Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Do you say pop, soda, or coke when it comes to your soft drink?


I grew up in soda land, but now living in Portland, Oregon, evidently most people call it pop. I always think that sounds weird. I order sodas, I buy sodas, and it's not sodapop. And to think of calling a 7-up soda a Coke? What's with that?!?! Check out this chart and see if it's accurate for you.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's soda, for crying out loud. Okay, I have been known to say pop but hey, blame it on my upbringing. Some parts of my youth were spent in soda country, others in pop country. But at least I've never been guilty of saying "sody pop". That was the invention of people from rural areas of Illinois (anything south of Chi-town. It's as if they couldn't make up their minds.

Anonymous said...

I say soda, too. I'm from NJ, but it looks like I'm living in a blue (pop) state. Dang, Alaska is sure messed up..

And what is it with the green and purple? What could they possibly be calling it???

Anonymous said...

Highly accurate, I'd say. Growing up in the Chicago area no one ever said anything but "pop." A can of pop.

Then when I went to college in Central Illinois, suddenly I was running into all these kids who grew up on farms in Central and Southern Illinois and they called it soda, just as the map indicates.

Some of them even called it sody pop.

Oy!

Syd said...

I say BEER.

Oh. Not what you meant. Then, soda.

Anonymous said...

I call it pop too, but my family is mostly from Down South and they call everything "Coke".

I've noticed the same thing happens with "Couch, sofa, davenport". LOL

Anonymous said...

It's soda, not pop!

Anonymous said...

I've always said pop! When I went to school in California it drove them crazy, but I cannot say "soda" it just seems so "stick up the ass" to me. At least I don't call everything "coke" like some areas in the country.

Pop is for people with kick back attitudes that don't seem to get their panties in a ruff over what people call a beverage.

Most people in Portland that say soda aren't really from here, so it's cool.

LeLo said...

Bemused and Guy, I see we're of the same club.
Rozanne, I think you're referring in your experience that hicks say soda. I'll remember that.
Syd, I would expect no less.
Maggie, I've heard of the davenport couch sofa conundrum!
Neva, of course it is: we grew up in the same hometown!
Anonymous, I guess since I say soda I have a stick up my ass. Thanks!

CrackerLilo said...

It looks like the most ethnically-mixed areas are most likely to call it "soda"!

I grew up calling everything "Coke," thanks to my father's Floridian people, then went to "soda" once I discovered Diet Pepsi. Yes, even clear or red or orange soda is "a Coke" to some of my relatives.

"Pop" is what I want to do to people who don't know how to order a soda. :-) Actually, my mother's people came to Florida from Michigan, and they used "pop," then phased it out over the years as they realized what a dead giveaway that is to a native-born Floridian and how much it made my brother and I cringe. They all call it "soda" now.

Thanks for showing us this!

Anonymous said...

Yes, thanks for showing this and the pictures of your home renovation-they're both fascinating. I'd love to see more pics of the progress in your house.

Monogram Queen said...

I call it soda but everybody knows here in South Carolina it's Co-Cola even if you're drinking 7 Up LOL

Anonymous said...

I am from the southern oregon coast and there is a lot of stuff going on in that area, i say soda pop, and i don't have anything in my ass. this topic is very confusing for TML. jajaja he says pop soda.

Anonymous said...

Well it's pop if I'm going to the store to buy and assortment of soft drinks. It's only coke when I'm specifically buying Coca-Cola. I live in one of the really mosaiced states, and being a dumb-ass I'm not completey sure which county is mine. I can approximate, but it looks like a rainbow in my area of the state.

Anonymous said...

Count me as another with a stick up my ass. I was wondering what that pain was...sheesh. So, to remove it do I have to start saying pop all the time?

Hey, Rozanne, I grew up in north 'burbs of Chicago and went to school in central Illinois area.

Jay said...

I grew up in Texas saying coke, then changed it to soda when I moved here, but only because I could never stand saying pop. It sounds like something from Leave it to Beaver.

Anonymous said...

I say soda. Now I'll go look at the chart. :)

SassyFemme said...

I'm going to throw you a whole other term for what it was called in the part of southern NH where I grew up, tonic. Whether it was coke, or ginger ale, or sprite, it was tonic. I call it soda now, but growing up we all called it tonic.

Anonymous said...

Great talker.
I currently say soda but growing up in Massachusetts I said Coke. I am betting I said tonic too when I was really young because that is what my Dad uses. So I think they need to add tonic to the Mass./southern NH area.

Toeknee said...

I grew up in Dublin (Ireland) where we call them "fizzy drinks" or "minerals"!

brx0 said...

I've lived here basically my entire life, and I call it "soda". My mother hails from eastern PA, so that probably explains it. Well, that and basic common sense. I mean, who on earth has ever heard of a "scotch and pop"?