Water Ice? Pick a Side.

The other day at church, everyone stuck around after the service to have Rita's. When someone mentioned Rita's, I said, "Oh, water ice. That sounds good." But then I got a lot of funny looks, because no one here has ever heard of water ice. They call it Italian ice.

I'd never heard of either before I lived near Philadelphia during college. There was a lot of water ice there -- I get the feeling Philadelphians take their water ice pretty seriously. (Also their cheesesteaks. And their professional sports. And their Rocky. But I digress.)

Based on my near-Philadelphia experiences, I've come to believe there is a difference between Italian ice (think sno-cone) and water ice, which is more like ice cream in consistency and a lot more flavorful. And my pal Nicole, an actual Philadelphian, agrees.

But now that I've been thinking about it, my eyes have been opened to the contradiction in the term.

People, either it's water or it's ice. I think we've got to pick a side.

Can someone explain this to me?