Go Ahead, Have a ‘Fridge Cigarette'
Two Sundays ago, Rachel Reno relaxed in a park in New York with a sandwich, a bag of chips and a fridge cigarette.
While lounging, she posted a video of herself, with the caption: 'overheard someone call Diet Coke a 'fridge cigarette' and nothing's been more true to me since.'
She cracked open the can and took a sip.
'I feel like it's one of those things that doesn't need a lot of explanation,' Ms. Reno, a freelance creator in New York, said in an interview. She first heard the alternative name for a can of diet soda from a co-worker at her previous job at an advertising agency. Those who get it know that 'the crack of the can is like the spark of a lighter,' she said. Then comes the sparkly sound of fizzing bubbles and the mouthfeel of that first hit, and suddenly 'all the worries and cares in the world go away.'
Crucially, having a soda is the equivalent of stepping outside for a few minutes for a smoke break. It's an excuse to 'take a moment,' Ms. Reno said.
Ms. Reno's video in the park has been viewed more than three million times and received almost 300,000 likes, with many people commenting on how accurate that term is. It has inspired others to use the expression, capturing not just a shift in perception of soda and cigarettes but also a collective search for a breather, as Casey Lewis, founder and writer of the internet-culture newsletter After School, described it.
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