#11558: — 12/20  at  06:15 PM
Most illuminating. I've always been a bit confused about whether "pop" or "soda" was the correct term in my native dialect, and now I see why - my hometown, Rochester NY, is shown as being exactly on the border between the "pop" and "soda" regions.

#11562: — 12/20  at  06:53 PM
Perfect! Where I live it's a Coke..even if the can says Pepsi.

#11563: paperwight — 12/20  at  06:55 PM
I grew up in "pop" country, but went to undergrad in "soda"/"tonic" country. My fellow students would not give me a carbonated beverage unless I called it a "soda", though I am pleased that the brahmins among them did not demand that I use the word "tonic".

Within one semester, I was retrained to "soda" and have retained that usage for over 15 years.

#11565: — 12/20  at  06:59 PM
I say "soda", but I'm in California where that usage prevails. If I don't say "soda" I say "soft drink", which I presume comes under "other". "Pop" sounds weird to me, probably because I almost never hear it unless we're discussing the sound of a bursting balloon. I wonder how it looks when the map is scaled to population instead of area. A lot of those "pop" states are all but empty.

#11566: — 12/20  at  07:14 PM
The word is "soda"! The "pop" infidels will be vanquished!

#11567: — 12/20  at  07:19 PM
Would you like a SUB with your SODA? We'll put bacon on it straight out of the FRYING PAN.

Insert your own dialectal variants. There are tons and tons of these. And we think we all speak the same language!

#11568: — 12/20  at  07:22 PM
No Data!!!??? NO DATA????!!!!
What the hell kind of survey is it that gets "no data" for Scurry County, Texas, "Home of the White Buffalo?" I'd demand a recount, except that the researcher apparently lives in Ada, Oklahoma, so he has enough problems already....

#11569: — 12/20  at  07:29 PM
That's strange. I grew up and still live in western Washington (50-80% "pop" on that map) and I don't remember ever hearing it referred to as anything other than "soda" (or "soft drink" at restaurants/fast-food places). "Pop" sounds alien to me. We're even home to Jones Soda company, famous for their delicious turkey & gravy sodas. What gives? Am I living in some sort of parallel universe to y'all?

#11570: — 12/20  at  07:33 PM
I grew up in Connecticut, and it was a "soda world" in my early years. Not so much anymore. I occasionally still use soda, or even the occasional "pop" (just to be polite) - but since then, I've smartened up. How? Why?

Come on! Does this sound familiar?

Excuse me, does anyone have a piece of soft absorbent paper for usage as a disposable handkerchief?

I didn't think so. But you probably have heard,

Excuse me, does anyone have a Kleenex?

This last one is much easier, and it gives major props to the brand name that is kicking ass (at least, in the desposable handkerchief department).

In a similar manner, every (token) carbonated beverage can (and should) be comfortably and efficiently referred to as Coke.

#11571: — 12/20  at  07:37 PM
That's the last time you'll ever see me labeled as "red."

(until my deathbed confession, of course)

#11573: — 12/20  at  07:43 PM
I say tissue. And soda. So there. ;)

#11574: — 12/20  at  07:45 PM
Jeebus: The difference is all pieces of soft absorbent paper are the same as Kleenex, so you can get away with using the brand name generically in virtually every situation. However... Mountain Dew is not Coke. Orange Crush and Fanta are not Coke. 7-Up, Sprite, Squirt, and Sierra Mist are not Coke. None of those are even vaguely Coke.

I would only refer to colas generically as "Coke", or alternately "You Don't Have Rootbeer? Guess I'll Have To Settle For That Then."

#11579: — 12/20  at  08:25 PM
I say soft drink, but I'm one of those colonials.

#11583: — 12/20  at  08:38 PM
Remember, all you "soda" people - Montana has more nuclear weapons than any other state and is solidly "pop"etic. Just something to keep in mind.

#11589: — 12/20  at  10:08 PM

Mountain Dew is not Coke. Orange Crush and Fanta are not Coke. 7-Up, Sprite, Squirt, and Sierra Mist are not Coke. None of those are even vaguely Coke.

Right! But, if you want one of those, you just use their name ("pop" or "soda" don't really describe these beverages either). I am referring to a situation where you are actually generalizing to what could be a bunch of different types of carbonated beverages.

For instance, if you are at an acquaintance's residence, and are interested in a carbonated beverage, it would be awfully presumptuous (and rude?) to ask for a "Sierra Mist" or a "Squirt."

If you are interested in their carbonated beverage selection, it is much more polite to say, "Do you have a Coke?" Then, they can say "Yes, I have Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc."

Of course, "soda" and "pop" and "soft drink" work just as well in this situation.

Maybe I just started replacing "soda" with "Coke" because I prefer the brown sodas over the clear ones, so saying Coke just kinda narrows it down.

Also, I really hate Pepsi (or as I call it, Diet Coke).

As for my Kleenex rant, I have now received my last payment from the Kimberly-Clark Corporation.

So, we can now get back to the soda/pop/fizz.

<dialing> 1-800-CocaCola </dialing>

#11592: — 12/20  at  10:36 PM
Hmmm - I grew up in solid soda territory (NYC), went to grad school in Rochester, where I heard soda more often than pop, regardless of the color of Monroe county on the map, moved to CA, where everybody is from somewhere else, and soda still dominates.

Now I'm moving to Washington. JPF's comment reassures me that I won't have to relearn a word for a beverage I seldom drink.

By the way, using Coke as a generic term seems just plum silly to me. Coke is a specific variety of soda, even if you extend it to include all colas, in my mind it excludes the clear sodas, diet sodas, fruit sodas, root beers and let's not even consider the fate of poor seltzer...

#11599: Miriam — 12/20  at  11:50 PM
Hmm. I'm about twenty minutes outside of Rochester NY, and my students have been known to point derisive fingers at me for daring to even think the word "soda." (Wegman's, incidentally, insists that it's "pop.")

#11601: — 12/21  at  12:19 AM

If you are interested in their carbonated beverage selection, it is much more polite to say, “Do you have a Coke?” Then, they can say “Yes, I have Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc.”

Ah, but what if you actually want a Coke. Do you say "Coke Coke"? Using the name of a specific drink as a general term only leads to unnecessary confusion (confusion that using "Kleenex" generically wouldn't cause, unless you're dealing with a very persnickety sick person) and all sorts of Abbott-and-Costelloesque wackiness. "Pop", "soda", and "softdrink" are all generic in that they describe qualities that all the drinks mentioned share (carbonatedness or that it's a manufactured beverage without alcohol), and so would work better than just as well; "Do you have a soda|pop|softdrink?" would allow for the same response in your example, but would not cause any confusion.

#11602: — 12/21  at  12:27 AM
One more thing...

Something that those who say "soda" and those that say "pop" can agree on is that those who say "soda pop" deserve nothing but scorn. Pick a side, you wafflers, and stop wasting our time with your needless repetition!

#11603: Hank Fox — 12/21  at  12:30 AM
Growing up in East Texas, all soft drinks went by the generic "coke." You might ask for a grape coke, or a root beer coke, or some other flavor, but they were all cokes. The coke made by the Coca Cola company was called a (hear it with a southern accent) "Co-cola."

These days, I say "soft drink." "Pop" sounds weird and affected to me, like a Leave It to Beaver parody. "Soda" sounds ... chemical-y. Like something you'd put in a coke bottle and then mix with vinegar to make a fizz-bomb.

(Hmm. I wonder if the Homeland Security people are confiscating vinegar and sodium bicarbonate from airport passengers? I shudder to think of the harm a terrorist could do with a fizz-bomb on a heavily-loaded international flight.)

#11604: — 12/21  at  12:34 AM
Miriam - Wegman's can call it pop till the cows come home and their generic brand soda will still be miserable. (Which is unusual, as most of their house-label stuff is great.) Oh, how I miss Wegman's.

Maybe my Rochester sample was skewed, since most of my classmates were from overseas or out of town and I knew only a handful of natives, but I still heard "soda" more than "pop." That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

jpf - I beleive the term you're looking for is sodee pop.

#11605: Hank Fox — 12/21  at  12:35 AM
By the way, does anyone else feel that Coke has three rather different tastes, depending on whether it comes out of a can, a bottle, or a soda fountain at a fast food restaurant?

#11606: — 12/21  at  12:38 AM
Oh, and I should add that the term I most enjoy hearing is "fizzy drink", which is the term that friends of mine from Asheville, NC use.

#11607: — 12/21  at  12:40 AM
You're making me extremely nostalgic for Ithaca and Wegmans. There's four of them in Jersey but they just can't compare to the one in Ithaca.

#11608: — 12/21  at  12:49 AM
Speaking as a bonafide Rochester native, I think Larry is right and "soda" does have somewhat of a majority representation, but "pop" is heard so frequently that it attracts no attention.