Soda vs. Pop vs. Whatever: What Do You Call Cola Drinks?

Way back when I used to drink these things, I called them Coke. They were all Coke's, no matter the brand. Soft drink is name I'd use now. Pop - cannot relate to that at all. No, I'm not from Atlanta. SF Bay Area. Can't really explain it.

OliverRanch at 6:27PM on 09/15/08

According to the History section of Faygo's web site, in about 1910 founders Ben & Perry Feigenson, "began calling their products 'pop' because of the sound made when opening the bottle". That's probably why the "Pop" portion of the interactive map has Michigan at its center.

LunaPierCook at 6:34PM on 09/15/08

I've lived in three different places, all of which had their own name for it.

California-Coke
Wisconsin-Pop
North Carolina-Soda

FerBer at 6:39PM on 09/15/08

I have lived in California and Kansas- California it's called Soda (unless it really is coke) and in Kansas it's called pop. Both of which go along with what the map says.

I'm curious where in California you lived that they called soda "coke."

cmtigger at 7:46PM on 09/15/08

@cmtigger, I grew up in the Oakland/Piedmont hills. How about you? My family dates back there to my great great grandfather. Hard to explain, really.

OliverRanch at 8:18PM on 09/15/08

In NE Ohio we are definite "pop" people. In our house it's strictly
Coke.

bobcatsteph3 at 8:46PM on 09/15/08

Yeah, in Cali, we call it "soda". I grew up there and I've been all over Cali (including Oakland). Never heard anyone call it "Coke" except maybe tourists.

I use soda, but I can understand using "pop". However, I can't understand why people would call everything "Coke".

wunami at 9:16PM on 09/15/08

Well, I don't have a "why," but I think that in the south, it is most common to call all soft drinks "coke."
I know that we always did (in Georgia). Now I most often use "soft drink" but "coke" still makes sense to me. "Pop" and "soda" always sounded wrong to me.

papillon at 9:32PM on 09/15/08

I'm also from the South, actually southern Alabama, where most soft drinks were all referred to as "coke". Very silly, but pop and soda also sound silly to me. :O)

barbara_flay at 9:53PM on 09/15/08

Born and raised in Oakland (not Piedmont), and I call it "soda" -- maybe "coke" is a Piedmont thing?

I'm so curious to hear some of the names in the "Other" category.

gogocroquette at 10:12PM on 09/15/08

Grew up in Chicago, lived in Wisconsin: Pop
Lived in Virginia: Coke
Lived on Central Coast of California: Soda
Currently live in Berkeley: Why are you handing over money to The Man for something that is poisoning the planet with its HFCS lies?

maered at 10:19PM on 09/15/08

I live in NC and people definitely say Coke here - my dad (from South Dakota) still finds it very odd. his whole family says pop.

my grandma - who has lived her whole life in Boston calls it "tonic"

krispychikin at 12:38AM on 09/16/08

i call it Crap. i don't understand how you people can drink that stuff.

french tart at 2:24AM on 09/16/08

I call them trash.

sarahbeam at 8:40AM on 09/16/08

I call them a crutch for morally inferior people who don't have any self control....oh wait, that's what french tart calls them.

"you people" honestly.

I've lived in Virginia for most of my life (95% or so) and I think my family has always referred to such drinks as "soft drinks" or "soda." More often the latter with "soft drinks" being used to refer more to all non-alcoholic drinks (including iced tea, lemonade, orange juice and so on). As far as I understand it, calling all sodas (or what have you) "coke" started around Atlanta (where Coke is king).

ccbweb at 9:37AM on 09/16/08

Golly ... I don't like anchovies. Some people do. That's called choice, and it's because of a simple difference in personal taste.

My daughter doesn't like cornbread. So, I don't make her any.

It's certainly nothing to overreact about.

LunaPierCook at 9:48AM on 09/16/08

@LunaPierCook: Thanks for being the voice of reason!

I don't get the "coke" thing. So if you went into a McDonald's and you wanted a Sprite, how would you order that? What about an R.C.? Seems like there's huge potential for a sort of "Who's on first?" situation with this nomenclature.

Adam Kuban at 10:11AM on 09/16/08

@Adam, that's where it gets weird. What I've heard on a couple occasions is this:

Drinker; I'd like a Coke.

Barkeep; What kind of Coke?

Drinker; A Pepsi, please.

Sure, ok, whatever ... and this week was next week last week ...

LunaPierCook at 10:29AM on 09/16/08

Its basically the same as saying "may I have a kleenex, please?" You might mean "Puffs" or some other brand. Granted, more likely in that case you don't really care.

The name superseded branding and specific product names and became the name for all products fitting into a general category. It encompasses ginger ale, orange sodas, root beer and everything else that is sweetened and carbonated.

Weird, yep, but I guess that's what brand dominance can do.

ccbweb at 10:36AM on 09/16/08

It's soda in California and Arizona, the two places I've lived. The first time I visited family in Illinois and heard my niece ask for pop, I was clueless: "Pop? Pop what?"

OneWallKitchen at 11:48AM on 09/16/08

Seriously, nobody asked for your opinion on whether you like soft drinks or not, just what you call it. We all know that you're better than us because you avoid soda and are above it. What a triumph. Pat yourself on the back and have a big sip of your macchiato.

kiteless at 11:56AM on 09/16/08

In Georgia, it's pretty much always Coke. Most likely because the Coca-Cola headquarters is here, but whatever the reason that's what it has always been around here (North Georgia).

If you call it pop or soda we know where you're from. We may not be able to tell you precisely, but we know where you're from--somewhere else.

And incidentally, if you are ordering at a restaurant, you do specify what type of Coke you want, ie Sprite, Diet Coke, etc.

DCraver at 12:00PM on 09/16/08

@kiteless, just noticed this was your first post. Please realize negative posts are at a minimum around this place on purpose, and the vast majority would like to keep it that way. Thanks for listening.

LunaPierCook at 12:30PM on 09/16/08

okay, so i guess my choice of words was not the best; that's what i get for commenting to a post in the wee hours of the morning. i apologize. however, i dont like the assumptions that are made about me here just because of one small lousy comment. i certainly don't think myself superior to others just because i dont drink the stuff. my husband drinks it, and i dont think any less of him.

french tart at 1:23PM on 09/16/08

maybe I'm crazy but in Sacramento I always heard it referred to as Coke.
And what about Soda Pop? That's when things get really crazy.

FerBer at 2:45PM on 09/16/08

@oliverranch, my family is from the folsom area dating back to 1851- I understand trying to explain that to people. Even my grandma who was born in minnesota, lived in florida and north carolina until she was 12 and then moved to Richmond has always called them "soda" or "pop" in my life time. It may have been something within your social circle or something. Piedmont is kind of known for being different!

cmtigger at 11:23PM on 09/16/08

Oh, just a note- that's Richmond, CA that I mentioned above.

cmtigger at 11:23PM on 09/16/08

Grew up in Alabama and all soft drinks were "coke" and then you were asked what flavor. Worked with a guy from Minnesota that called them "soda". now live in Utah where the are called "pop". I say "when in Rome".

bobows at 12:14AM on 09/17/08

Then we get into the regional pronunciations of the above words.... I grew up in the foothills of the Ozarks in Missouri, and heard it pronounced "sody" all the time. And when I moved to western Massachusetts (where I seldom heard "tonic", interestingly), a friend from western Pennsylvania said she wanted "pawp".

lemons at 10:48AM on 09/17/08

california- soda as long as i can remember and i use that term all around the world in fact it's soda in Indonesia if you dont speak one of the dialects and they dont speak english you ask fer soda you get soda, oh ya fanta also works just say the color for the flavor.

shipwreck at 11:56AM on 09/17/08

I'm from central CA, about 30 miles south of Fresno to be more specific (yes, Fresno, home of the sausage-weilding burglar) and it's either "soda" or "Pepsi". It's referred to as "Pepsi" primarily among the hispanic population. My boss is from Indiana and she calls it "pop", and I tease her about it every single time.

buffy at 1:58PM on 09/17/08

I'm from L.A. and most of my family calls it Coke. But the grandparents came from the South. Otherwise, soda. Never pop.

ricestein at 8:12PM on 09/17/08

born in Michigan: POP
grew up in Massachusetts: SODA
live in California: SODA (although most people are really asking for a Diet Coke ha)

megannesta at 8:15PM on 09/17/08

See, I'm from Wisconsin and it's always been soda, not pop, not ever. From the map, I can see it's a lake coast thing.

BangieB at 9:24PM on 09/17/08

I'm from Texas and we call it coke.

jenn3250 at 12:06AM on 09/18/08

I still say soda while living in Ohio since it is soda in Hawaii. I've converted my husband from saying pop (Kansas) to soda.

Resistance is futile.

Cassaendra at 12:10AM on 09/18/08

I live in Houston. We call it a Coke. (Although most everyone I know now drinks Dr. Pepper) You might say "let's get a Coke" even though you would probably end up with DP..

My grandmother, uncles and cousins who lived in a small town near Bryan/College Station called it soda water.

eatorama at 2:20AM on 09/18/08

@cmtigger, I don't think it was Oakland or Piedmont, more likely it was what ccbweb said about branding -- we were an all Coca Cola household. That's very cool that your family goes back that far in California, BTW.

OliverRanch at 10:20AM on 09/18/08

@lemons - tonic is definitely only heard in specific parts of metro Boston. It's also pretty old-fashioned, but you still hear it sometimes!

embolini9 at 10:24AM on 09/18/08

I'm originally from New Jersey. In 1984 I moved to Florida and the first restaurant we stopped in ( Bennigans) I asked for a soda. When the waitress came back she had what appeared to be Sprite. Thinking nothing of it, I took a drink and much to my surprise it was seltzer water. I told the waitress she made a mistake and she said I asked for a soda. I agreed, but told her what I meant was a Coke or something. She said, "Oh! You mean a pop!"
I had never heard that until then. 24 years later it seems nowadays people ask for it by brand names to be clear.

carolynr1966 at 11:52AM on 09/18/08

Where I grew up (coastal NC), it was soda. Despite the fact that I've lived all my life, I've still yet to hear a North Carolina (or Southerner, for that matter) call it "Coke" and not mean the specific brand name.

I suspect that, at least for my neck of the woods, it has something to do with the fact that Pepsi was invented about 30 miles away. Who would order a Coke when a local boy invented Pepsi?

jenilowrance at 4:05PM on 09/18/08

Hello fellow Texans! It's all coke. I live in Annapolis now, still a Texan though, and here it's soda. In St Louis it was pop. I still ask what kind of coke they have...

carolrsf at 4:40PM on 09/18/08

My Daddy used to call it "fizzy water". I'm assuming he was joking. He also called it "a sasparilla" from time to time. Everyone in my family, including myself, is from Louisiana. It's always been "what kind of cokes do you want me to pick up from the grocery store". Although I believe that television has had something to do with the "watering down" of regional word usage. I've overheard my Louisiana-born son ask for "soda".

LarrupinGood at 5:02PM on 09/18/08

@carolrsf, I've been in St. Louis since '72, and almost never hear pop. Interesting. Maybe the neighborhood?

lemons at 10:38PM on 09/18/08

@lemons, maybe so. We were there for 2 years in University City. I only noticed because to me it was coke and my dad is from Michigan and that part of the family calls it pop.

carolrsf at 1:16PM on 09/19/08

Ok, I was born in California (Burbank area), to a half Hispanic family (mother's side) and moved to Atlanta during my formative years. My family uses the generic "coke" or soda interchangeably. I am equally familiar with both and having gone to a Coke sponsored school (Emory), I can tell you Coke is indeed king in the south. My Mexican grandmother uses Pepsi as the generic. It's so funny the way these differences develop.

Myabsurdlife at 2:05PM on 09/19/08

In Louisiana everything is referred to as Coke. As odd as it is the question, "What kind of Coke do you want?" makes perfect sense. And anyone that says Pop or Soda is found to be terribly amusing.

Haras at 3:42PM on 09/19/08

We called Coke "Co-cola" in south Georgia. Everything else was just coke.

janelu at 8:50PM on 09/19/08

San Francisco Bay Area, East Bay (El Cerrito - parents from Washington state and Arizona): Soft drinks. Never pop. Never soda, although that term was not unfamiliar to me. When I had gestational diabetes, my OB told me not to drink soda, and we had a "who's on first" conversation until I clarified that sugarless (and not artificially sweetened) soda water, that is, club soda, etc., was okay. Lord know where he was from.

Likeswords at 5:07PM on 09/20/08

If I call it 'Coke' my daughter says "no I want a Sprite" or root beer or whatever -- did I need a 6yo pedant? So, I just refer to it as soda so there is less verbal jousting. BTW, former WV - current KY resident.

susanova at 9:56AM on 09/22/08

Maybe to clarify:
'Pop' is just the derivative of 'Soda Pop', which in turn refers to manmade (with the inclusion of Bicarbonate of Soda in Water) sparkling water after the original Seltzer Water from the town of Seltzer in Germany. Club Soda was originally the manmade derivative of Seltzer used in Gentlemen's Clubs.
Pop is so named after the popping sound of opening a bottle of that stuff. It became the generic term for all flavored manmade sodas, including Coke.
I don't have to call it anything since I don't drink Soda, Pop or Coke.
Original Seltzer is a Mineral Water, and in Germany all Mineral Waters need to be bottled at source.

kanopemainer at 11:09AM on 09/22/08

Maybe to clarify:
'Pop' is just the derivative of 'Soda Pop', which in turn refers to manmade (with the inclusion of Bicarbonate of Soda in Water) sparkling water after the original Seltzer Water from the town of Seltzer in Germany. Club Soda was originally the manmade derivative of Seltzer used in Gentlemen's Clubs.
Pop is so named after the popping sound of opening a bottle of that stuff. It became the generic term for all flavored manmade sodas, including Coke.
I don't have to call it anything since I don't drink Soda, Pop or Coke.
Original Seltzer is a Mineral Water, and in Germany all Mineral Waters need to be bottled at source.

kanopemainer at 11:12AM on 09/22/08

I grew up in the Hudson Valley of NYS, and "Soda" was what we called it, with a qualifier (Pepsi, Coke, 7-up, Ginger Ale, etc). "Pop" was a reference I only saw in comic books.

Now, I live in the VA burbs of DC, and nothings changed, it's still "soda". I do have a childhood friend who lives in Atlanta who tells me that all soda is coke, as in "Hey, can you get us some cokes?" "Sure, what kind of cokes do you want?" "Oh, get me a Sprite."

chanterelle at 8:42PM on 12/30/08

I live in Illinois and kids usualy call it "soda". but older folk call it soddy or soda pop. my parents told me that in mass. they call it "tonic"

lawlzcats at 8:17PM on 01/13/09

I am from Sparta,TN. Like most of the South, we called everything "coke" as a generic term, but there was another, even more common term. All soda pops were called "cold drinks" -pronounced "co'dranks." This referred only to soda pop, not to juices or any other, well, cold drinks. I've since lived in South Florida and New York City, where it was "soda," and Illinois, where it is "pop." I usually call it soda, but can never bring myself to call it pop; when I was a kid, everyone made vicious fun of anyone who said "pop" because it marked them as a Yankee (in our eyes- for some reason there was not such a stigma on soda.)

tdsmith at 9:04PM on 07/30/09