Soda, cola, pop, coke, etc.?

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. ;-)

sheeats at 2:53PM on 04/22/08

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

renzata at 3:03PM on 04/22/08

Soda.

izatryt at 3:11PM on 04/22/08

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.

chiff0nade at 3:11PM on 04/22/08

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 at 3:20PM on 04/22/08

@ 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...

sheeats at 3:24PM on 04/22/08

This should shed some light on the debate:

link

El Farol at 3:25PM on 04/22/08

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.

LiveToEat at 3:36PM on 04/22/08

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.

PerkyMac at 3:38PM on 04/22/08

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

When I was in KS it was pop.

Carosone at 3:40PM on 04/22/08

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

Carosone at 3:41PM on 04/22/08

@ 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!)

sheeats at 3:42PM on 04/22/08

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..."

pickle at 3:44PM on 04/22/08

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.

renzata at 3:45PM on 04/22/08

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

renzata at 3:46PM on 04/22/08

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

brooke29 at 3:48PM on 04/22/08

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).

gtchick at 3:54PM on 04/22/08

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

Alm25 at 3:58PM on 04/22/08

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

hungrygrl7 at 4:25PM on 04/22/08

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.

alyssazor at 4:27PM on 04/22/08

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

PerkyMac at 4:37PM on 04/22/08

We Canadians call it pop

PeanutButter at 4:52PM on 04/22/08

pop here in west virginia but soda in virginia and maryland

jobug_tincher at 4:54PM on 04/22/08

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.

LoCo at 5:06PM on 04/22/08

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

Diz at 5:45PM on 04/22/08

@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

MelsDiner at 5:55PM on 04/22/08

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

ChelleyD01 at 7:49PM on 04/22/08

Cold drink or soft drink.

malenky at 8:06PM on 04/22/08

soda or fountain soda...

watchforbears at 11:35PM on 04/22/08

Soda

Glove compartment
Rubbish can

Cassaendra at 11:36PM on 04/22/08

Soda, says the North Carolinian.

jenilowrance at 12:01AM on 04/23/08

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.

PumpkinBear at 2:39AM on 04/23/08

In Australia, we call them soft drinks

vegemite at 4:09AM on 04/23/08

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.

huney_bumper at 7:45AM on 04/23/08

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.

Dee at 7:51AM on 04/23/08

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.

lemons at 8:37AM on 04/23/08

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

Cassaendra at 8:47AM on 04/23/08

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.

KitchenHawk at 9:08AM on 04/23/08

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

ButterButter at 9:13AM on 04/23/08

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.

pbisNOTmyname at 9:55AM on 04/23/08

Soda.

schnitzel at 10:16AM on 04/23/08

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."

Kerosena at 10:51AM on 04/23/08

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!

Maureen at 11:09AM on 04/23/08

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

Maureen at 11:10AM on 04/23/08

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!

Editmom at 11:39AM on 04/23/08

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".

bodaciousgirl at 11:57AM on 04/23/08

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

Kerosena at 11:58AM on 04/23/08

@ 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

sheeats at 1:00PM on 04/23/08

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.

sparker at 1:21PM on 04/23/08

@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.

Cassaendra at 1:34PM on 04/23/08

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

merlot at 2:08PM on 04/23/08

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

hungrychristel at 2:23PM on 04/23/08

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.

jmfors at 2:29PM on 04/23/08

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

jenjw4 at 2:43PM on 04/23/08

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".

Boscompb at 2:50PM on 04/23/08

This Canadian says "pop".

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

blush at 3:31PM on 04/23/08

hey kids, take a look:

http://popvssoda.com:2998/

foodinmouth at 3:33PM on 04/23/08

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

derekhinton2003 at 3:34PM on 04/23/08

@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?

Kerosena at 3:46PM on 04/23/08

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?

AuntJone at 3:55PM on 04/23/08

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.

RichardCrystal at 4:24PM on 04/23/08

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

RichardCrystal at 4:32PM on 04/23/08

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".

eatorama at 4:43PM on 04/23/08

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

amber at 5:26PM on 04/23/08

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.

eatorama at 6:52PM on 04/23/08

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.

Amandarama at 7:42PM on 04/23/08

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??????????

joanpieroni2 at 9:37PM on 04/23/08

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

thewnyc at 10:55PM on 04/23/08

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!

embolini9 at 8:55AM on 04/24/08

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

Chew on That at 10:24AM on 04/24/08

@ 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.

misseditor at 1:20PM on 04/24/08

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?

misseditor at 1:39PM on 04/24/08

@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.

PerkyMac at 2:40PM on 04/24/08

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

sarajane at 3:30PM on 04/24/08

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

caviarandcodfish at 4:22PM on 04/24/08

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

turtle33 at 4:53PM on 04/24/08

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.

Stushi at 6:53PM on 04/25/08

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".

MadelynRodriguez at 7:55PM on 09/10/08

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.

floridagirl at 8:47PM on 09/10/08

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

LizSherman at 8:55PM on 09/10/08

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.

curly at 10:33PM on 05/14/09

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...

hungrygrl7 at 11:12PM on 05/14/09

...um it's soda.

philadooklyn at 11:20PM on 05/14/09

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

cybercita at 12:34AM on 05/15/09

Soda. The stuff I don't drink.

Coke is only for Coca Cola and Cocaine.

fuuchan at 1:18AM on 05/15/09

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...

mayoxqueen at 4:10AM on 05/15/09

@cybercita--that made me laugh out loud!

HeartofGlass at 5:12AM on 05/15/09

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

dhorst at 7:18AM on 05/15/09

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

jo_jo_ba at 8:59PM on 05/15/09