Coke, Pop or Soda? Question #63
ByYou knew the Coke/Pop/Soda question was coming after this question, didn’t you?
We all know that I don’t drink Pepsi anymore. I’ve been Pepsi free for over four years now. However, I still miss my Pepsi so if you’d all kindly whisper while we talk about this subject, I’d appreciate it. Otherwise this will be a difficult topic and I may be faced with temptation.
Just kidding. I’ll be fine. I won’t give in. I won’t have any. Not even a sip.
However, if you and I are together and you are drinking a Pepsi, I may ask you for a sniff. My sister-in-law always lets me smell her Pepsi when we’re together. She just smiles, shrugs and hands it over…because what else is she supposed to do? She married my brother so she has to love me through my weird Pepsi addicted ways. Ah, everyone should be so blessed as to have a sister-in-law who lets you smell her Pepsi. Michele, I love ya. I can’t wait to smell your Pepsi sit down for a long visit next month!
So, growing up, I always called sugar filled carbonated beverages ‘pop’. When I went to college, I learned that people from different regions call it different names…names that I (in my immaturity) thought were just plain weird. I thought people only called it ‘soda’ in old movies. Lo and behold, real live people called it ‘soda’ and they weren’t even kidding. And then there were the people that called it ‘Coke’ even if it was a Dr. Pepper or a Sprite…or of all scandalous things…a Pepsi. How dare these people call my beloved Pepsi…a Coke?
Yeah, I’m over it now. In fact, I even started calling it ‘soda’ after a while because everyone around me said it that way. (Although, as a side note, I do get a bit testy when I hear people call ‘margarine’…’butter’. If it’s margarine, it ain’t buttuh. “Don’t you mess with butter’s good name like that,” I scream! In my head. While I smile.)
Well, anyway…I do believe this Coke/Pop/Soda thing is regional. It seems that folks from different parts of the world call it different things. Oh boy, and I even met someone last summer that calls it ‘Soda Pop’. I thought Opie was the only one who called it that…but it sure was cute coming out of the six foot three inch fella I heard it from last summer.
So what do you call it? Have you found it to be different it different areas of the world?
Another Texan here. It’s coke. “I’m on my way to the grocery, what kind of coke do you want?”
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I’m from Idaho, and we always called it “pop.” But my husband, who is from California, always referred to it as “soda.” My parents (from southern Alberta) called it “pop” as well, and so they fit right in around Idaho. :)
P.S. Delurking for the first time. I love your recipes!
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We call it “pop” here in Kansas. When I lived in Oklahoma they called it “coke” and they call it “Soda” in Maryland.
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Here in Oklahoma, we mostly say “pop”. Occasionally I will call it “soda”, just to be different. Some people call everything “coke”, but the majority just say “pop”.
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I grew up in Wisconsin and it was definitely “pop”. My husband grew up in New York and calls it Soda. I must only call it Soda now since we now live in New York.
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In Atlanta (home of Coca-Cola HQ) it’s Coke all the way. And, if you’re really feeling southern it’s “Co-cola”
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Oh its “pop” all the way! And I was born in Oregon, raised in 13 different places and currently live in Oklahoma ;-)
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I grew up in New Hampsha and we called it “soda.” It wasn’t until I went to college and learned that all my West Coast friends call it “pop.” I now live on the West Coast and can’t myself to call it “pop” b/c I just feel silly calling it that. It’s a hoot that you thought it silly to call it “soda.” Although now that you made me think of it, I think I’ll start calling it “soda pop” from now on b/c I can’t help but smile when I say it.
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I live in Indiana…it’s “pop” here. I also have a Pepsi addiction that I’m trying to recover from (lol) & can’t stand when my Pepsi is called “coke”!
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Southern Indiana here…in my family we call it either “soft drink” or Coke….eventhough you might prefer Dr. Pepper, Mt. Dew, or whatever. Never Pepsi though..yuck! CF diet Coke for me all the way. (Sorry,all you Pepsi lovers) By the way, butter usually means margarine..if you want butter, we specify “real butter”! Weird, I know! We never had “real” butter growing up and in fact, I didn’t even like the taste until I was an adult. Now that’s all I use! Oh, and mayonnaise always meant Miracle Whip..we never had “real mayo” at home. Now I prefer the “real” mayo to miracle whip. My granddaughter calls all soft drinks “pop”…her daddy corrupted her!!
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Where I grew up in northern New England they called it “soda”. When I moved to Oklahoma they called it “pop”. When I moved to Michigan they called it “pop” also. When we go to Syria, they call it (in Arabic) “ghaaz-oh-s” which literally means “gasses”. In Syria they never had Western brands until very recently. They all know Koo-kaa-koo-laa and “Beeb-see” (Pepsi) now but before it was all Canada Dry and local brands. (If you ever venture out to Syria by any chance, I always thought locally produced Ugarit Cola tasted just like Pepsi. Longshot I know, but since you like Pepsi….) LOL. :)
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SODA! I grew up near St. Louis. The first time I heard “pop” was when we moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and I thought it was the stupidest sounding thing in the world. Then I met my husband from Oklahoma who also calls it pop, though I’ve converted him. :-)
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I live in Oregon and everyone around here says something different. I call it soda becuase when I was a kid my cool, older, Californian cousin said “soda” and I wanted to be like him. I’m totally with you on the butter thing… I also cringe when people call non dairy creamer “cream” or cool whip “whipped cream”. It is just so offensive to my sensibilities!
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I’m from central PA and it is soda if it’s carbonated.
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I grew up and Michigan and we said “pop” or just called all carbinated drinks Pepsi (Coke was like a dirty word). Now I live in Florida and it is soda all the way here, my husband had never heard the term “pop” before he met me :)
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I am a born and raised Seattleite and my parents and everyone I knew growing up always called it ‘pop.’ For whatever reason though…I have always called it ‘soda.’
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I remember southern cousins calling carbonated beverages “a cold drink” or “pop.” I grew up in California, and I think we always called it “soda.” Honestly, I don’t remember, though! :-)
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I say soda. I live in Michigan but I’m from…all over. :) I’ve heard a lot of southern people say coke, and my Grandpa from Arkansas always said sody-pop.
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We are in coke land here. We even have a Coca-Cola museum, because Coke started right here in Atlanta!
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I have lived in Maryland, Missouri, Georgia, and Pennsylvania and I have always called it soda. ALthough, when I lived in Georgia, some people did say coke, but most said soda.
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I grew up in NY and we called it soda. I now live in Nevada and it is definitely regional as it is referred to as “pop” around here. Fortunately I don’t have to call it anything as I don’t drink it all!! :)
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I’m in Australia and Aussies ALWAYS call it Soft Drink or Fizzy Drink. :)
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Pop, Drinking Fountain, Tennis Shoes, Sucker =)
I have another one – do you call Physical Education in school “Gym”, “Phy Ed”, or “PE” or something else that I haven’t even heard of? :)
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I great up in the North Shore of Boston. We called ALL carbonated drinks “TONIC”! It’s true!
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I call it soda. Many people in these parts refer to it all as Coke. No one here calls it pop. We might have to laugh at them.
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Spent a LOT of time in Virginia … and a LOT of time in Michigan. I’ve always called it soda. Only when I was in the deeper south (South Carolina) did I run into people who called it pop.
We’re in Wyoming now … not sure what people call it around here. I stick with my SODA though LOL
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Joanna Reply:
April 11th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
You must’ve been visiting some displaced Yankees! Here in South Carolina, it’s always a Coke or a “Cocola”. :)
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I grew up with soda in California, but my husband (from Wisconsin) insists “soda” sounds ridiculous…it’s supposed to be “pop.”
Ultimately, we discovered this map, which should clear everything up! It’s color-coded counties in the USA, by what the appropriate term used should be. :) http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/308-the-pop-vs-soda-map/
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I’m from NY and we call it soda. Now I’m in FL and I still hear soda. :)
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I grew up with it called soda, but when I learned some people call it pop, I thought that was fun and old fashioned so I started calling it that, but my sister-in-law has serious issues with it being called pop so my three year old calls it soda pop.
When I worked at Disneyland it would confuse me to know end when someone would order a “coke” and get upset when I gave them a coke. To me a Coke is a cola not sprite or root beer, etc!!
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In the NW it’s “pop”.
Regionally, though (and this has little to do with your question)…
We were in Tanzania Africa some years ago, and there were 3 signs on every little retail outpost. “Coca-Cola,” “Fanta,” and “Blue Omo.” We shortly learned that Fanta was also pop, orange usually. One of our group went to order something to drink, and asked some guy, “what about the Blue Omo, is that good?” The African man burst out laughing, as did the rest of us when we learned it was the powdered laundry detergent that people used to wash their clothes (in the rivers).
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I live in Wisconsin and call it soda. It may have to do with my parents coming from South Dakota, though. But my husband whose family is Wisconsin through and through also calls it soda, so go figure!
My parents live in KY and everything there is Coke, even the white sodas. The only one that is different is their beloved Ale 81. VERY regional…say it out “a late one” and it is kind of ginger ale like. A taste they are all in love with and separate from the rest of the ‘cokes’ out there!
Heather
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Growing up in SC, we called any type of soft drink a “drink”. If you meant iced tea or something else, you specified that. When asked if you wanted a “drink”, it meant a soft drink. And a hearty YES!!! to the lady who mentioned that all us true Southerners call Coke “Co- Cola”. Never heard my grandmother call it anything else!!
And I love Pepsi too…just don’t keep it in the house.
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We have a Pepsi bottling company out this way. It’s also the only brand of soda they served at http://www.ecu.edu
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I grew up calling it pop (I’m from MN, but my parents are from WI), and had no idea about the “coke” thing until high school when a family from Texas started coming to our church. Then I had friends in college who called it “soda”. Now I call it soda, too. I don’t know why. I guess it sounds better to me or something. Go figure.
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I grew up in RI and its SODA! A “pop” is what you get when someone punches you. And “coke” is the only yummy kind of SODA made!
I live in KS now and still find some of these regional word things annoying! Thong/flip-flop, cart/carriage/buggy, beach/lake, bubbler/water fountain…and the list goes on!
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I live in Oklahoma, I call it a coke. Sometimes I call it pop, but not very often.
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In populated areas of Wisconsin, it’s usually referred to as soda. In rural areas, pop. When I lived in Texas, it was definitely a coke. When in Rome….
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i grew up here in oklahoma city, and i have always, since i can remember, said “you want a drink?” and then specified what we had like “coke, dr pepper, sprite” etc… if anyone actually eats margarine, you should read about the hydrogenation process.. it makes me wana barf.
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I had never really thought about it until recently. A new friend moved here from GA and everything is a coke to her. I realized that I call it soda. Maybe it is a regional thing!!
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Florida Cracker here- COKE all the way, baby! No matter what ‘kind’ of coke…I, too didn’t realize that other people called it ‘soda’ or ‘pop’ until I was in college. But throughout my entire life, born and bred here in the Tampa Bay area, it is COKE.
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I was born in Ohio where we called it pop. When I met my husband 11 yrs ago I called it pop and he said nooo it’s called soda (he’s from Maryland). My family still calls it pop. I usually call it soda unless I want to tease him then I say pop.
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So I am another Texan who always called it “coke.” I moved to San Diego and everyone there called it soda. For the longest I would ask for a coke and get a coke…even though I was really hoping they’d ask me…”what kind?….” to which I’d kindly answer sprite…but now…I always got Coke. So oddly enough, I am now known to ask for a soda and get a coke…now that I am so used to drinking it! lol
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Another Australian here! It’s either “soft drink” or, if we’re talking to the kids, “fizzy drink”.
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Here in Missouri most people seem to call everything Pop. When I traveled to DC to visit my brother I ordered a diet pop and the guy looked at me like I was crazy….my brother corrected me to say it was Soda there!
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In Texas is was “Coke” In Georgia it is either “Coke” or “soft drink”
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I’m Canadian and call it “pop” too. It’s a special treat in our family which we can only have when we eat out or when I cook something special and serve ginger ale for the kids. Speaking of which, check out the recipe I found today to make it from scratch
http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/2010/04/homemade-ginger-ale-and-candied-ginger.html
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Louisianian here – Growing up I always called it “Coke” – no matter what type of cola it was. Until I went on a school trip to Colorado where I found out that people used words like “pop” or “soda”. (There were people from many states there besides Colorado.) I decided that soda made sense because a Coke is not a Dr. Pepper and such. So I have since used the word soda. I can not recall a time where I’ve heard someone around here use the word pop.
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I grew up in WV and we always called it “pop”. Now I live in NC and there are people here from all over, so I hear a variety. Usually never “coke” though.
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I am from Arkansas, and anything with bubbles in it is coke. I recently moved to Pennsylvania and went to a local restaurant here for lunch (dinner for me but lunch for them, HA!). It being the middle of summer, even though it was only 85 degrees (halleluia!), I asked the waitress for tea. She gave me this look as though I had spoken in a foreign language. She then wandered over to a glass front cold case and got me a Liptons ice tea in a bottle. A BOTTLE!!! EWWWWW! That stuff numbed my tongue with all the chemicals and extra citric acid they added to the bottle to disguise the fact that the tea was not from tea leaves. It tasted like powdered tea, which I was an expert on because my step dad from Texas always insisted on having powdered tea.
Anyway, back to my original point. Apparently they do not believe in iced sweet tea in the north during summer. The best thing about the south in summer, besides a good air conditioner, is sweet tea. With lemon, preferably. The carbonation in cokes, even when iced, is detrimental to staying hydrated, which is the real reason behind drinking at all.
We also go to the “Wal-Marts.” To most in Arkansas, this is possessive, as in “Wal-Mart’s store.” In my family, unfortunately for me when I was a child, it was plural, and I took it as a threat that we were going to hit multiple Wal-Marts before we came home. My family also says “ideal” instead of “idea,” and “favort” instead of “favorite,” and “yallow” instead of “yellow,” and “deaf” instead of “death.” As in “You liked to scared me to deaf.” And “That death man that I work with..” You get the picture. Sorry for the information overload. Do you have any other funny ones that you hear, or is it just me?
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“Pop” growing up in Northern California but now I live in Texas and it is definatley “Coke”. :)
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