Soft Drinks: pop, soda, coke, et al

[eberntson]

So I would be very interested in knowing the different expressions folks use for soft drink. Plus what area you grew up in and how you learned you vernacular?

I started using pop, because my father sold soft drinks around Chicago for a long time. But when I moved to Maine no one understood me, so I switched to "soda". I still default to soda. How deep do these differences go?

I took the Rebel-Yankee test and came out about 60% Yankee, but have a lot of Rebel since I learned my English in Mobile, Alabama. I have no accent, just speak American, I'm just not fro' ur knick of da woods! Ah-yeah!

Maniac Living in Exiled

[tcward]

I grew up in eastern NC, and we always called it either a "soft drink" or a "soda". My mom is from the mountains of NC, and they always called it "pop", which surprised me because I always thought that was a Yankee expression. My wife grew up in the Charlotte area of NC and they always called it a "pepsi", no matter what kind of drink it was.

-Tim

[ampersandranch]

I grew up in northern NJ where we always referred to "soda" as our sweet, fizzy drink of choice. Now that I live in Colorado, I sometimes ask for a pop so as to not confuse the locals.

[gailr]

I learned it as "pop" but adjusted to "soda" in Wisconsin. Now it's back to "pop (although that sounded a little funny for awhile). a sister in the South calls all soft drinks "cokes".

-gailr
sobe lizard fan

[Stargzer]

I've always called them "a soft drink" or "a soda" unless I'm I'm after a Coke or Pepsi specifically. I think Pittsburgh calls them "a pop," which I always thought was the Worcester/Boston term, but it's been many decades since I've been up there. I'm sure by now the influence of McDonald's has chased the term "frappe" from the Boston vocabulary in favor of "milkshake" or just plain "shake."

Hmmm! Come to think of it, I could use one of those original milkshakes mentioned in the History section of that last link as a sleeping potion!

[One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor!]

[Andrew Dalby]

I'm an interloper in this department -- wrong side of the pond -- but in case anyone's interested, 'pop' was the traditional word in Yorkshire too. At least, that's what my father called it. The word 'soda' isn't used much over here (except for a flavourless mixer, as in 'whisky and soda') and nowadays I think I call them 'fizzy drinks'.

[rebeccaauburn]

I'm from Georgia and we usually refer to all soft drinks as cokes, as in, "What kind of coke do you want?"

RA

[carolinagirl]

i was born and raised in ravenel, sc (near charleston) and lived here all my life and i call everything coke. and i don't drink pepsi neither because it doesn't taste as good.

[Brazilian dude]

Using coke for all kinds of pops reminds me of some Brazilians' habit of calling all fizzy drinks guaraná.

Brazilian dude

[scw1217]

Everything's a Coke. You order a coke and the waiter/waitress always asks, "Is Pepsi okay?" if that is what they serve. I always have to think twice. FWIW, I scored 72% on the quiz and am a "born and raised" Floridian. "Pop" is a type of music - Pop music. Soda goes into a cake to make it rise, baking soda. lol

[AngelEyesInHell]

I am from northern Jersey.. I always called it soday.. Still to this day.. Even afte moving to Oklahoma when I was 10.. Which there they call it coke... "hey you want a coke? What kind..." No but I will take a pepsi..

[vbrizendine]

Jump to the website http://www.popvssoda.com/ for the graphical display of what to call a fizzy drink. I have lived for years in Missouri and it was either soda or coke. In Columbus OH we call it pop. I love my friends from the deep South that call it co-cola.

[zeta]

Nobody mentioned "tonic" for a fizzy soft drink. Maybe that's a New Hampshire thing?

[Brazilian dude]

I've been to New Hampshire. Good old days...

Brazilian dude

[tcward]

Jump to the website http://www.popvssoda.com/ for the graphical display of what to call a fizzy drink.

Thanks for this link, by the way, and welcome to the Agora!

-Tim