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! Wink

Maniac Living in Exiled Confused

tcward · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:04 pm Post subject:

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
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ampersandranch · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:43 pm Post subject:

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 · Grand Panjandrum Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 1646

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
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Stargzer · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:52 am Post subject:

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!]
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Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
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Andrew Dalby · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:34 pm Post subject:

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'.
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Andrew
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/dalby/

rebeccaauburn · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 8:49 pm Post subject: Soft drinks, cokes, etc.

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 · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:13 am Post subject: coke

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. Wink

Brazilian dude · Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:21 pm Post subject:

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

Brazilian dude
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scw1217 · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:13 pm Post subject:

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 · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:10 pm Post subject: Soda..

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 · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject:

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

Brazilian dude · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:02 pm Post subject:

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

Brazilian dude
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Languages rule!

tcward

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