Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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May 12, 2026

Pop Juice

by David M Willis on February 4, 2024 at 12:01 am
  • 03 – Trystin' in the Wind
└ Tags: becky, joyce, tristan

Discussion (168) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    February 4, 2024 at 12:03 am | #

    uh oh, the source of many a drama

    CONVENIENCE STORES

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 4, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

      Turns out this was the convenience store that Asher and Sal hit right before the big one.

      • staszu13
        staszu13
        February 4, 2024 at 12:30 pm | #

        No that was in Evansville. Not sure where this one is

    • Cloud
      Cloud
      February 4, 2024 at 12:41 am | #

      At the end of all things, there will be a convenience store. And its sushi will still be lethal.

      • clif
        clif
        February 4, 2024 at 2:58 am | #

        I have seen many a grocery store selling sushi in recent times, but never a convenience store.

        Please tell me that there isn’t a convenience store chain that sells sushi.

        • ktbear
          ktbear
          February 4, 2024 at 3:03 am | #

          There is a convenience store chain that sells sushi, at least in New Zealand.

        • Max
          Max
          February 4, 2024 at 3:22 am | #

          In Asia you can get some basic sushi at 7-Eleven and Family Mart, Circle K, etc…
          It’s not the best but it won’t kill you. Unless you’re allergic to fish.

          • Masumi
            Masumi
            February 4, 2024 at 8:25 am | #

            Yeah, Asian convenience store sushi is at least safe to eat. Not exactly tasty tho.

          • Roborat
            Roborat
            February 5, 2024 at 4:29 pm | #

            I have heard that sushi from Japanese 7-11 stores is pretty good.

        • pope suburban
          pope suburban
          February 4, 2024 at 4:49 pm | #

          If I walk down the street to 7-11, I could buy sushi. I never would, but the option is there, at least on the central coast of California (So, you know, not where you might actually want to do this).

        • Miafillene
          Miafillene
          February 4, 2024 at 5:35 pm | #

          7-11, Am-Pm, every grocery store over here. The curse of California.

        • Smallmoon
          Smallmoon
          February 4, 2024 at 5:49 pm | #

          Kwik Trip in the Midwest.
          not to be confused with Qwik Trip.

        • The Lurker
          The Lurker
          February 6, 2024 at 2:27 am | #

          7-11’s in OKC have pre-pared sushi in some of the stores.

    • Decidedly Orthogonal
      Decidedly Orthogonal
      February 4, 2024 at 9:40 pm | #

      I’m not even supposed to work today!

  2. C.T. Phipps
    C.T. Phipps
    February 4, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

    I am now shipping Tristan and Joyce. They clearly are meant to be together!

    Like Becky and Joyce.

    And Joyce and Dorothy.

    And Walky and Joyce.

    And Joyce and Joyce.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      February 4, 2024 at 12:05 am | #

      And Maytag and Joyce.

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        February 4, 2024 at 6:41 pm | #

        Maytag is the Automatic for Joyce!

        https://www.tumblr.com/vintascope/741412479340544000

    • Switchchris26
      Switchchris26
      February 4, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

      Don’t forget Mac and Cheese and Joyce, and Washing Machine and Joyce.

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        February 4, 2024 at 7:45 am | #

        Wait is that Mac and Maytag Cheese?

      • Psychie
        Psychie
        February 4, 2024 at 9:15 am | #

        Mac & Cheese isn’t to be romanced, it’s to be worshipped. Mac & Cheese is life. Mac & Cheese is love.

    • ASTAPHE
      ASTAPHE
      February 4, 2024 at 12:13 am | #

      You shippers sure are a contentious people.

      • C.T. Phipps
        C.T. Phipps
        February 4, 2024 at 12:16 am | #

        That’s it! Now I’m shipping you and Joyce! – Groundskeeper Willie voice

      • clif
        clif
        February 4, 2024 at 3:20 am | #

        Contentious is an odd way to spell insanely optimistic.

      • Sensei Le Roof
        Sensei Le Roof
        February 4, 2024 at 11:24 am | #

        I am not a cardboard box that can be unfolded into a display for the items it contains!

    • Stephen Nedland
      Stephen Nedland
      February 4, 2024 at 7:54 am | #

      Joyce is the Usagi Tsukino, of, “Dumbing of Age”; you can ship her with anyone in DoA, and it would be the best, most adorable ship ever.

      • clif
        clif
        February 4, 2024 at 9:33 am | #

        Joyce and Mary
        Joyce and Mary
        Joyce and Robin
        Joyce and Buckets of Blood Guy
        Joyce and Raidah
        Joyce and the Dean
        Joyce and the Iguana
        Joyce and Hank

        Joyce and
        Joyce and Hank

        • clif
          clif
          February 4, 2024 at 9:34 am | #

          Well, now I see where the stuff at the bottom disappeared to.

          • clif
            clif
            February 4, 2024 at 9:36 am | #

            Dang it, I left out Joyce and dead Mike.

      • PedanticJerkass
        PedanticJerkass
        February 4, 2024 at 12:54 pm | #

        Joyce and Galasso
        Joyce and Linda
        Joyce and Blaine
        Joyce and Toedad
        Joyce and Ryan

        • PedanticJerkass
          PedanticJerkass
          February 4, 2024 at 1:07 pm | #

          Apologies to Galasso for lumping him in with those other four assholes. He doesn’t deserve such an insult.

          But even so, Joylasso would still not be the best, most adorable ship ever.

          • Ana Chronistic
            Ana Chronistic
            February 4, 2024 at 11:57 pm | #

            Joyce and Snoop 5EVAR

  3. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    February 4, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

    This Tristan chump looks like a cartoon character but I have trouble remembering who he reminds me of. Maybe Doug Funny? Kind of? This will bother me now. I hate Tristan!

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 4, 2024 at 12:06 am | #

      He’s got the Han Solo vest thing going on.

      • Mturtle7
        Mturtle7
        February 4, 2024 at 2:21 pm | #

        Joyce: I love you*…
        Tristan: I know**.

        *(In an obsessive, mostly performative manner)
        **(Just like everyone else in our church group, because you’re been very inexpertly stalking me for literal years now)

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      February 4, 2024 at 12:06 am | #

      Out of Joyce’s whole homeschool group, I think she’s the best socialized.

      • HueSatLight
        HueSatLight
        February 4, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

        that wasn’t supposed to be a reply. In the original reply, I was going to guess John Cusack, but he’s not a cartoon character, so I “hit cancel”.

        • Doctor_Who
          Doctor_Who
          February 4, 2024 at 12:13 am | #

          Damn, we’re canceling John Cusack for not being a cartoon character? But he was, in both Anastasia and Igor!

        • John Campbell
          John Campbell
          February 4, 2024 at 12:16 am | #

          Wait, what? John Cusack’s not a cartoon character?

          • StClair
            StClair
            February 4, 2024 at 12:52 am | #

            His sister is, though. (Hey, Toy Story counts in my book.)

  4. Jess
    Jess
    February 4, 2024 at 12:05 am | #

    Darn right it’s called soda!

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 4, 2024 at 12:07 am | #

      [EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER NOISE]

      • Kimi
        Kimi
        February 4, 2024 at 3:26 am | #

        Wonder what Canada, Australia and the UK say?

        • Librain
          Librain
          February 4, 2024 at 6:26 am | #

          Australia here: Soft Drink. Soda water is like, unflavoured water with bubbles in it. It’s nasty stuff and I don’t understand why people drink it.

          • Kimi
            Kimi
            February 4, 2024 at 8:21 pm | #

            I have had a ginger lime one that is good, but it works with the bitterness of carbonated water.

            • Aura
              Aura
              February 5, 2024 at 8:37 pm | #

              I like it for mixing, but have never understood how anyone can drink it straight.

        • Thag Simmons
          Thag Simmons
          February 4, 2024 at 11:52 pm | #

          In Canada we say Pop.

        • Li
          Li
          February 7, 2024 at 4:22 pm | #

          Pretty sure they’ve got multiple regional answers just like the US does.

    • Sirksome
      Sirksome
      February 4, 2024 at 12:24 am | #

      Apparently they call it “pop” in some places. We don’t talk about those places.

      • Matticus
        Matticus
        February 4, 2024 at 1:10 am | #

        Those places are wrong.

      • Ryan
        Ryan
        February 4, 2024 at 1:18 am | #

        And we definitely don’t talk about the Coke places. *shudder*

        • Steamweed
          Steamweed
          February 4, 2024 at 1:32 am | #

          I’m from one of the “coke” places. We definitely shouldn’t talk about here.

      • elebenty
        elebenty
        February 4, 2024 at 2:07 am | #

        But… but… there’s poems and everything….

        Song of the Pop-Bottlers
        by Morris Gilbert Bishop
        Pop bottles pop-bottles
        In pop shops;
        The pop-bottles Pop bottles
        Poor Pop drops.

        When Pop drops pop-bottles,
        Pop-bottles plop!
        Pop-bottle-tops topple!
        Pop mops slop!

        Stop! Pop’ll drop bottle!
        Stop, Pop, stop!
        When Pop bottles pop-bottles,
        Pop-bottles pop!

      • Ed Callahan
        Ed Callahan
        February 4, 2024 at 9:05 am | #

        In Chicago and Northern Illinois it was always pop.

      • Ana Chronistic
        Ana Chronistic
        February 4, 2024 at 11:59 pm | #

        jsyk https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:carbonated_beverage_language_map.png

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      February 4, 2024 at 1:30 am | #

      Clearly it’s called soda. By many people.

      It’s also called pop. By many people.

      Can’t we all just get along, split the difference, and call it soda pop? Please? In the interest of world pea-

      *flees for dear pitchfork-fearing life*

      • clif
        clif
        February 4, 2024 at 3:03 am | #

        Why would you call a coke soda pop?

      • Kimi
        Kimi
        February 4, 2024 at 3:25 am | #

        Rotary, traffic circle or round-about? We have a book that talks about the different terms in the US. Mine is such a weird mix since I grew up in New England but regularly visit family in the Midwest and west, so I commonly use terms (or pronunciations) interchangeably depending on who I am with. There are a few terms I don’t do that for though, like kitty-corner (I always use diagonal) and service roads (which I don’t know if they exist in New England). NYTimes had a quiz called “How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk” in 2013 that you can still find online and do.

      • Mark
        Mark
        February 4, 2024 at 7:01 am | #

        There was (still is, I guess) a nifty instrumental piece called Celestial Soda Pop.

    • Kimi
      Kimi
      February 4, 2024 at 3:20 am | #

      I grew up on the east coast and had a mom from Montana whose family we would visit. I would always alternate between calling it soda or pop and inevitably use the wrong one (tennis shoes vs sneakers too). I end up just calling it soda pop sometimes.

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      February 4, 2024 at 7:46 am | #

      “What kind of coke do you want to drink?”

      • The Lurker
        The Lurker
        February 6, 2024 at 2:33 am | #

        Georgia? Georgia!

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      February 4, 2024 at 8:03 am | #

      Hell yeah!

      (Even though 6-year-old me was extremely disappointed the first time he had “soda bread”.)

    • Hof1991
      Hof1991
      February 4, 2024 at 10:41 am | #

      The soda / pop border runs through Wisconsin. I lived on both sides as a kid so I’m bilingual.

    • Sensei Le Roof
      Sensei Le Roof
      February 4, 2024 at 11:27 am | #

      I always called it by brand name (or brand name it’s knocking off, in those cases) or “a drink”.

    • anon
      anon
      February 4, 2024 at 9:34 pm | #

      lol i’m used to calling itsoda but if i didn’t know if i heard ‘want some pop’ i’d think it was either a candy or a drug XD

  5. C.T. Phipps
    C.T. Phipps
    February 4, 2024 at 12:07 am | #

    I admit I struggle to tell the difference between Misha and Becky.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 4, 2024 at 12:08 am | #

      It’d be easier in colour

    • Vanessa
      Vanessa
      February 4, 2024 at 12:08 am | #

      She has Becky’s new haircut in this flashback! I noticed that too.

      • RassilonTDavros
        RassilonTDavros
        February 4, 2024 at 12:18 am | #

        It’s not actually that similar to Becky’s hair– Misha’s character model shows her with a ponytail, but it hasn’t really been visible in any panels of the actual comic thus far. Plus it’s kinda unlikely that Misha having short hair would’ve been socially acceptable to their congregation. I still misidentified her as Becky a few times, though.

        • StClair
          StClair
          February 4, 2024 at 12:53 am | #

          (our cod is an awesome cod)

          • Taffy
            Taffy
            February 4, 2024 at 1:27 am | #

            He rains from salmon above

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          February 4, 2024 at 12:57 am | #

          That’s really the name they went with for that site, is it?

          • RassilonTDavros
            RassilonTDavros
            February 4, 2024 at 2:45 am | #

            Nah, I just linked to a third-party front-end because it’s easier to navigate than the utter mess Apartheid Clyde has reduced the actual site to.

    • Cass
      Cass
      February 4, 2024 at 12:27 am | #

      Eyebrows might be the easiest way if the hair looks too similar to you; Misha has heavy dark ones while Becky’s bangs are thick enough you can’t even see hers beneath them.

      • clif
        clif
        February 4, 2024 at 3:06 am | #

        Or in a pinch you could do what the rest of us do and look down at the tags.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      February 4, 2024 at 2:23 am | #

      Misha has an upturned nose and a more angular face.

      • Queezle
        Queezle
        February 4, 2024 at 4:39 am | #

        And Becky has freckles

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      February 4, 2024 at 7:54 am | #

      I’m pretty much entirely going by the fact Misha is wearing a white t-shirt and Becky is wearing what I’d call a vest, but Americans don’t, because that’s what you call a waistcoat, and I don’t know what you do call it.

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        February 4, 2024 at 8:00 am | #

        A tank top!

        (Also a wife-beater?? Really, America?)

        • Leorale
          Leorale
          February 4, 2024 at 10:37 am | #

          I’ve heard it’s because there was a long-running reality tv show called Cops, about arresting people, and the guys in domestic violence cases were always wearing those same white sleeveless undershirts/tanktops/whatevers.

          So when you saw a white sleeveless top like that, you pretty much knew it was gonna be about arresting a DV offender.

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            February 4, 2024 at 1:38 pm | #

            It pre-dates Cops. It gets traced back at least to a 1979 domestic violence case that that used the term. Probably traces back farther to movies with the stereotype maybe starting with Brando wearing one in Streetcar Named Desire.

            It’s supposed to evoke an old working class, probably immigrant, stereotype, linking them to domestic violence, despite such violence not at all being linked to class or ethnicity.

            It’s also specifically a male, white tank top intended to be worn as an undershirt, but being worn as the only shirt. Becky’s version wouldn’t qualify, since it’s colored, even if she wasn’t a girl.

            • Mturtle7
              Mturtle7
              February 4, 2024 at 2:31 pm | #

              Huh. I’m American, but I’ve always been annoyed, disgusted, and confused about why the hell we call those “wife-beaters”! …Now I’m just annoyed and disgusted, haha. Seriously though, thanks for the explanation!

              Honestly, I think I’m just going to continue my policy of calling them “tank tops” regardless of color, gender, or intent, even though now I know there’s an actual coherent distinction that defines them. It just makes more sense, damn it, and people know what I mean.

              • C.T. Phipps
                C.T. Phipps
                February 4, 2024 at 8:16 pm | #

                Notably, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE had the wife beater t-shirt as the iconic attire of Stanley Kowalski as played by Marlon Brando. Notably, he was in fact an abusive spouse.

      • Hof1991
        Hof1991
        February 4, 2024 at 10:50 am | #

        Wife beater. Goes back to Brando in a movie. The more you know. https://www.snopes.com/articles/465371/wife-beater-tank-top-origin-of-phrase/

      • anon
        anon
        February 4, 2024 at 9:59 pm | #

        watch as it flash forwards to present time and misha is an even ‘louder’ lesbian than becky XD

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      February 4, 2024 at 8:04 am | #

      Misha’s nose is more upturned, and Becky has her hair down.

    • Rose by Any Other Name
      Rose by Any Other Name
      February 4, 2024 at 8:38 am | #

      The trick to telling them apart is that Becky is the one who’s a lesbian.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        February 4, 2024 at 9:38 am | #

        *The one who we know is a lesbian.

        • clif
          clif
          February 4, 2024 at 9:55 am | #

          I was going to say.

  6. True Survivor
    True Survivor
    February 4, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

    Joyce missed her calling as a P.I.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 4, 2024 at 12:10 am | #

      She’s unironically really good at information gathering in the present day, good instincts for spycraft.

      • Kimi
        Kimi
        February 4, 2024 at 3:29 am | #

        Considering how often people seem to not notice me, forget that I am there, or don’t recognize me if I wear makeup or take off my glasses, I often wonder if I am in the wrong line of work. My only issue is that I have a distinct voice due to a speech impediment that I haven’t fully trained out of.

    • Cass
      Cass
      February 4, 2024 at 12:36 am | #

      She hasn’t missed it, she’s just extremely specialized when it comes to the types of cases she gets.

      • Cass
        Cass
        February 4, 2024 at 12:37 am | #

        Oops, that was supposed to have a link to this strip I’m just gonna post rather than risk mucking up the html again: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/creeeaaation/

  7. RassilonTDavros
    RassilonTDavros
    February 4, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

    LOLing at the “I guess we call it soda here.” One time my church (in the Houston area, for reference) got a new Youth Pastor from Nebraska; she asked if anyone wanted “pop” at a lock-in and nobody except me knew what the hell she was talking about.

    • Steelbright
      Steelbright
      February 4, 2024 at 12:37 am | #

      Man, i forgot about lock-ins. What a trip that this was presented as “fun” haha. To be fair the ones i went to were actually fun, of a given variety.

      My cousins called it “pop”. Sounds fake if you ask me

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        February 4, 2024 at 8:06 am | #

        Yeah, “pop” is what bubbles and balloons do.

        • Sol
          Sol
          February 4, 2024 at 6:53 pm | #

          You’ll never guess what’s in pop (it’s bubbles from carbonation).

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            February 4, 2024 at 10:03 pm | #

            So are champagne and beer also pop?

      • Aura
        Aura
        February 5, 2024 at 9:03 pm | #

        Oooh I think I finally get to make a Semler reference! 😀

        Youth group lock-ins are a really strange concept,
        That youth group leaders seem to really like…

        (maybe a little cw for religious trauma, that’s the main theme of most of her stuff tbh)

    • Tawdry Quirks
      Tawdry Quirks
      February 4, 2024 at 2:59 am | #

      I’m from Nebraska, and the first big run-in I had with someone who didn’t understand what I meant was when I was in high school in Central Texas, and I was at the state German competition at Baylor. It was late on a Saturday afternoon, and the eateries in their student union were already closed. I searched everywhere in that building and couldn’t find a vending machine. So I asked another student from my school if she had seen a “pop machine” anywhere. It took me several rephrasings before she finally went “Oh, you mean ‘soda’, I thought you were looking for a ‘pot machine’!” Which was a totally ludicrous assumption for anyone who knew high school me to make…I was not the right type of nerd for that at the time. (Years later as an adult I’ve shifted to where I’m open to trying edibles whenever I next visit a state where it’s legal.)

  8. C.T. Phipps
    C.T. Phipps
    February 4, 2024 at 12:10 am | #

    I admit, I sometimes forget how much I love Joyce. There’s so many good characters but Joyce really is the heart of DOA.

    It’s why I became rapidly obsessed with Liz because she is also Joyce.

  9. BBCC
    BBCC
    February 4, 2024 at 12:13 am | #

    Oh well then, if you haven’t looked in thirty whole seconds it changes things!

  10. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    February 4, 2024 at 12:17 am | #

    She stans him three times over.

  11. Mym
    Mym
    February 4, 2024 at 12:19 am | #

    Ah, Wisconsin. Come smell our dairy air

    • clif
      clif
      February 4, 2024 at 9:43 am | #

      Everyone needs a state motto.

  12. RassilonTDavros
    RassilonTDavros
    February 4, 2024 at 12:22 am | #

    I wonder if Becky’s realized she’s gay yet in this strip. She definitely didn’t realize she was gay for Joyce specifically until she went to Anderson without her, but this very much reads to me like she’s trying to figure out if Joyce is also gay, and thus potentially someone she can safely confide in.

    • C.T. Phipps
      C.T. Phipps
      February 4, 2024 at 1:06 am | #

      I mean it depends if they’re meant to have hit puberty. Some know beforehand but others need the realization they just don’t feel the way some of their peers do.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 4, 2024 at 1:06 am | #

      Very easy to read it as just her teasing Joyce for an obvious crush.

      I do think this is too early for Becky to be testing the waters to see if she can safely confide in Joyce, it really feels like Anderson should be the moment things clicked into place for her.

    • Bash
      Bash
      February 4, 2024 at 2:25 am | #

      I think she’s a bit jealous but doesn’t understand why.

    • anon
      anon
      February 4, 2024 at 9:44 pm | #

      maybe she only realized it in the dorm room with her other roommate, but i’m sure she could’ve subconsciously thought it

  13. Steelbright
    Steelbright
    February 4, 2024 at 12:34 am | #

    Maybe what Joyce liked about Tristan all along was that he potentially liked her. Relatable. Ouch.

    • Carla's #2 Fan
      Carla's #2 Fan
      February 4, 2024 at 6:34 am | #

      That’s what I was thinking. One relationship I got into in high school was definitely because that person liked me. It can be hard to navigate feelings when you’re autistic, especially when you don’t know you’re autistic. In elementary in middle school it was very easy for me to decide I had a crush on someone, but it wasn’t always for legit reasons.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        February 4, 2024 at 8:10 am | #

        I know, right? Even if you figure out the difference between “this person is cordial” and “this person likes me”, you still have to figure out what the hell to do with that information. It gets easier with time (and hindsight), but only so much easier.

    • Leorale
      Leorale
      February 4, 2024 at 1:12 pm | #

      Is it such a bad thing, to be legit interested in a person because they’re probably interested in you? I think it’s pretty fine for an adolescent to go, “Hey, neat, this person might really like me! For the first time ever! Do I like him, too? That could be really fun and exciting. Let’s find out!”

      …Better than my first relationship, which was more like “my sad friend likes me, I don’t want him to be sad. Oh hey, *I* know what’d make him happy!”

      • anon
        anon
        February 4, 2024 at 10:14 pm | #

        lol that’s def part of first/blind dates, though it would be nice if someone else liked you first since maybe you’d have the ‘upper hand’, not that it should be about that but it’d be nice if someone likes you more than you like them at first since there might be less risk

      • Li
        Li
        February 7, 2024 at 4:24 pm | #

        It’s a fine ingredient but a bummer if it’s the whole meal.

  14. Suet
    Suet
    February 4, 2024 at 12:35 am | #

    From budding interest to budding obsession, this is.

    Gas n’ Go, not to be confused to be the soon-formerly known as █um & Go

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      February 4, 2024 at 8:11 am | #

      Sneed’s Feed & Seed, formerly Chuck’s?

  15. Kitschensyngk
    Kitschensyngk
    February 4, 2024 at 12:35 am | #

    31, 32, 33…

  16. Taffy
    Taffy
    February 4, 2024 at 12:55 am | #

    Oh, are we harping on the different things people call a carbonated beverage, as if every single person all of us have ever met only called it by one name and hadn’t so much as heard any of the other names? Sure, I’ll play along and pretend I’ve only ever heard it called soda. Insert performatively performative value judgement about other people’s lived experiences, worded in an overly harsh manner.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      February 4, 2024 at 1:12 am | #

      Cocaineless fizzy sugar drink.

      • Leorale
        Leorale
        February 4, 2024 at 1:23 pm | #

        Our Overconfident Nostalgia Is Stupid

    • Wilde
      Wilde
      February 4, 2024 at 9:44 am | #

      This is how I feel about when people give me a hard time about saying gif as “jif”. I’ve heard so many exaggerated shocked and offended reactions and I’m so bored with the conversation.

      • Wilde
        Wilde
        February 4, 2024 at 9:46 am | #

        Hot dang, I’m out of permanent moderation limbo! You can see me! What year is it?!

        • clif
          clif
          February 4, 2024 at 10:02 am | #

          Who can keep track? They keep changing it just to mess you up. If they’d just pick a year and stick with it…

        • Zero
          Zero
          February 4, 2024 at 2:14 pm | #

          It’s Thursday.

    • anon
      anon
      February 4, 2024 at 10:16 pm | #

      i would just call it something completely unrelated to troll XD like “let’s all have some weed/no no juice”

  17. Serendipity
    Serendipity
    February 4, 2024 at 1:00 am | #

    What’s wrong with calling it soda?

    • C.T. Phipps
      C.T. Phipps
      February 4, 2024 at 1:06 am | #

      Because it’s cola. 🙂

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        February 4, 2024 at 11:51 am | #

        Sprite is cola?

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      February 4, 2024 at 1:07 am | #

      Because it’s a regional name that I don’t use.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      February 4, 2024 at 1:26 am | #

      To answer in a way that doesn’t assume you asked “why”, there’s really nothing wrong with it. People just like to playfully make fun of how People From Somewhere Else talk, it’s all in good tribalism fun.

    • someone
      someone
      February 4, 2024 at 1:48 am | #

      If you call it “soda”, you say that it contains sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda, which is used to make drinks fizzy.

      If you call it “coke”, you say that it contains cocaine, aka coke, which is used to make drinks addictive. This comes from Coca-Cola, a beverage that originally contained cocaine, cola nuts, and caffeine, and was itself derived from the Mariani Wine that contained all these things and alcohol. Prohibition meant that Mariani Wine couldn’t be sold in the USA anymore, and so Coca-Cola was born.

      If you call it “pop”, it means that it contains your dad.

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        February 4, 2024 at 2:04 am | #

        Yeah, and you don’t drink the father, only the son.

        • HueSatLight
          HueSatLight
          February 4, 2024 at 4:45 pm | #

          The last three aisles at the supermarket: Pop, Wine, Spirit

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        February 4, 2024 at 7:37 am | #

        I love that your country tried to ban alcohol as a drink ingredient before cocaine.

      • Amelie Wikström
        Amelie Wikström
        February 4, 2024 at 9:17 am | #

        If you call it soft drink, it suggests it could be either non-acoholic or mildly alcoholic, but definitely anything within those labels.

    • CianM1301
      CianM1301
      February 4, 2024 at 2:28 am | #

      In Ireland, we call them “minerals”.

      • Mark
        Mark
        February 4, 2024 at 7:17 am | #

        Interesting. When I was in Germany there was mineral water — it’s just hard water. (However the same brand also offers sparkling mineral water, IOW carbonated.) I don’t know what they call Pepsi, Sprite, etc. as a class.

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        February 4, 2024 at 7:36 am | #

        In the UK they’re fizzy drinks (or pop, but that’s seen as a bit old fashioned). I believe in some parts of Scotland (not up here) they’re all called ginger, which strikes me as even more confusing than them all being called coke.

        • Daibhid C
          Daibhid C
          February 4, 2024 at 8:04 am | #

          Oh, and there might be some parts of England that call them all lemonade, but I’m not sure about that.

          (Yes, lemonade is fizzy, America, that’s what “-ade” means. See also limeade, orangeade, cherryade and Lucozade.)

          • PirateTawnee
            PirateTawnee
            February 4, 2024 at 8:50 am | #

            I don’t think Americans know about Lucozade, it’s all Gatorade over there.

          • Bittersweet
            Bittersweet
            February 5, 2024 at 12:09 am | #

            Wikipedia isn’t the best source for this sorta thing, but it tells me that it comes from Latin -ata which was, allegedly, a past participle for forming nouns and came as a loan word from French? Says it may be carbonated or non carbonated.

            Also, in the US we have lemonade and limeade. Orangeade is a thing we know exists because media but doesn’t actually exist over here and I’ve never heard of cherryade before. Lucozade sounds like a brand which we don’t have.

            • Daibhid C
              Daibhid C
              February 5, 2024 at 4:15 am | #

              Yes, I was being a bit flippant.

              But I stand by the claim that, regardless of its origins, in modern British English “-ade” means “fizzy”. Like “henge” for “things that look like Stonehenge”, “-athon” for “a very long contest”, or “-gate” for a political scandal, the suffix is given a meaning that is nothing to do with the actual etymology.

    • Abel Undercity
      Abel Undercity
      February 4, 2024 at 7:24 am | #

      I don’t know about Wisconsin, but in Minnesota we called it pop.

  18. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    February 4, 2024 at 2:16 am | #

    I wonder if this has happened yet: https://www.dumbingofage.com/tyler/

    • clif
      clif
      February 4, 2024 at 3:18 am | #

      Assuming Joyce and Dorothy are the same age, no. It would be the next year at the earliest.

  19. Bash
    Bash
    February 4, 2024 at 2:27 am | #

    I know the “weird in Wisconsin” is about soda, but I like to imagine Joyce is being weird about Tristan because she’s in Wisconsin.

  20. Rectilinear Propagation
    Rectilinear Propagation
    February 4, 2024 at 2:37 am | #

    I had an instant crush happen to me in middle school.

    Made me absolutely miserable.

    • anon
      anon
      February 4, 2024 at 9:51 pm | #

      having unrequited crushes never bothered me (well not like i could’ve dated even if i wanted to) tho crushes during youth to me was more like “oh they’re cute/i don’t mind staring at them and never talking to them” versus accidentally falling for a friend tho my group of friends was affectionate, i think it’d have only made me miserable if they turned out to be a bully/ shitty or treated my friends badly rather than going out with a friedn/scquaintance

      tho i was miserable in middle school in general before moving lol

  21. Kimi
    Kimi
    February 4, 2024 at 3:39 am | #

    I remember that Europe had some pretty good orange soda-pop that was made with actual orange juice and had pulp in it. I can’t find it in the US though. Even my dad has talked about having it when he was over there while in the navy, so it has been around a while over there. We both also want some version of actual bread like they make in France over here in the US. Nothing is really a very good equivalent over here, though maybe if you shell out a lot of money. I find US bread to be too squishy and not hold up well. If I wanted bread that smushes into a tortilla when you eat it, I would get a tortilla. I could also still be traumatized from a 6th grade teacher smushing a loaf of bread flat on her desk, though I still only liked grilled or toasted bread sandwiches before that. Wasn’t until I went to France and had sandwiches with the bread there that I actually liked sandwiches.

    • Holly
      Holly
      February 4, 2024 at 4:10 am | #

      You mean Orangina?
      Personally, my favourite orange fizzy drink is Finland’s Jaffa.

      As for bread, at least it is possible to learn to bake that yourself, bit harder to replicate specific fizzy drinks.

      • Mark
        Mark
        February 4, 2024 at 7:26 am | #

        Indeed: in the US, if you really care about bread, you should either make your own or live down the street from a retail bakery (if you can find one).

        Here industrial bread is just an edible napkin to keep the sauce off your fingers when eating a stack of meat and cheese with your hands. Nobody tastes it. Sad.

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        February 4, 2024 at 7:33 am | #

        Orangina! Come for the tangy fizziness, stay for the furry porn adverts!

        • clif
          clif
          February 4, 2024 at 9:48 am | #

          Everybody needs a state motto.

      • Kimi
        Kimi
        February 4, 2024 at 8:35 pm | #

        I think I heard somewhere that there are differences with the flour too. I find that even bread made “in-store” in grocery stores tends to be more like industrial bread than bread I had in France. As for bakeries, I unfortunately live in too rural for things like that. Now that I have a stand mixer, I might start making my own bread. Doing it all by hand is more time consuming than I really have time for, but having a heavy duty mixer helps.
        As for carbonated drinks, there are machines that you can use now to do carbonation at home. There is one called drinkmate that is $120 on Amazon. Not cheap, but you could carbonate orange juice with it, or another type like say guava.

  22. Amós Batista
    Amós Batista
    February 4, 2024 at 5:15 am | #

    Joyce’s learning that life is not only Bible and school

  23. Da Boy
    Da Boy
    February 4, 2024 at 6:16 am | #

    Ah yes, Joyce entering her own Mabel Pines phase.

  24. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    February 4, 2024 at 9:38 am | #

    oh no

  25. OBBWG
    OBBWG
    February 4, 2024 at 10:59 am | #

    Just throwing this link out here for no particular reason:

    https://xkcd.com/2372/

  26. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    February 4, 2024 at 1:07 pm | #

    All this soft drink talk… but what’s really weird is how large the juice section is for a fuel depot.

  27. BorkBorkBork
    BorkBorkBork
    February 4, 2024 at 1:25 pm | #

    *reads the alt text*

    I am horribly offended.

    *sips soda*

  28. Thomas
    Thomas
    February 4, 2024 at 2:15 pm | #

    Tristan will not ever be aware of Joyce’s crush. Nothing will happen between them. We know this because Joyce’s crush continues into the present day. At least nothing happened to turn that crush sour.

    • anon
      anon
      February 4, 2024 at 8:58 pm | #

      oblivious guys are pretty common even when ur clearly flirting (tho shame not more ppl like that around when i was a student b/c that’s more endearing than some immature teens that get a swollen head from a single compliment) i have seen stories where it’s like “i literally invited him to sleep in my bed and they brushed it off/didn’t realize” or so lol

      • Scolopendra
        Scolopendra
        February 4, 2024 at 9:15 pm | #

        This was me in college (back when I was a boy) and tbh still true today. I had a friend who has invited me into her bed on no fewer than three occasions, but to my mind… if I’m sharing a bed I’m sharing a bed! That’s the extent of the interaction! She seemed to read a few too many “there was only one bed” fanfics if you ask me. Love her though.

        • anon
          anon
          February 6, 2024 at 3:15 am | #

          tbh that’d prolly make me find someone more appealing, tho i wouldn’t rly expect sex if it’s not an established relationship versus just hanging out in a clearly party vibe and invited into some dorm room but other than cuddling i’d think if it’s them starting to touch your chest/groping after inviting, i’d be concerned that they wouldn’t be saying something versus just having ‘ bedroom’ eyes or clearly taking out a condom

          must be awkward for diff cultures where it’s common to share a bed with siblings up til ur teens or even with your parents still lol

  29. anon
    anon
    February 4, 2024 at 8:57 pm | #

    lol must be a chill place , iguess some cashiers wouldn’t mind kids but i can imagine some being told to not sit that close to teh trash can

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