[analog31]

I'm only quibbling here, and I agree with you, but an amusing factoid is that the ancient Romans used lead acetate as an artificial sweetener. It was made by boiling wine in a lead pot.

When I lived in Texas, it was practically universal to open up a cup of iced tea, grab several packs of Sweet'n'Low, rip the tops off all at once, and pour them in.

[sorcerer-mar]

With Sweet’n’Low?! Isn’t that considered blasphemy in sweet tea country?

[analog31]

That's a good question, and I'm culturally ignorant. When I lived in Texas, my impression was that "tea" was unsweetened iced tea, to which people added their own sweetener. Then when I visited Virginia, "tea" was heavily sweetened.

My friend told me that drinking coffee with a meal instantly identified me as a Midwesterner.