Pop or Soda

[hillvalley]

Where do you live and what do you drink?

I live in Washington, DC and drink soda.

[Katherine]

I live in southern Maine, and people around me drink soda.

I drink water.

[cbarre02]

I live in southeast michigan, people here drink pop.

But i drink soda.

[Mudpuppie]

In Texas, it's all 'coke.'

[Mabelline]

I was brought up hearing sody-water from older folks, or soda nowadays. SO is a Montana native, and he says pop, or just coke.His pops calls it soda pop. I still call it sodawater.

Oops, forgot to say I don't drink any of it as a rule.

Edited February 15, 2004 by Mabelline (log)

[torakris]

I am in Japan were it is all called cola, but with English speakers I will call it pop, was born and raised in Cleveland.....

[chromedome]

Invariably "pop" in Canada, AFAIK. "Soda" is the expensive Italian-style stuff they serve in coffee bars.

[Mayhaw Man]

I live in the Deep South.

It's all Coke no matter what flavor you want-Dr. Pepper, Barq's, 7-Up, Sprite, Big Shot, etc.-It's all Coke.

Pop is a name for your Grandfather or a reaction caused by sticking a pin in a balloon.

One kind of soda goes in bisquits and the other kind goes in Bourbon.

[Pan]

Native Manhattanite here (that's New York, not Kansas). It's "soda." "Pop" is a type of music.

[sparrowgrass]

I live in Missouri--most folks here say soda. I say coke--if you are running into the Casey's for coke, make mine a diet Pepsi, please.

[KateW]

So if you call everything coke, how do you order it in a restaurant? "I'd like a Dr. Pepper coke?" Because if you just said coke, you'd probably get a...coke.

[prasantrin]

I say "soft drink", but most others around here (Winnipeg) say "pop".

[Mayhaw Man]

No, No, No.

The conversation goes like this.

Let's say that two guys are riding in a car and one guy says to the other, "Hey Bubba, jawannacoke?"

The other guys says, " Yeah. Stop at that Jr. Mart and get me a one of them Barq's."

This is a recreation of an actual conversation. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is wholly intended and no rights have been reserved.

[Toasted]

Here in CT it's soda but growing up in Boston it was called

tonic.

[mnebergall]

I went to college at University of Missouri, in Columbia which is roughly half-way between Kansas City and St. Louis. The guys in my fraternity house from St. Louis called it soda and the ones from Kansas City called it pop. We could always tell what part of the state someone was from by what they called it.

[Schneier]

There's a U.S. map showing which words are used in what parts of the country.

Bruce

[adoxograph]

I'm a New England transplant in Illinois drinking soda, with my native SO who also prefers soda, while his parents and grandparents have pop.

However, at home when I was a kid, if soda had something extra added to it, preferably before a day of fishing, it became "(insert color here) lightning" as in orange lightning, purple lightning, white lightning.

I always liked that.

[mnebergall]

The map seems to confirm my Kansas City/St. Louis dichotomy.

[Alex]

I live in southeast michigan, people here drink pop.

But i drink soda.

In West Michigan, ditto for me.

[sml311]

In west Kentucky, it's all Coke to us.

The lightning post was interesting. I've heard of that but never knew where it came from.

SML

[GSBravo]

Southeastern Virginia. I drink Coke and I don't use 'coke' as a generic term.

[Alex]

There's a U.S. map showing which words are used in what parts of the country.

Bruce

Great map! Thanks, Bruce. Ms Alex immediately added it as a reference for students in her Business Communication classes. The only caveat is that for many counties the sample size is pretty small (n=1 ).

Edited February 16, 2004 by Alex (log)

[Varmint]

In North Carolina, everything is a "coke" or a "drink".

[Kenk]

Canada is a very big place Chromedome!

I grew up in Montreal.

It is soft drinks. I never heard anyone call it a pop in Montreal except on television.

[snowangel]

Along the same lines, is it a bubbler or a water fountain?