What part of the country do you live in?
Me? I’m from Coke country, and proud of it!
I’m not from one of those bluestate "pop" or "soda" regions.
What am I talking about?
The generic term that is colloquially used for carbonated beverages, of course!
Coke, pope, and soda are the three dominant terms.
The county I was born in was a dark-red Coke county. The county I grew up in was a dark-red Coke county. And the county I expect to retire to (where my family cattle ranch is located) is almost certainly a dark-red Coke county (but the population is so small that nobody there has yet voted in this online survey).
When I was a boy, you might offer someone a Coke saying, "What kind of Coke would you like? I’ve got Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper."
So when it comes to describing carbonated beverages in a colloquial manner, I’m a Coke man. When I’m at the supermarket and I’ve got three 12-packs of Caffeing Free Diet Dr. Pepper and three 12-packs of Diet Sunkist orange drink, I tell the cashier that "I’ve got three of both kinds of Coke."
They always know what I mean, even here in sunny "soda" southern California.
Here’s the nationwide map:
CLICK THIS LINK TO VISIT THE HOMEPAGE OF THIS IMAGE
Once you’re there, you can click the state to find out the totals for the county you live (/were born) in!
Then, join the Coke revolution!
Coke . . . It’s The Real Thing. . . . Coke Is It!
All the major forms of Coke. (Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, etc., were invented in Coke country, y’know!)
(Cowboy hat tip: Gleeful Extremist.)
>>Coke, pope, and soda are the three dominant terms.
LOL! How to know you’re reading something written by an apologist! 8^>
Whatever the heck you call it, and however it’s flavored, I don’t like it. I have *never* been a fan of carbonated beverages, of *any* type.
There’s been an on-going discussion about this at Phatmass:
http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=8041&st=0
One of my new year’s resolutions is to stop drinking carbonated beverages, particulaly those with artificial sweeteners.
The correct term is “tonic”! …At least in parts of Massachusetts and NH.
I was raised in the Chicago area (firmly in the ‘pop’ camp) and ten years ago moved to the southern NH / Boston area (firmly in the ‘soda’ camp, with the occasional ‘tonic’ reference). Besides lacking the Boston accent and mispronouncing a few local cities, nothing gave me away as fast as saying ‘pop’. And I had to learn what a frappe was. (“Hey, what kind of ice cream stand doesn’t sell milk shakes?!”) ;-P
>>>”The correct term is “tonic”! …At least in parts of Massachusetts and NH.”
My stepfather, who is a bostonian born and bred, told me a story once about when he was in the national guard. He was in some souther state, and he went to the store, and asked the guy for a tonic, and he gave him some hair cleaning product, lol.
That’s what I’d do.
>>>>Coke, pope, and soda are the three dominant terms.
>>LOL! How to know you’re reading something written by an apologist! 8^>
You should see what happens whenever I am typing about someone named “Chris.”
There’s a persistent typo that I have to fight for that one, too.
Born in soda-Milwaukee, now live in pop-Western part of WI.
We in WI can’t even agree.
Anyone else call a bubbler a bubbler? or are you all drinking fountain people.
In my neck of the woods(Merrimack Valley of MA), we are bubbler, tonic, and frappe people. Although I hear tonic used less frequently lately. I myself usually use soda, or the brand name, Sprite, Coke, etc.
It is ‘pop’ of course, short for ‘soda-pop’ the old term from before WWII. Coke is a brand. I ran into some six-fingered types who asked me what flavor of coke I wanted, and that was before vanilla and lime. lamers. They just can’t speak the King’s (Olaf) English. 😉
I am suprised that Oklahoma isn’t dark red Coke country. In college,(OU) we would go on Coke dates at Sonic, which could mean you order a cherry limade or a vanilla diet coke or anything, not necesarrily a Coke. It’s just like when I was a kid and we would walk to 7-eleven, but we called it the icy store. I just thought it was an Oklahoma thing.
I am suprised that Oklahoma isn’t dark red Coke country. In college,(OU) we would go on Coke dates at Sonic, which could mean you order a cherry limeade or a vanilla diet coke or anything, not necesarily a Coke. It’s just like when I was a kid and we would walk to 7-eleven, but we called it the icy store. I just thought it was an Oklahoma thing. Sorry about the previous typos-I was holding my wiggly 9 month old-I don’t want anyone to think we are a bunch of illiterate hicks around here…….
>It is ‘pop’ of course, short for ‘soda-pop’
The correct abbreviation is soda, not pop.
🙂
How interesting! I always wondered why i called it soda when I was raised in Oklahoma and all of my friends called it coke. Then I looked at where my parents where raised (California and eastern Penn) and I realized that I got it from them. Maybe Oklahoma isn’t dark red because of the military traveling influence – the soda counties fall near prevalent military bases and larger cities. Kids just pick up what their parents grew up saying.
Southern Ontario is definitely “pop” country. Coke is used only for Coca-Cola™ or perhaps sometimes generically for another cola beverage. Nobody uses soda.
I remember once upon a time having a conversation with a New Yorker and he was quite amused at my “pop”, being himself a die-hard “soda” man.
I’m stunned that this strange oddity of the english language is actually being noticed and studied…and that the map appears to conform perfectly to my experience.
Now, why are they called soft drinks?
What exactly is so soft about them?
I know that growing up in Eastern Ma. (anything inside of Rt. 495) everything was tonic.
I also remember asking for a Frappe once in a dinner in Sturgeon Bay WI. Everyone in hearing distance just turned and stared at me (I swear, you could have heard a pin drop) until I changed my request to a milk shake!
>>>”Now, why are they called soft drinks?
What exactly is so soft about them?”
You dont’ get a hangover when you drink it, is my guess.
Jason, you’re correct. Soft drinks are soft in that they lack alcohol, making them different than hard drink in this respect.
Tom, I wouldn’t have know what you asked for, either. 🙂
I remember a story my mom told us about when her brother, his wife, and their family visited us in the solidly “pop” state of Ohio from New Jersey. My aunt asked her kids if they wanted a soda, and inside my mom was panicking, thinking, “I don’t know if we even have any ice cream!”, since to us a “soda” is ice cream in a glass with “pop” poured over it. 😉
A question occurs to me – what is it about the St. Louis area that produced that island of “soda” people in the midst of the seas of “pop” and “Coke”?
St. Louis is a cultural oddity, mostly radically left-wing (socially) Democrat, Catholic(but not the EWTN kind), and also has a larger Jewish population that pretty much anywhere outside of NYC. Most of the city has been roped off to be transformed into a legal Sabbath-day’s walk by some jesuitical means. 😉 I would suspect a different immigration pattern. It is vastly different from the rest of the Midwest in culture and politics (culture is very Southern, complete with caste system)
Pop is the one true term for pop. A soda is ice-cream with pop. We will call up our militia and hitch up our dog-sleds and -force- you to learn to speak correctly! bwuhahahahaha!
It is so interesting to read the responses of people across the country. Here in San Diego we call it soda.
However most people I know call the drink by the name of what is on the can. Dr. Pepper, Coke, Pepsi, Fanta (wanna fanta….dont’cha wanna, wanna fanta), 7Up.
This would also explain why growing up and to this day my dad still calls it pop. He’s from Kansas.
Although I don’t understand why he still calls it that since he has lived in Southern California twice as long as he lived in Kansas.
*shrug* go figure
A float is pop with ice cream.
Soda is carbonated water.
Ok, Billy, we will let you go free. Next?
😉
Pop = a general term for carbonated soft drinks
Coke = A general term for all cola flavored drinks
Float = ice cream with pop poured over it
There! Now you all understand how to use these terms properly! 🙂
Anyone who doesn’t say soda is simply not civilized!
I’ve never claimed to be civilized.
Over here in the UK we generally go by the name on the can, but as a whole they are “fizzy drinks” Coke and Pepsi are fairly interchangeable although no-one would ever deem Dr. Pepper a Coke.
Damn you and your Mountain Dew though. Its like some form of crack, cant get enough of it, and its a sod to get hold of :/
Pop vs. Soda
You know you’re in The South when you’re asked, “What kind of Coke would you like? I’ve got Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper.” Now The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy has been thoroughly studied, and you can s…
Pop vs. Soda
You know you’re in The South when you’re asked, “What kind of Coke would you like? I’ve got Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper.” Now The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy has been thoroughly studied, and you…
What kind of coke you want? Pepsi or Orange?