The Consolidated "Coke? Soda? Pop? Or?" thread
 

Since the earliest research into the the English Language as spoken in North America was begun by Noah Webster in the early 18th century, the regional variations in dialect have always been the most challenging and difficult to explain field. Since the development of carbonated beverage in 1886, one of linguistic geography's most important and least investigated phenomena has been the sharp regional divisions in the use of the terms "pop" and "soda."

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/

Coke

ETA: Grew up in Dallas, and that's what everybody calls it.

[This message has been edited by robb (edited 09-13-2002).]

Isn't it Sodapop?

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I have noticed in the on the west coast of US people call it soda

In the mid west they call it pop

Rarely, do I ever hear it called sodapop and longer.

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they call it soda here, too and do I get some strange comments when I say "I'd like a pop, please." Guess I am lucky no one has taken a swing at me ...

Texas is coming out at 80% who say "Coke," CA is showing 73% say "Soda." So, our perceptions are bearing out so far.

See the stats page.

Is no one from New England, where we use proper terminology?

The correct term is tonic.

If I said to you, "would you like a soda."
I would be meaning a Coke, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Sprite. If I only had Coke I would say, "would you like a Coke."

If I were to order a vodka and soda, that would be Club Soda.

Tonic and Soda are completely different

Just ask someone who orders a Vodka and Tonic and gets a Vodka and Soda.



[This message has been edited by wingless (edited 09-13-2002).]

Where I come from (Canada) pop means Coke, Pepsi, 7UP, Tab...etc. It's never been called soda IIRC.

Soda refers to soda water here...as in a vodka soda.

[This message has been edited by Carioca Canuck (edited 09-13-2002).]

And growing up in Ft. Worth, we would have seen nothing unusual about the following:

"Would you like a coke?"

"Yes"

"What kind of coke?"

"A Dr. Pepper."

Not here in the same back-asswards corner of the world that brought you "Candlepin Bowling".

Tonic covers ALL types of soda here in NE. Not only do we have "Funny Accents", we have funny terminology.

In New Jersey growing up, "soda" was seltzer"

Coke was a soft drink you could enjoy.
An doanju say nuttin about accents frum Joisey.

(exit 136, in case anyone wanted to ask)

Of course now I live in the nicest part of New Jersey - Connecticut

Around here, using "Coke" as a generic is quite acceptable for any sort of carbonated soft drink. Anecdotally, I would say that "Soda" is common, too.

If you mentioned "Pop" you'd probably be talking about your father.

Now think what that would mean in certain crowds, say, in shall we say "high traffic" area hehehe http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

As a New Mexico native I can relate, but I often answered that question with "A Coke coke".