From the "Adults Say the Darnedest Things" Dept.

[damont]

I mused about this at church a while back, and it re-occurred to me this morning. A very large fraction of people I know refer to decaffeinated coffee (and sometimes to decaf tea as well) as "unleaded."

This slang usage appears to have come into being in the late 1960s or early 1970s, when unleaded gasoline entered the market as a result of anti-pollution legislation. By the time my child was born it was nearly impossible to find gasoline WITH tetraethyl lead in it. Thus, my generation is the last in the USA to have actually encountered leaded gas. My kid's generation seems to have picked up the usage... but I wonder just how we'll manage to explain the term to the babies of today once they're old enough to ask.

Comments

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

At my church, in addition to "unleaded" for decaf, we often say "high test" to refer to regular caffeinated coffee. Do most people still say "high test" to refer to premium gasoline, or is that another phrase going the way of the typewriter and slide rule?

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

I know lots of folks who still use "high test" for premium, of pretty much all age ranges. That one will probably be around as long as we have premium fuel. And yes, I know lots of folks who use the term for regular caffeinated coffee. (Though not for regular caffeinated soft drinks. In the fizzy beverage world, "high test" appears reserved for Jolt, or anything higher in caffeine than Jolt.)