft drinks. They state that soft was first described as small, and note that a tombstone of 1764 records

Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier,
Who caught his death by drinking cold small beer,
Soldiers be wise from his untimely fall
And when ye’re hot drink Strong or none

Edited to note: StonyB has found an 1843 book (British?) with a very interesting phrase. While reflecting on the perils of idleness, Luke Hansard states that two men could be persuades to fight (for entertainment) by use of "soft sawder" (which actually means flattery) and hard liquor. So clearly, hard for strong alcoholic beverages was in use by the early 1840s. To StonyB: Great find!

anongoodnurse
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    +1 OED 1 claims hard liquor to be an Americanism, but on Google Books I found this from an 1843 English source: If nothing else serves our turn we seek out two fellows who, like ourselves, want employment sadly, and by dint of a £10 note, some "soft sawder" and hard liquor, we persuade them to stand and pummel and be pummeled until one is carried out of the ring a mass of living jelly ... " – StoneyB on hiatus May 08 '14 at 20:48
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    "Who caught his death by drinking cold small beer,..." Small beer usually has a much lower alcohol content. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_beer – IconDaemon May 08 '14 at 21:09
  • If I recall correctly there actually has been a brand of beer called "Strong". – Tonny May 08 '14 at 21:21
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    My impression is that neither 'hard' nor 'liquor' are much used in Britain. In fact I had to check to make sure I was spelling 'liquor'correctly, as it is a word I never normally use. The regulatory laws in Britain break alcoholic drinks into 'beers' 'wines' and 'spirits'. The last, I assume to be what Americans call 'hard liquor'. There are drinks which do not fit conveniently into any of these categories, such as fortified wines like sherry and port, liqueurs etc. 'Ale' which was once synonymous with 'beer' nowadays tends to be used for 'real ale' i.e. cask-fermented, non-pasteurised. – WS2 May 08 '14 at 21:38
  • @BraddSzonye I don't think we call non-alcoholic 'cider' 'soft'. 'Non' or 'low-alcohol cider', is called just that, similarly with 'low-alcohol beer'. We don't talk about 'soft cider' or 'soft beer'. As regards other non-alcoholic apple drinks, we tend to use their brand names e.g 'Appletiser'. – WS2 May 09 '14 at 07:32
  • @WS2 I agree with you for the most part, though I've heard "the hard stuff" used to refer to spirits etc. (i.e. distilled alcohol). I'm not confident enough to discount the fact it might be an Americanism though. – starsplusplus May 09 '14 at 08:53
  • @starsplusplus Yes, we do use 'the hard stuff'. But seldom, if ever, do we nowadays refer to 'liquor'. It always sounds horrific to me when Americans talk of 'the liquor store'. It makes it sound as if it belongs only in the 'badlands'. But I suppose it is American puritanism and prohibitionism which has given confirmation to a word which makes drink sound evil. – WS2 May 09 '14 at 11:39
  • @WS2 Yes, I agree completely about not saying "liquor". No argument there. – starsplusplus May 09 '14 at 11:44
  • It was interesting, @medica, to read the quotation on cold beer. You will be aware that we do not drink cold beer. Putting it in the fridge completely destroys the taste of fermented 'real ale'. Beer, so the British maintain, to savour its true fragrance is best drunk at room temperature. – WS2 May 09 '14 at 11:48
  • @WS2 - I was in London all of last week. I (as some Americans are wont to say) guaran-damn-TEE you our beer/ale/stout/etc. was not served at room temperature! And we went to more than one pub there! ') – anongoodnurse May 09 '14 at 11:55
  • @medica, ales are usually served at "cellar temperature" - i.e. below room temperature, but above fridge temperature. Closer to room temperature than fridge temperature though. Many old pubs have thick stone cellar walls and the cellar stays naturally cool. Newer buildings often use air conditioning or clever tricks with ventilation to keep their cellars cool. – tobyink May 09 '14 at 12:36
  • @medica You probably didn't find many people in the street speaking English either. Few Americans ever visit 'Britain'. They follow a tourist circuit of LHR, Central London, Stratford,Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, Windsor and back to LHR. etc. That tourist circuit doesn't really qualify as 'Britain'. But I assure you if you had been in the Rising Sun, by the river in Coltishall, (Norfolk) last week, the local Woodfordes Ale was coming out of the tap at, perhaps not room temperature, but 'cellar temperature'. And a good brew it is too. – WS2 May 10 '14 at 07:32
  • No offence to Americans intended. But I'm bemused at those of them who believe they have gained an insight into Britain, after a few nights spent in a Kensington apartment and drinks in the nearby Queen's Arms. I would suggest it would tell you less about Britain than visiting an English Pavillion at Disneyland. Now had you stayed in Oldham and drunk in the Dog & Partridge, or at the Trowell & Hammer in Norwich, I would suggest you would be better qualified to expound on what goes on in Britain. – WS2 May 10 '14 at 19:57
  • @WS2 - that all sounds very pretentious, doesn't it? Had you spent the week monitoring my activities, I suggest that would make you better qualified to expound on what I did and didn't experience. – anongoodnurse May 10 '14 at 21:42
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I have found this article about the origin of the name:

The term “soft drink” ... is now typically used exclusively for flavored carbonated beverages. This is actually due to advertising. Flavored carbonated beverage makers were having a hard time creating national advertisements due to the fact that what you call their product varies from place to place. For instance, in parts of the United States and Canada, flavored carbonated beverages are referred to as “pop”; in other parts “soda”; in yet other parts “coke”; and there are a variety of other names commonly used as well. Then if we go international with the advertisements, in England these drinks are called “fizzy drinks”; in Ireland sometimes “minerals”. To account for the fact that they can’t refer to their product in the generic sense on national advertisements, because of these varied terms, these manufactures have chosen the term “soft drink” to be more or less a universal term for flavored carbonated beverages.

(emphasis mine)

Marthaª
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  • What is the asterisk at the end for? Otherwise, great answer. – trysis May 09 '14 at 00:14
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    Do you have a reference for this? – user867 May 09 '14 at 03:53
  • Yes, click on the red words 'soft drink' –  May 09 '14 at 04:38
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    I've seen many menus that include fruit juices and lemonade in the "soft drink" list. In my experience, the term is mainly used to distinguish them from alcoholic beverages, not specifically for carbonated beverages. – Barmar May 13 '14 at 00:09
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Because beverage that contain alcohol are "hard" drinks.

Consider hard cider:

In the United States and some parts of Canada, the alcoholic beverage discussed in this article is commonly known as "hard cider", while simply "cider" often refers to non-alcoholic unfiltered apple juice.

frances
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    This does raise the question why hard beverages are alcoholic (other than hard water of course). – choster May 08 '14 at 19:41
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    It does indeed. All I have been able to find on it is what you can intuit. They are hard because they can hit you hard. And a lot of people talking about hard liquor vs weaker alcohol. If anyone can find an actual etymology on that, I'd vote their answer up over mine. – frances May 08 '14 at 19:44
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The word for "juice" in German is "saft." I think it has probably been anglicized to soft in English, and the originally meaning of juice drink has altered over time.

Steve Bush
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    It would be interesting if there is a reference for it. "I think" answers are considered doubtful here. – GEdgar Feb 28 '15 at 18:05
  • Etymonline says:Soft In reference to drinks, "non-alcoholic" from 1880. Its origins: from West Germanic samfti, from Proto-Germanic samftijaz* "level, even, smooth, gentle, soft"* – Mari-Lou A Feb 28 '15 at 22:47