"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
I come from the Texas generation that remembers local mom and pop grocery stores having a screen door and squat metal coolers (usually painted red) beside the door filled with Nehi, Redpop, and Coca-Cola.
I don't recall ever drinking a Nehi, but I remember hearing of it when I was a little kid. It always reminded me of an old man in the neighborhood who had a saying, "knee-high to a bug's eye".
Quiz question: What popular TV character liked to drink grape Nehi?
That"s how I learned about Nehi rman. Specifically, grape Nehi. I don't recall ever seeing it in upstate NY. But then, we had Stewart's brand for non-cola sodas so maybe they never caught on.
Rebecca: I remember those little stores and gas stations from my youth in the rural areas of North Carolina, with those metal coolers outside. My biggest problem was always deciding which of the delicious sodas to buy: Pepsi? 7-Up? Cheerwine? Orange Crush?
I enjoyed that movie Gregory, but it's set in Kansas and Missouri, the Midwest. Think vast fields of wheat from horizon to horizon, settled by inscrutable Scandinavians, in isolated remote pockets - Ideal for travelling con-artists (before mass communication) who rely on each town not having heard of the scam they pulled in the last one, so they can perfect things like the 'change-up' with repeated practice. And townsfolk flush with large amounts of money after annual harvest. (In contrast the South was often poor and not worth the con-artist's time).
I got a sense of the vastness of the midwest from the 1980s lps of the musician Pat Metheny who was born in Missouri. Like this album: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Falls_Wichita,_So_Falls_Wichita_Falls
If we Aussies had a better understanding of US geography it would help us see through the BBC-type stereotyping, so I think it's important. The vast midwestern region coincides with the Corn Belt:
I come from the Texas generation that remembers local mom and pop grocery stores having a screen door and squat metal coolers (usually painted red) beside the door filled with Nehi, Redpop, and Coca-Cola.
Ditto here, Rebecca, except it was the Pacific Northwest, and lacked Nehi and Redpop. Coke, Pepsi, and Crush, as I recall. Wooden floors that hadn't been waxed in a couple decades. And balsa airplane kits for sale! Wheeeeee!
PS, the book Addie Pray on which the movie Paper Moon was based, sets the story in Alabama, which they changed for the movie. So maybe my theory about the midwest being better for grifters and con-artists doesn't hold up so well. But 1/3 of the book is about tricking millionaires and that was left out of the film.
Feel free to disagree with what I've said, anyone.
Posts on X report that Mitchell is saying the "political mood in the country has changed".
ReplyDeleteNo, dumba$$, you're finally getting the message: we're tired of being screwed by Big Government.
Whoops, wrong post! Still waking up ....
ReplyDeleteI never drank NeHi, I didn't even know it was a thing until I wan an adult.
I didn't encounter Nihi very often, but it was delicious, ice cold.
ReplyDeleteI come from the Texas generation that remembers local mom and pop grocery stores having a screen door and squat metal coolers (usually painted red) beside the door filled with Nehi, Redpop, and Coca-Cola.
ReplyDeleteAddendum: those stores usually had a gas pump out front too.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall ever drinking a Nehi, but I remember hearing of it when I was a little kid. It always reminded me of an old man in the neighborhood who had a saying, "knee-high to a bug's eye".
ReplyDeleteQuiz question: What popular TV character liked to drink grape Nehi?
Hint: Radio Detection and Ranging
That"s how I learned about Nehi rman.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, grape Nehi.
I don't recall ever seeing it in upstate NY.
But then, we had Stewart's brand for non-cola sodas so maybe they never caught on.
Rebecca: I remember those little stores and gas stations from my youth in the rural areas of North Carolina, with those metal coolers outside. My biggest problem was always deciding which of the delicious sodas to buy: Pepsi? 7-Up? Cheerwine? Orange Crush?
ReplyDeleteNehi I know only from that old movie Paper Moon. Which was set in the South, more or less, as I (dimly) recall.
ReplyDeleteWe used to get Ma's old fashioned root beer around Wyoming County, PA
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that movie Gregory, but it's set in Kansas and Missouri, the Midwest. Think vast fields of wheat from horizon to horizon, settled by inscrutable Scandinavians, in isolated remote pockets - Ideal for travelling con-artists (before mass communication) who rely on each town not having heard of the scam they pulled in the last one, so they can perfect things like the 'change-up' with repeated practice. And townsfolk flush with large amounts of money after annual harvest. (In contrast the South was often poor and not worth the con-artist's time).
ReplyDeleteI got a sense of the vastness of the midwest from the 1980s lps of the musician Pat Metheny who was born in Missouri. Like this album:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Falls_Wichita,_So_Falls_Wichita_Falls
If we Aussies had a better understanding of US geography it would help us see through the BBC-type stereotyping, so I think it's important. The vast midwestern region coincides with the Corn Belt:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Belt
I come from the Texas generation that remembers local mom and pop grocery stores having a screen door and squat metal coolers (usually painted red) beside the door filled with Nehi, Redpop, and Coca-Cola.
ReplyDeleteDitto here, Rebecca, except it was the Pacific Northwest, and lacked Nehi and Redpop. Coke, Pepsi, and Crush, as I recall. Wooden floors that hadn't been waxed in a couple decades. And balsa airplane kits for sale! Wheeeeee!
PS, the book Addie Pray on which the movie Paper Moon was based, sets the story in Alabama, which they changed for the movie. So maybe my theory about the midwest being better for grifters and con-artists doesn't hold up so well. But 1/3 of the book is about tricking millionaires and that was left out of the film.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to disagree with what I've said, anyone.
Bruce - thanks for the info.
ReplyDelete