Pop or Soda

[TrishCT]

Massachusetts and Connecticut...so close yet soooo far apart.

In Mass where I grew up:

We called it tonic, and it was a bubbler (bubblah). We also called certain types of sandwiches- subs.

In CT where I live now:

Soda, water fountain, and grinders. Even at Subway...kids ask for grinders.

[Pan]

It's always been soft drinks for me but when you buy a six pack or two...  do you ask the clerk to put it in a sack...  or a bag?

"Ya got a bag with handles?"

"Yeah."

"Gimme one, please."

Edited March 10, 2004 by Pan (log)

[jo-mel]

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

tonic.

Same here! I grew up in Boston and drank 'TONIC'. If I didn't drink tonic, then it was a 'FRAPPE'.

Here in NJ we drink 'soda' but the word 'tonic' brings a flavor to my tongue.

[formerly grueldelux]

Massachusetts and Connecticut...so close yet soooo far apart.

In Mass where I grew up:

We called it tonic, and it was a bubbler (bubblah).  We also called certain types of sandwiches- subs.

In CT where I live now:

Soda, water fountain, and grinders.  Even at Subway...kids ask for grinders.

Which is why Connecticut was kicked out of New England like 100 years ago.

But seriously, you're right. I can hardly speak for 10 square blocks of Cambridge, let alone New England. In fact the first time I heard bubblah I thought the person was insane, but then I'm not from around here. Likewise tonic. Where I'm from it's a drinking fountain and pop.

-michael

[bsan]

Connecticut here, and yeah...I call it soda, no matter what the brand name is. "Mom, I'm getting a soda." "Yeah, okay."

I saw what other people in my state decided to call this. Wow, there were some surprising call names:

"what ever is on bottle (i.e. sprite, mist, or name brand)"

And one person decided to give a lecture on how soda will decay teeth. Who really cares?

[Dignan]

I've lived, in turn, in FL ... AL ... GA ... FL ... TX .... It's always been "coke."

[Cusina]

Wisconsinite here...

The carbonated sweet stuff is soda and you drink water from the Bubbler. Ya der hey.

[deibu]

In South Carolina, of course pretty much everyone says "Coke" no matter what the beverage... They also call it a "cold drink". My grandmother, however, used to always call it "Pepsi-Coh-luh". She would always ask us when we went over if we wanted a "Pepsi-Coh-luh".

[joiei]

Where I grew up in Northwest Florida, my Granny always asked for a Nehi.

I use - coke

water fountain

go box

[girl chow]

when I was a kid, it didn't matter what you called it, since my mom never let you drink it or order it.

It was all milk and juice at our house.

Nope, no kool-aid either.

I can't imagine a childhood without neon colored kool-aid, that is so unfortunate! What a rip-off! Do you bring kool-aid with you to family gatherings now, just to make your point?

I'm a native Seattleite and most of us from here call it "pop" although I've heard the transplants call it "soda" and "coke" (when they mean 7-up). I've even started calling it "soda" now. Damn Californians (kidding!).

And it's water fountain here. Bubbler? What the heck is that?

[sequim]

Wisconsinite here...

The carbonated sweet stuff is soda and you drink water from the Bubbler. Ya der hey.

Not my Wisconsin.

In my northwoods, rural Wisconsin it's pop, drinking fountain, and sack.

[sequim]

I'm a native Seattleite and most of us from here call it "pop" although I've heard the transplants call it "soda" and "coke" (when they mean 7-up). I've even started calling it "soda" now. Damn Californians (kidding!).

Omigod, I thought it was all the natives in Seattle calling it soda. Being a non-native Seattleite (see post above) I call it pop! Nope, I won't switch, it's too ingrained.

[chow guy]

I'm from the Hudson Valley where we always said soda. My brothers have lived in Ohio for years and now they say pop. Go figure. I think It's a mid west kinda thing. I live in the West and have a heck of a time finding seltzer. I can only find club soda (which tastes salty).

[gus_tatory]

there's an interesting chart of the US here (click)... that breaks down the country, by county, according to whether people call it "pop" or "soda".

modern anthropology at work...

[Mayhaw Man]

Here's what people that frequent egullet call sugary, carbonated beverages.

It will be interesting to compare the two (or amybe this is where they did their research ).

Edited to say that this would be a much more interesting survey if the names for "other" were listed by catagory.

[NulloModo]

Soda or Coke are the only proper names ;) Pop is some upper midwestern flight of fancy....

Almost as bad as people calling Subs 'Hoagies' or 'Grinders'.

[Mayhaw Man]

Soda or Coke are the only proper names ;) Pop is some upper midwestern flight of fancy....

Almost as bad as people calling Subs 'Hoagies' or 'Grinders'.

Or people that call poboys "subs".

[Daddy-A]

In BC, we call it pop. Even had a store once called the Pop Shoppe ... the fancy spelling making the pop extra special.

What about people who call potato chips "crisps"?

DA

[johnnyd]

What about people who call potato chips "crisps"?

(Python Francaise) Them's arr Eeeng-lish type-sa! (/Python Francaise)

[Toliver]

Taking a look at the map linked to in the first post, I just have to ask what the heck "Other" would be? What other options are there besides "Soda", "Pop" & "Coke"?

Or does "Other" include variations like "Sodee", "PopPop" & the ever-geeky "Carbonated Beverages with High Frustose Corn Syrup and natural and artificial flavorings" which is used mostly on college campuses like M.I.T., etc.

[Mayhaw Man]

Belly Wash

Sody Water

Cold Drink If you look at the parish in "other" in Louisiana I am sure that this is what the other is. It is a common term for soft drinks in that part of the state (Tensas Parish-One of the poorest and least populated areas of the South-They went for years without a doctor or a dentist-you had to go to Natchez, Vicksburg, or Monroe for medical care)

[fifi]

You have to wonder if this was some dude's PhD thesis.

East Central University (Oklahoma)

Well, I guess the universe is a better place now that this essential research has been completed.

[Bernaise]

Hope it's not too late for a contribution but in Toronto Canada the generic (popular) term is pop. And frankly, when you lift the tab or twist the cap it does in fact go "pop" as opposed to say bubblah, or soda or even coke wouldn't you agree? Now from time to time one has to be a little fancy -shall we say- in that case it is soft drinks (with the slightest of pauses between the two words) - however juice fits into that too!

I especially would never refer to it as a 'coke' as once, many years ago, I was a approached in a bar by a man who wanted me to know he had "a really big coke" - He was foreign!

[Pan]

Hope it's not too late for a contribution but in Toronto Canada the generic (popular) term is pop. And frankly, when you lift the tab or twist the cap it does in fact go "pop" as opposed to say bubblah, or soda or even coke wouldn't you agree?

Yeah? So does Champagne.

[Gary Soup]

When and where (far upstate New York in the 40's/50's) we always said "soda pop." But we often got it at a soda fountain, and sometimes at a Coke machine. The bottles, however, were always called "pop bottles".

To raise the ante, when we got our soda pop at a supermarket, it was always put in a grocery "sack", never a grocery "bag."

Did you get a:

1) A soda in a bag

2) A soda in a sack

3) A pop in a bag

4) A pop in a sack

And did you drink it sitting on the sofa or the couch? After dinner or after supper?