Is It Pop, Soda, or Coke? What Do You Call Your Fizzy Drink?

[jtbell]

I say "pop", you say "soda"...

What do you use as a generic term for carbonated soft drinks?

http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/popvssodamap.gif

I grew up in "pop" territory, spent a few years in "soda" territory, and have now spent close to half my life in "coke" territory.

 

[Jimmy]

Grew up in a "pop" area myself- NE Ohio. My grandmother called it "soda pop".

 

[Ben Niehoff]

I grew up in pop territory, went to middle and high school in soda territory (where I decided I prefer soda to pop), and went to college in pop territory again. While in college I met a guy from Georgia who told me that a common restaurant exchange there goes like this:

"What would you like to drink?"

"Oh, I think I'll have a coke."

"What kind of coke would you like?"

"Sprite."

Totally blew my mind.

However, most of the time it makes no difference to me, because I don't drink soda. Or pop.

 

[zoobyshoe]

It's funny how pop and coke are North and South, but soda is bicoastal.

 

[jtbell]

Grew up in a "pop" area myself- NE Ohio.

Hi, neighbor.

My grandmother called it "soda pop".

It's actually been long enough that I don't have a clear memory of what my friends, family and I normally called it, but "soda pop" doesn't sound strange to me, so we may very well have used that!

I just noticed that odd "soda" island in Missouri and Illinois, centered more or less on St. Louis. I wonder what's up with that?

And there's Wisconsin, with the part along Lake Michigan being "soda" territory and the rest being "pop" territory. Maybe Greg could give us some insight on that.

On a related issue, did you by any chance call a vacuum cleaner a "sweeper?" My wife (who grew up on Long Island) was amused by my mother using that term. Then we visited my home town and passed a shop near my old house, with the sign "Sweeper Sales & Service."

 

[Jimmy]

Hello! I grew up near Steubenville.

On a related issue, did you by any chance call a vacuum cleaner a "sweeper?" My wife (who grew up on Long Island) was amused by my mother using that term. Then we visited my home town and passed a shop near my old house, with the sign "Sweeper Sales & Service."

I've always used "vacuum" or "vacuum cleaner". I don't recall anyone in my family using "sweeper", although my grandparents may have, but I've heard it used often enough that it doesn't sound strange to me.


The distribution of the different terms is interesting.

 

[Pengwuino]

Finally statisticians do something worth while.

 

[Ouabache]

Fizzy Drink, of course.

 

[Ouabache]

On a related issue, did you by any chance call a vacuum cleaner a "sweeper?" My wife (who grew up on Long Island) was amused by my mother using that term. Then we visited my home town and passed a shop near my old house, with the sign "Sweeper Sales & Service."

Now you're getting into regional American English. There was an English professor up at U of Wisc-Madison (Fred Cassidy), who initiated a dictionary of American regional English. They coined it DARE. It has taken a while but I believe it has been completed. If you watch this clip of how to speak Hoosier, you will hear 'sweeper' as well as other vocabulary more common to the mid-west, than other parts of U.S.
It includes one of my favorites 'icebox'. We never owned an ice box. They had been a relic of the past for some time. Even still, the term 'icebox' was used, interchangeably with refrigerator or fridge.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Many of my relatives use "icebox" for the fridge. But many of them actually used iceboxes once.

 

[turbo]

I grew up in "soda" ville and it has been that way for all my life. Perhaps that is because we were not all that removed from the days of soda fountains. My second-cousins in the Hartford area always wanted to call it "pop".

 

[daveb]

I moved to Ohio from Los Angeles, and the first time I went out for dinner and the server asked if I wanted "pop", I had to ask what the blazes pop was.

 

[brewnog]

Fizzy pop.

 

[leroyjenkens]

I've lived in Florida all my life and I've never heard anyone refer to soda generically as "coke." The only time I've heard someone say that is when they really wanted a coke.
Seems like referring to a drink by a specific brand name would cause confusion.

I do remember when I first heard my cousins say "pop". They're from Pennsylvania. I thought it sounded silly. Even after I got used to it, it still sounds silly for an adult to say that.

On a side note of weird things people say. My friend, whenever he spills something, he says he "wasted it." He had a stain on his carpet and I asked him what happened, and he said he "wasted" something on it. That seemed so strange to me. I'd never heard anyone refer to spilling as "wasted." That just makes it sound deliberate and maybe almost malicious.

Any other weird things you've heard people say? This is an interesting topic.

 

[jtbell]

Hello! I grew up near Steubenville.

I'm from up north in the Mahoning Valley area. When my high school football team played Steubenville, we always had a banner showing football players in a cooking-pot, with the slogan "Stew Steubenville!"

 

[KiwiKid]

:|

Statisticians have too much time on their hands.

 

[dipole]

Pop and coke are such a ridiculous thing to call carbonated drinks. Anyone who refereed to a rootbeer as a coke and a coke as a pop would not be welcome in my home.

 

[SW VandeCarr]

I wonder what the Pepsi folks (or the Coke folks for that matter) think about the generic "coke" in the southern states. Do they actually call a bottle or glass of Pepsi a "coke"? I know Coca Cola was invented in Atlanta (and it once contained real cocaine), but c'mon! That's just so wrong!

 

[DaleSwanson]

I remember the first time I heard someone call a soda 'pop' I thought they were joking and laughed.

Anyway, here's an interesting link I found a long time ago that this thread reminded me of.

http://www4.uwm.edu//FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

It's similar to this pop vs soda but for many different things, eg, garage sale vs yard sale.

 

[Ms Music]

That map is interesting!

I grew up with "soda pop", so neither alone sounds strange to me. Didn't realize it was an issue. And they are called "vacuum cleaners."

Here is another one. I think I was a legal adult (or at least mid teens) before I ever heard the word "KOO pon" (coupon). I grew up hearing "KYOO pon". Anyone else use that? I have always wondered if it was a local thing started by our grocery store "QFC" but I am not sure.

 

[turbo]

Here in Maine, you commonly hear people talk about their front yards or even door-yards (amongst older folks), but the word lawn is generally relegated to referring to the grass itself. Still, the phrase "lawn sale" is pretty common. The phrase "garage sale" implies that the goods will be under shelter and the sale will proceed even in inclement weather.

 

[jtbell]

I think I was a legal adult (or at least mid teens) before I ever heard the word "KOO pon" (coupon). I grew up hearing "KYOO pon".

For me, it's "kewpon."

 

[leroyjenkens]

I remember the first time I heard someone call a soda 'pop' I thought they were joking and laughed.

Anyway, here's an interesting link I found a long time ago that this thread reminded me of.

http://www4.uwm.edu//FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

It's similar to this pop vs soda but for many different things, eg, garage sale vs yard sale.

That website is, pardon my Swahili, darn interesting.

That map is interesting!

I grew up with "soda pop", so neither alone sounds strange to me. Didn't realize it was an issue. And they are called "vacuum cleaners."

Here is another one. I think I was a legal adult (or at least mid teens) before I ever heard the word "KOO pon" (coupon). I grew up hearing "KYOO pon". Anyone else use that? I have always wondered if it was a local thing started by our grocery store "QFC" but I am not sure.

I've heard both my whole life, but kyoo pon just flowed better. I think it's slightly easier to say, too. I think people tend to gradually change pronunciation of words to make it easier. For example "auxiliary" is supposed to be "awg zil yuh ree", but that takes some tongue gymnastics, so people just say "awg zil uh ree".

 

[gmax137]

... "awg zil yuh ree"...

or, how about "Feb-rew-air-ee"