What do you call Carbonated Soft Drinks?
 

I have always been one to use the term "pop", as in, "Can you pick up some pop when you are at the store?"

I've always found it jarring to my ears when someone calls it "soda". I understand that in much of the Southern US they call it "coke" even if it's a Dr. Pepper. That's just odd to me... but I suppose it's not all that different from using the brand name Kleenex when you want a tissue. Branding is a powerful force.

What do term do you use? Does anyone fall under "other" and if so, what do you use and why?



http://www.creativeclass.com/creativ.../soda-map1.gif

To talk carbonated soft drinks in general, I say soda. But when I drink soda, usually I drink mainly coke, so I ask for coke, or talk about drinking coke.

I'm in one of those dark blue regions.

Let's compromise... just call 'em "mixers."

For the first time in my life, I'm happy not to be in a blue state. It's soda.

Kudos to Coca-cola for being able to make their brand name synonymous with soda.

It's pop here in Toledo! BTW, Coke is the number one brand name in the world.

It's soda.

During a trip out to the Kansas City area, we stopped at a TGIF's and I asked our waitress for a club soda. She said "A what?" The spouse responded, "Like soda water." She went "ewww!!" and then was describing what I'd ordered to the bartender, who also made an "ew!" face.

They should do another map about hoagies. You know, subs, heroes, grinders.....

Pop. Unless I'm talking about a specific brand (which is usually Mt Dew).

"Soft drink"

Call me "Other"

This partisanship is tearing out culture apart!!

soda, even though im in a "coke" area.

its odd, i hate the term pop. i can hear the nails on my mental chalkboard whenever someone says that word.

I hear "pop" a lot here in Canada and always thought it sounded a bit funny. "Soda" sounds unerringly American to me.

yep, add me as an 'other'.

I'd be much more likely to ask for something specific if requesting something. e.g. "Get me some Ginger Beer" etc.

soda, from a 'soda' area.

I grew up in Minnesota, where it was always either "pop" or occasionally "soda pop;" unless you were over 70, in which case it was uniformly "cold drinks."

I have, for many years now, lived in California, where I have never heard anyone use a general term other than "soda."

Even growing up, I hated calling it "pop."

Soda pop...

Usually I just say Dewskie though. That's really the only one I drink.

Coke. Everything is coke, and from there you are either given a cup to get it yourself, or you are asked what kind, ie sprite, diet coke, etc.

Soda, or occasionally, soft drink. I used to say coke, but pop just bothers me.

It's Pop. When I hear Soda, I see baking soda.

I think pop is most prevalent in this part of the world, but at least everyone knows what I mean when I say soda. I don't often drink it outside of work anyway, so it's not that big a deal.

Soda in a pop world. I'm always one to go against the grain.

Haven't we had this discussion before? I'm having some major deja vu here.

Same. Soda I can deal with, but I won't be the one saying it.

Un agua that's how we call it here in Guatemala.

I think we did, but this one has graphics!

I'm with the 80-100% in Alabama who say "coke". Always have, always will. I was in hell while I briefly lived in Iowa, and everyone said "pop". I could never get used to that. I never ordered "pop". I ordered a Diet Coke, etc. It was just too weird for me to say "pop" in reference to a Diet Coke. It's difficult to type as well.

The general term i use is soda. Otherwise i just ask for what i'm ordering be it coke pepsi dr pepper or whatever.

ive never heard it called anything else but 'soft drink' in oz..

put me down as 'other' also

Pop.

Everyone else can go to hell.

I think the consensus is that everyone who doesn't say "pop" hates everyone who says "pop". (and vica versa_)

According to that chart, soda is the most popular term.
I grew up referring to it as tonic.
Guess the old ways are dying...

I call it "soda". My wife calls it "pop". It's an issue that has concerned me greatly in my marriage.

Soda. My dad calls it pop occasionally just to throw me off.

"Soda pop." My dad is from Miami, where it's called soda, and my mom is a native Washingtonian, where it's called pop. Therefore, I grew up compromising between the two. Though occasionally my dad throws it all off by ordering the "house cola."

Soda.
I'm in a blue state. And I call it soda because my pop grew up in New York, where they call it soda.

Soda. Although the map says this area is a "soda" area, most people who serve in restaurants call it pop.

The pop people are just plain wrong. http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/t...tongue0015.gif

its funny that the OP says "what do you call carbonated SOFT DRINKS"

its obviously SOFT DRINK peoples!

I call hijinx on that map. Nowhere in eastern NC will you hear soda go by the generic "coke" name. It's Pepsi or else it's a fight you're wanting.

Birthplace of Pepsi

The stadium at ECU is named after a Pepsi distributor. In the 252, restaurants that sell coke are considered treasonous cavaliers.

My 30 years in the rest of the south leads me to believe that the most accepted term is simply, "drink". As in, "while you're up, can you get me some drink?"

Soda. Sooooooda.

I think everyone I know calls it that also. I guess I'm one of those tiny little olive spots in southeast Alaska.

I work in a restaurant and it's always interesting to hear what people from around the world ask for. I rarely get pop, though.

soda. from a coke area.
i love when idiots ask for a coke and the waitperson says "Is Pepsi products okay?"
and they're like "yeah, I just want a soda."

it drives me nuts. but i do always ask for a kleenex regardless of brand.

That should definitely be a song title!

It's funny how big "soda" or "pop" or whatever you call it is in the States.

I mean, we drink Coke, and Sprite and all that here too, but it's just not important enough to warrant a whole new drinks category.

I would never say "I'm going out to the store to get some soda/pop."

Neither would I say "I'm going out to the store to buy some fizzy drinks."

Which is maybe what it's called more often out here.

Bebida com gás in portuguese.

I will call a spade a spade. I'm going to get some Coke/Sprite/Fanta/7Up.

I like my Coke but currently am wearing braces and it eats away at the glue that holds the damned things in my mouth so it's been almost a year that I've had any.

Also, I've noticed in several northern european countries I have visited that fizzy water is very popular. When you ask for water they brink it to you sparkling. Which is weird to me. Here in Portugal if you ask for water, you just get water, no bubbles. What is most popular in the states?

If you ask for water, you get water. maybe with a lemon wedge in it.

Fizzy water sells okay, but it's a rare restaurant that will have it on the menu, and I don't know anybody who would assume a request for water means seltzer or "sparkling" water.

fizzy drinks.

how come there's no Canada on this map, eh?

Always was and always will be "soda" since I grew up in PA, so that's consistent with the map and my experience.

My cousins in Toronto always call it "pop" and they're wrong about other things, too, so this caused a schism in our family. They distort pronunciations of words like house, mouse, water...weird Canucks.

its gives me the shits that people bring out sparkling when i order water. i make them take it back and give me water usually.

Always been Pop to me.

Watch your step there or the Canucks of TFP will have to take you oat and re-insert "u"s into all those words you stole them from...

Because Canada is unimportant.

And, if someone asks you if you want a coke, you say yes and then tell them what kind.

Soda. Always and forever.

Pop. Soda sounds just too wrong. If I use it, it tends to be joined with pop as in Soda Pop.

Soda to me is just the soda water. If I ask for just soda, people usually ask me what part of the States I am from.

Anybody remember the Pop Shop?

I always specify exactly what I want, when asking for a soft drink, e.g. Diet Coke (which is pretty much the only soft drink I consume, though I do drink other canned beverages, such as tea and lemonade).

However, in our household, we've gotten into the habit of referring to soft drinks as our daughter has been referring to them, ever since she was a toddler: purple juice (for grape soda pop), black juice (for Coke), and clear juice (for Sprite). But it's time for us to bring an end to that practice, because it's not as cute any more. (But, oh! It's bittersweet how quickly our beloved daughter is growing up.)

I grew up in the south (though nowadays I live in the midwest), and as a kid, I often heard soft drinks referred to as "soda wata", i.e. soda water. What was even more grating to my ears, even as a kid, was when someone referred to an orange-flavored soft drink as "ernj soda wata".

Good answer...

Just keep drinking your Orange Crush Coke.

I do. Fond memories there. But it was "The Pop Shoppe." I still see remnants of it around. Apparently some guy stared it up again based out of Burlington.

I lovingly remember the Pop Shoppe. With the return of empties, new pops were like, 5 cents.

right you are! "Shoppe"

The Pop Shoppe Canada's Original Est. 1969

The history tab on their site states that the Pop Shoppe started up again in 2002.

So to you, and to other people advocating specificity, I pose this: You are at a picnic. There are three coolers: One with bottles of water, one with a couple types of beer, and one with 12 cans each of Coke, Sprite, Diet Coke, Fanta, 7Up and Root Beer. You see someone who looks hot and sweaty. How would you complete the following sentence?

"If you're thirsty, that cooler is full of water, that one has beer, and that one has _____________"

"If you're thirsty, that cooler is full of water, that one has beer, and that one has 12 cans each of Coke, Sprite, Diet Coke, Fanta, 7Up and Root Beer".

pop always makes me giggle lol

Im a "coke" girl

Drink. "Hey do you want a drink?" "Will you buy me a drink?" "I'm thirsty, let me go get a drink."

I used to say pop until I got 9ish.

This is the only one that matters. I wish we had real Fanta here, instead of the awful orange soda crap they try to pass off as Fanta.

Gah I am in a Blue state and I don't believe it. I never hear it. "Pop" is a sound. Soda is a drink.

In the contexts you just mentioned, for me and everyone I speak with, drink = alcoholic beverage.

While, "Do you want something to drink?" is generic (with slight alcoholic implications) "Do you want a drink?" could be responded to with "No thanks, I'm driving, just grab me a soda"

Well, I like the use of drink. it is generic enough and I have used it to refer to anything liquid from coffee, through pop to booze. Nice. I just may adopt that going forward. Let the person I am offering resolve the selection.

I also dislike the superior tone of those who think that pop is a childish term simply because it is onamatapeic.

There's nothing you can say to convince me that saying "pop" is any more sophisticated than calling milk "moo juice" :thumbsup:

The graph says Coke is 50-80% but the only person I know that says Coke is my grandpa and only because he worked for them and when he says, "You want a coke?" or "Get me a Coke." He's actually talking specifically about Coke. Everyone else I know says Pop, and a few say soda..

It's Pop for me but more often then not I ask for a coke:)

"Pop" for me, and mostly what I hear around here.

I used to work for CocaCola as a vending machine repair/fountain machine repair and installer. So I have authority - lol.

A "coke" is a coca-cola here, a "cola" is a cola of any brand name, a "pop" is any carbonated flavoured drink, and each specific flavour is known by it's name.
Except of course carbonated non flavoured water, which is called "soda-water".

Soda...



But I don't drink that shit anymore.

Soda, but to be honest nearly everyone else I know calls it pop. The word always grated on me. Either way, I rarely ever would drink the stuff.

Yes sir it is.

Soda. If the map/chart is accurate, I'm in the minority for my area of Texas.

I said "pop" like most Utahns until I moved to North Carolina. The first time I said that, I got a quizzical look. Most everyone there said "soda" or "drink". I started saying soda and still use soda, even though we moved back to Utah.

I say soda.

People not from the South don't understand "Coke". Everything counts under the "Coke" statement. I often explain it to others like Q-Tips. You ask for a Q-Tip you don't always want the name brand, or Cleenex you don't care if it's a Generic brand.

This is how it goes down in real life:

Hey yall want something to drink?

Sure, got any cokes?

Yeah, we got Sprite, Root Beer, and Coke

I'll take a Root Beer, thanks.

Just because you ask for / offer a Coke doesn't mean that's all that's available.

well... go figure eh?

NY - we call it soda.

In the UK, most people seem to call them "Fizzy Drinks".

If someone asked what kind of Coke I wanted, I'd assume I had a choice of Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Cherry Coke, Caffeine Free Coke, etc.

Ever since I visited Canada a few years ago I sometimes say "pop" but only in an ironic way.

I say pop. My dad used to call it sody pop. I can't say soda. It sounds so... fifties.

I call it whatever will get me another one...

you must call it Skogga then huh?

hahahah..she hates carbonated anything... won't even open it.

Had a friend come to NZ from Canada. She said pop, which confused the shit out of us.
"Anyone want me to get some pop while im out..."
Er... what? blank look.

Generally we state it by its branding, "I'll have a coke" "Ill have some 7up"
_No one_ calls it pop, and _no one_ calls it soda.
To the guy who asked what would you call the chilly bin of assorted soft drinks it would be, "ones filled with fizzy drinks", which would generally be followed by the question, what type of fizzy drinks, then answered coke, 7up, fanta etc etc.

Where I grew up in Kansas, the generic was always pop, for any kind of flavored carbonated drink. Soda was unflavored and unsweetened, like "club soda" which is just fizzy carbonated water. Think "Scotch and soda." Or, an "ice cream soda" which is ice cream, soda water, and (usually) some flavoring such as chocolate, butterscotch or strawberry.

Here in Massachusetts it's soda.
But also here in New England they serve frappes, which are called a milkshake, shake, or malt anywhere else in the country.

Another Southernism, like coke instead of pop or soda, from my cousins in central Alabama, is the term "chasing cock."
In Kansas (and Massachusetts too) it would be chasing girls (or chasing pussy.) But in Alabama, boys out chasing cock :confused:is not a homosexual activity.

Lindy

My Aunt is from Michigan and she called it "pop" which i found extremely annoying because ive never heard this from anyone else. I on the other hand call it soda or if it is coke then coke haha thats the most common used term that ive heard.

I am from a place where we call everything coke. Now I live in a place where they call it pop but I can not bring myself to say it. Sometimes I say soda though. But usually I say coke because that is what I want- coke, not pepsi. I will not drink pepsi products... I guess I am a coke snob... but I am ok with that :)

I'm just the opposite. I have a friend from the states who says soda and I just want to yell "It's freaking POP!".
So yeah I'm a pop person. I never say Coke either unless I'm actually asking for a coca-cola.

My first 26 years I lived where it was called pop. I now live in North Carolina and it is called soda here. It annoys the shit out of me, but I have adapted alright. The wife has not. She gets made fun of.

Soda Pop or Pop. To me, "soda" meant icky club soda.

"Coke", and all my southern friends call it "coke". The transplants call it "pop" or "soda".

Years ago you ordered coke and they brought a Coke or Pepsi depending on what was served, now if you order a "coke" and they only serve Pepsi that have to say "We serve Pepsi, is that alright?" Both Coke and Pepsi pushed for that as not to mix up the consumer.

Pop, but apparently my nearest American neighbours use soda 80-100% of the time. Strange.

This is why my dad always orders the "house cola."

Soft drink.

I like to mix things up when I am with west coast and midwest friends.

I like that...I may try that out just to see the reaction....

"Um I've never heard of house cola"

I thought it interesting that previous my county (Rice county) in SE Minnesota was a definite shade lighter of blue than anything else near it.

This, like everything, is probably realted to me.

High school completion rates, 2000 (adults 25 and older)
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/rdrr98/fig1.gif

hmmmmm....

I call it "soda" or "pop," because of the many places I have lived here in the 'States.

over here, we call it cooldrink.

Soda...Pop... and Coke. But then I grew up all over the US and I'm all mixed up.

Where I lived for the first 25 years of my life... Dark Blue - Always called it Pop, and still do.

Now I moved to ARizona and I get strange looks when I call it Pop.