a soda

slang Something that is very easy to do. Primarily heard in Australia. I was worried that my car would need an expensive repair, but the mechanic assured me that it would be a soda. Sure enough, I got my car back in less than an hour! Come on, these chores are a soda—you can get them done in 10 minutes. If you thought that test was a soda, then you better have gotten an A.

be a soda

slang To be very easy to do. Primarily heard in Australia. I was worried that my car would need an expensive repair, but the mechanic assured me that it would be a soda. Sure enough, I got my car back in less than an hour! Come on, these chores are a soda—you can get them done in 10 minutes. If you thought that test was a soda, then you better have gotten an A.

from soda to hock

From start to finish. The phrase comes from the card game faro. That team really dominated from soda to hock—their opponent was totally overwhelmed. That film was excellent from soda to hock! His whole speech was nothing but ridiculous lies from soda to hock.

soda jerk

dated An attendant at a drug store who would prepare and serve flavored carbonated beverages ("sodas"). The "jerk" part of the phrase is a pun on "clerk," and the jerking motion of the soda fountain spigots while pouring. Popular in the lead up to the 1940s–'50s, when drugstores sold food and drinks from behind a counter. Back when I was your age, I had to work as a soda jerk every day of the week in order to afford my first car. The retro-themed café even had a section meant to resemble an old-timey drugstore, complete with a soda jerk and soda fountain!

from soda to hock

from beginning to end. dated

In the card game faro, the soda is the exposed top card at the beginning of a deal, while the hock is the last card remaining in the box after all the others have been dealt.

soda jerk

Drug store counterman. Those of us old enough to remember when pharmacies sold nothing but medicine and medications, magazines and comic books, candy, and soda fountain treats, a man behind the zinc-and-marble counter made and dispensed sodas, frappes, milkshakes, malteds, and other ice cream–based concoctions, as well as banana splits, Cokes, lime rickeys, and dozens of other refreshments. He was the soda jerk, the name coming from the fountain dispensers with handles that he jerked down to pour seltzer and other soft drinks. For some unclear reason, women weren't soda jerks.