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Soda, cola, pop, coke, etc.?

Which term do you use? What do you call it?

90 Comments:

Soda...except sometimes I go back to my Boston roots and say "tonic"

COKE. Always Coke. Never soda, or pop, or anything else.

From time to time, you may hear someone down here say "cold drink" or "fountain drink." This is only mildly offensive, but still WRONG. ;-)

Coke here. It's a Texas thing, right?

Soda. I don't drink Coke and that type of stuff. Mostly seltzer and club soda. So I primarily drink fizzy water.

Here in FL most people call it pop. Nope. It's soda.

Everyone I knew growing up (myself included) called it pop. While in college, I met a lot of native Texans and without fail they referred to any fizzy fountain drink as soda. They would always laugh when we called it pop: "What is THAT?!?"

@ MelsDiner: You met Texans who called fizzy fountain drinks "soda"???!!!??? Tell me where they are, all of them, so I can personally visit their homes and slap some sense into them. I'm warming my hands up as we speak...

This should shed some light on the debate:

link

But what do Texans say if they want Sprite or Mountain Dew or something non-Coke?

In MN, the word is Pop and I'm not proud of it.

A cooler full of cold carbonated drinks is soda. Cola ain't Coke or Pepsi, no how, no way. It's the cheap stuff. Tonic is water with quinine. Pop is a father of the 40's and 50's, our bus driver in elementary school and a high school coach. Also, an occasional grandfather with a double name, as in Pop Pop. He may be sweet or tart. Poppy is a flower or grandfather.

At a Canadian wedding, my 7 year old daughter ordered a soda and they gave her club soda. If she wanted club soda, she would have ordered exactly that. She thought the bartender (it was a wedding people!) would offer her a choice of orange, grape, cream, birch beer, etc. Boy, was she disappointed and we all had a good laugh. She went back and ordered a root beer.

Here in TX - Coke, no matter what it is.

When I was in KS it was pop.

Live to Eat - I've noticed that Coke is used for everything EXCEPT Dr. Pepper

@ LiveToEat: It goes like this...

sheeats: You want sumthin to drank? (special emphasis on the accent here, of course)

LiveToEat: Sure! What do you have?

sheeats: We got water, iced tea, cokes...

LiveToEat: A coke sounds good.

sheeats: What kinda coke you want? We got Dr Pepper, Big Red and Coca Cola.

LiveToEat: Dr Pepper, please. (because you're smart enough to choose our state drink while you're here!)

I grew up in DC but being technically south of the Mason-Dixon Line, we called all soft drinks coke. To answer LiveToEat's question, one could ask "Do you want some coke?" and continue with "Which kind? Coke, Sprite or..."

LiveToEat, coke is the generic word. For example, if you came to my house, I might ask you what you'd like to drink. You might say, how about a coke? Then I'd say, I have Mountain Dew, Big Red, Dr Pepper and Coke, which would you prefer? Then you'd say, Dr Pepper.

Or at the store, I might ask my husband, do you want any coke? And he would say, yes, let's get some 7-Up.

Sheeats, I was typing and you beat me to it. Funny stuff.

Fizzy pop (UK). Although now, having lived in NJ for 5.5 years, I call it soda, just like everybody else round here:-)

Everthing's a Coke to me. I'm born & raised in Atlanta (birthplace of Coca-Cola for those of you who may have been living under a rock your whole life).

For me it's soda... but my grandfather says sodie-pop.hehehehe.. I've always thought that covers it pretty well.

in pittsburgh its P-O-P....always and forever

Soda. My boyfriend calls it pop (he is from Michigan) and I tell him now that he lives here in california he can't use that word :) He doesn't listen.

@El Farol.........that map you linked to is fascinating! Thanks.

We Canadians call it pop

pop here in west virginia but soda in virginia and maryland

Soda.

Although, I do recall, as a very young child, referring to all sodas collectively or generically as "coke" -- since I basically didn't drink soda, I don't think it made much difference to me. But, I also remember at my dad's parents' house, it was called RC because that was the only soda they ever bought. ;-)

I've always just assumed that tendency to refer to soda as "coke" was a kid-thing (over generalization stage). In thinking about it now, I realize I may have picked up a regional term from my family, since my paternal grandfather was from Louisiana (where coke is the general term). I also remember adults around me calling it soda pop (sometimes just pop), cold drink, and (much less frequently) soft drink.

In Seattle, it's pop, though I say soda.

@sheeats - Oh gosh, I would gladly round up those wayward Texans for you but have no idea where they are. Back in the college days (20-or-so years ago), the culprits in question hailed from the DFW area as well as the Houston area. They all laughed at the idea of "pop." This was a discussion that came up regularly when we would eat out with a Texan and he/she would ask "What kind of soda do you want?" etc. I've read in quite a few places that Texans use "coke" as a generic term for soda/pop/carbonated fountain drinks but never, ever heard that among the 30-or-so I knew in college and have always been befuddled as to why that is. Maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe they used "soda" when they crossed state lines and reserved usage of "coke" to in-state doings. LOL

Pop in ohio...when you say anything else people look at you weird.

Cold drink or soft drink.

soda or fountain soda...

Soda


Glove compartment
Rubbish can

Soda, says the North Carolinian.

Whatever you call it I definetly think a lot of it has to do with your age and where in the country you are. When my Southern boyfriend and I first started dating he thought it was bizarre that I referred to all carbonated beverages as soda, where as he refers to all soda as coke- even if it's not Coca Cola ... which doesn't make any sense to me. A typical conversation between he and his friends goes like this:
What do you want to drink?
A coke.
What kind of coke?
A Mountain Dew.
That doesn't make any sense!!! That only makes sense if you use the term "soda."

Anyhow, I've noticed that older people here in California use the term "pop." At least my grandpa and my super cool great uncle does.

In Australia, we call them soft drinks

I grew up in New England and we always called it soda, when I moved south and someone would ask if I wanted a coke I'd always get a confused look on my face. After many years (too many) living here, I finally understand. wouldnt you know it, I grasped the concept right about the time I stopped drinking the stuff.

It was coke when I growing up in Hawaii. Moved to Indiana when I was nine and it was pop. As others, I remember once in a restaurant I said I wanted a coke then hesitated a bit, while thinking what kind I wanted (root beer? 7-Up?). I was incensed when the waitress wrote down coke and walked away.

Eventually adjusted to saying pop. Moved to New York and when I would ask if anyone wanted pop I was met with weird looks because they thought I said pot.

Bottom line: after 25 years in New York, it's soda.

Well, there's always the variation of "Co'Cola" for it. And the first time I heard pop, it was someone from eastern PA and she pronounced it "Pawp". A third regional variation is "sody", which is in a few parts of Missouri, where I grew up, and perhaps elsewhere.

LOL every once in a while I say "sody" as a joke. I didn't realize people really said that! :D

We grew up calling everything a "COKE". (Yes, it is a TEXAS thing!) Now, having realized that the world does not end at the state line, I have "graduated" to referring to carbonated beverages as "soda" or by the specific brand or flavor.

I grew up in St. Louis, which was a strange "soda" outpost in the midst of "pop" land.

It's soda. When you order a Coke, you should receive...a Coke. It's a brand name!

My boyfriend is from Texas, and he got a big shock when he asked me to go get a coke when I was getting a soda from the vending machine. He was so surprised when I came back and gave him a Coke. He told me he wanted a Mountain Dew. I had never heard of calling any soda Coke. It just sounds confusing.

Generally, "soda." Specifically, "Di' Coke."

@cassaendra- "glove box" and "trash" (no 'can.' Just "where's yer trash?")
also kind of fond of "register/ heat register" for "radiator."

Some that drive me nuts: AAAAAYYYGGGS for "eggs." PEE-UHNN or PIN for "pen."

I say Pop, I'm Canadian. My husband says Soda, he's American (from PA). We've managed to overcome the barrier (grin)..... His Canadian born children say Soda, and get weird looks from their classmates who were not raised by two PA-born Americans!

Now here's the real question - what do you call a box containing 24 bottles of beer? Perhaps a topic for another time!

I'm from Louisiana -- it's always been Coke. Then again, that's about the only "soft drink" we drank! I never heard the term "pop" until I went to Ohio with my college boyfriend (now husband) and someone asked if I wanted some. I had to ask what they meant!

We now live south of Atlanta, so most people here say Coke or Co'Cola. But you still have the people who've moved here saying pop or soda. We'll get 'em converted one of these days!

Pop.

I was born and raised in Chicago and thats what everyone called it.

No I am in Arizona and when I slip and say Ill have a pop - the looks I get are like I asked someone to hit me.

We also say coke when we mean any cola... but thats only after the person were talking to doesn't get "pop".

@ Maureen- a case. A box that carries 12 beers is a Twelver. One that carries 18 is a suitcase.

@ Kerosena: "Some that drive me nuts: AAAAAYYYGGGS for "eggs." PEE-UHNN or PIN for 'pen.'"

Boy, you'd sure hate spending time around me and my family and our lovely, thick East Texas accents! ;)

...we also say "hay-uv" for "have" and "git" for "get" and "icebox" for "refrigerator" and, well, the list could go on all day. :-D

Born and raised in Oregon. Pop. I'll never forget going into a store in the Poconos and asking where they kept the cold pop. The poor courtesy clerk had no idea what I was talking about and had to ask the manager.

Never heard it called Soda until I went to college in California.

@Sheeats - that puts a coincidentally odd spin to how I initially thought your name was pronounced knowing you're from Texas...or is that Taxes? :P

My aunt, who is a petite Okinawan woman, has a thiiiick Texas accent from living in east TX for over 45 years. As a child, it always made me giggle when she would exclaim, "Golly!" or call refrigerators, "Frigidaire." I think Frigidaire is more of an age thing than a regional thing though.

definitely coke. as in, bring me a coke, dr pepper please. cheers!

Maybe because I'm Canadian.... but I call it 'pop'.
Or maybe it's because I never drink the stuff.

Being a "born & raised" Minnesotan, it's always been "pop" for me. But now that I've been transplanted to the Boston area, every once and a while "soda" will slip out. Then I mentally scold myself lol.

Here, in the midwest (IL) we say Soda... but, like a previous commentor, I had a grandparent that said "sodie pop"

I've always called it soda, Coke or Pepsi. My friends in upstate New York call it "pop", so when visiting I always had to "NewYorkitize" my preference and refer to it as "pop".

This Canadian says "pop".

and @ Maureen, a case of 24 beers is a "Two-Four" and a 12 is a "12-pack". ;)

Coke. I actually used to be baffled as a child when I'd tell the waitress that I wanted a coke and she wouldn't ask me what kind. Heh

@Boscompb- where in upstate NY? I'm nearly a "lifer" in Albany (except for that brief stint in AZ), and have never heard it called pop here. Maybe western NY? Like Buffalo?

Hoosiers say pop. I had no idea anyone outside of the Great Lakes area even used it!

Didn't Bert say soda water on Sesame Street?? Think Mr. Hooper ever screwed up his order?


In Baltimore it's "Soda, Hon". But I used to date a girl (YES,a girl!!) from Boston who referred to any carbonated beverage as "tonic". The first time I heard her order one I thought the waitress was going to bring her a bottle of Geritol.

@Cassandra. You think that's bad? I occasionally slip and refer to my Sub-Zero as an ice box!

I live in Houston and have always called it Coke. My grandmother and uncles/aunt that live in a small town in central Texas always called them "soda water".

Soda- and I was raised in Dallas. My mom, who was from the Oklahoma/Texas border area called it pop or soda-pop.

At Christmas, I found civilization finally arrived in Alexandria, Virginia. We went into a McDonald's and they actually had Dr.Pepper. It was so momentous they had posters advertising it on the windows.

Like I said. If someone comes to your house, you offer them a Coke and then ask what kind.

Soda. I've lived on Massachusetts my whole life. Only very rarely did I hear anyone call a soda "tonic" - and even then it was my grandmother.

In western NY it's pop. I worked around a lot of tourists and got in the habit of calling it soda. My daughter spent a summer in Bellagio Italy and had withdrawls not having Mt. Dew there. She said there was only Coke, Coke Lite, 7-up & Orange soda. Can you imagine an Italian visiting our huge grocery store with all the choices we have??????????

From NYC

soda is any bubbly beverage. if it has no flavoring it is seltzer, or club soda (which is really seltzer w/ salt)

cola is a flavor for soda

coke is a brand of cola

pop is your father, or what someone does to you when they hit you w/ their fist


I think it depends on where in Massachusetts you are--you might not hear it called tonic in restaurants or stores, but go to a baseball game or a swimming pool in the summer and you'll probably hear it, it is pretty old-fashioned though!

Hehe I've always loved this debate: It's totally pop! I don't know what you non-Chicagoan/Midwesterners are talking about!

Hillary
Chew on That

@ Alm 25. "but my grandfather says sodie-pop"

My grandpa says the same thing out in the country in Northern Calif. We say soda here of course, but when I went to school in Oregon, they all say pop. I actually argued with one of my new Oregon friends about whether to say soda or pop. My husband, who's from Oregon, quickly adapted to our soda ways.

I said that pop is the noise when you open a can of soda, but there is no pop sound with plastic bottles of soda. What an argument, huh?

@Alm25 & @misseditor........my father called "it" sody-pop when he was a little boy in the Poconos. He might have continued, but we teased him unmercifully.

You can get a huge pop out of plastic bottles of soda when you forget to bring them in from the garage and they freeze. You just don't realize how sticky that stuff really is until you have to wash it off of everything within 200 square feet, from floor to ceiling.

Another Chicagoan chiming in with a resounding Pop (not the sound).

I'm from New Jersey and I say "Soda-Pop." No one else around here does. It makes me feel special.

In Texas, we call it coke unless you are ordering and then you request whatever the name of the drink is.

Growing up in New York, we called it "soder." Moving to Boston (OK, Somerville) in 1988 to be with my girlfriend, I had to get used to "tonic" or "pop."

In 1990, I moved with my sweetie Andi from Somerville to Seattle. Here, it seems to be "pop," "soda" or "soda pop."

I'll have the house fizzy water, as I usually say.

i know this thread is a few months old... as I am writing this in September 2008... but I found this map and i thought it would be interesting to share as a conclusion to this thread...

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/308-the-pop-vs-soda-map/

I am a "Refresco" kind of girl, but in English I call it "Soda".

I always call it soda. I have a friend that had recently moved to the area, (she always called it soda too), when she started dating a guy from the area... country guy. He stopped at the "jiffy store" one day and asked her "hey, ya wanna cold drank"? She said sure, but the next day she asked me about this. She thought that maybe some of us bumpkins actually drank our soda hot. She couldn't understand why he had to preface "drank" with the word cold. I will remember this forever.

I'm from Kentucky so everything is Coke. My husband is from Chicago so he says pop. It can get confusing.

I live in california. Have lived here nearly all my life, and have always refered to it as coke no matter what I am drinking. I live in Riverside, CA but have also lived in San Diego, CA growing up and we called it the same in both places. Not sure who calls it soda sounds strange. But my cousins come down from Virginia and they call it Pop. Thought they were talking about those little pop rock candies the first time they asked for a pop. lol.

pop. and im curious... i live in the pittsburgh area, where we say pop, and pepsi has billboards every where just saying "pop". Where those of yousay soda, do they have "soda" billboards? every time i see one i wonder...

...um it's soda.

i come from berkeley, where we called coca cola "the black waters of imperialism."

Soda. The stuff I don't drink.

Coke is only for Coca Cola and Cocaine.

I lived in southern california my whole life and always referred to it as soda but after moving to Ohio ant age 23 I am getting sucked into calling it pop...

@cybercita--that made me laugh out loud!

Growing up in northern NY (not up state) it was soft drinks. Here in central NY ('cuse) it's soda.

It's pop. Done. Unless it's a brand name.

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