Pop Vs. Soda

Oh the contraversy. Is it pop? Is it Soda? Is it Coke? What do you call it.

This map shows the US breakdown of where what term is used.

So what do you call it?

I have a feeling that POP will win just due to the number of MI/OH people we have on this board.

I've never heard a Canadian use the term soda.

And Coke is only used when speaking of Coca Cola.

We're Pop people.

~Piggy

The SouthEast US is Coke Country. Coke knows this... and I think for a while it bothered them that their brand name was being diluted in such a way. But I think eventually they realized that they are still #1, so it didn't matter.

Around here it's not as bad as it used to be, I think because this area is somewhat diluted due to the industry and military.. but when I was younger I can remember that you would order a "Coke" and then they would still ask you what kind. No wonder so many places here have gone to the serve yourself method with the soft drinks.

It's pop over here . . . unless you're referring to a specific brand (although 'coke' can sometimes mean Coke or Pepsi, if you're talking with the uninformed! )

Coke was invented in Atlanta, Georgia and Pepsi was invented in New Bern, North Carolina both in the South. Also, RC Cola, Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper have southern origins.

So you can damn well call them what we tell you to! :slam"

Soda is acceptable but Pop is just TOO yankeefied (especially when pronounced with a nasal accent).

Originally posted by Brit_Pair

It's pop over here . . . unless you're referring to a specific brand (although 'coke' can sometimes mean Coke or Pepsi, if you're talking with the uninformed! )

I don't remember anyone referring to soft drinks when I was in England, Lord Brit. Everyone was drinking beer that they kept in Lucas refrigerators.

Elsewhere in Europe everybody seemed to call it "Cola." You got a large shot glass full (no ice) for about the equivalent of a dollar, as I recall. :slam"

Mr. Alura

I've lived in the south, the west and the midwest. In the midwest in our area most will say "What kind of soda pop do you have?" Soda is a carbonated clear beverage that requires a lime or lemon twist to drink. Pop...well pop is what I sometimes hear Mr. O call his dad. What are these people thinking?

I've never said anything other than 'Coke'. After all it is the 'REAL THING'. And I mean it when I say it, so don't be offering me a Pepsi an RC or any other wanna be in place of a Coke either.... I've been known to call a server back and say..."EXCUSE ME...but I ordered a COKE". If they do not have A COKE, I'll take only a glass of water.

What beverages do you see labled as .... Pepsi Pop, Dr. Pepper Soda...etc.?

Coke, baby....all the way. It's the ONLY REAL THING!

I grew up in Georgia so i have noticed that i also call it coke most of the time............ Although i have been known to call it pop on ocassion.

But although i call it coke, my drink of choice is pepsi products. And like MRS O and her coke(kinda??) i have been known to just drink water if they did not have pepsi products.

And as far as calling it cola i don't know why, but that name annoys me. I know i am just strange.......... LOL

Robin

I'm Bi-Cola. I can drink either Coke or Pepsi (diet, of course) but don't put it on ice. I'm a purest.

Mr. Alura

Don't worry MattMan, as the map shows, only hick yankees call it "pop". Those of us in the more populated, eastern areas call it soda. All those midwesterners call it pop.

Coke is a brand name. When I ask for Coke, I want Coca-Cola, damnit. If I wanted a Pepsi, I'd have asked for crap in a glass.

Thought I would share a press release that was sent to me. Hope you enjoy because I was laughing so hard I had tears. Guys, it doesn't matter whether you call it pop or soda, just drink this new stuff.

Pfizer Corp. is making the announcement today that VIAGRA will soon be available in Liquid form and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer. It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one. Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new meaning to the names "cocktails", "highballs" and just a good old fashioned "stiff drink". Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name of "Mount And Do."

Originally posted by OhioCouple

I've never said anything other than 'Coke'. After all it is the 'REAL THING'. And I mean it when I say it, so don't be offering me a Pepsi an RC or any other wanna be in place of a Coke either.... I've been known to call a server back and say..."EXCUSE ME...but I ordered a COKE". If they do not have A COKE, I'll take only a glass of water.

I remember a several years ago a new restaurant had just opened down here. It was in the mall and since I worked in the mall I tried it out pretty early on. I ordered a "COKE". The server did not say "we don't serve coke". He went across the hall to the drug store and bought me a bottle of COKE and brought it back to my table, then explaining that while the restaurant itself doesn't serve coke he was happy to do what he could to make his customers happy.

Now that's service.

Originally posted by Alura

I don't remember anyone referring to soft drinks when I was in England, Lord Brit. Everyone was drinking beer that they kept in Lucas refrigerators.

 

Elsewhere in Europe everybody seemed to call it "Cola." You got a large shot glass full (no ice) for about the equivalent of a dollar, as I recall. :slam"

 

Mr. Alura

Have to disagree with you, it was called POP for as long as I care to remember. I do agree about the no ice though.

Rich

Growing up in MA, we called it tonic.

So there,

J

It has always been "pop" here. And we are definitely NOT "hick Yankees" talking "with a nasal accent".

Jesse

Originally posted by yhungry

Have to disagree with you, it was called POP for as long as I care to remember. I do agree about the no ice though.

 

Rich

It must have been the crowd I hung with, yhungry.

Mr. Alura

I know, I know! This may date me as a dinosaur, but growing up in the North during WWII there was a shortage (maybe rationing) of all kinds of things. The only thirst quencher treat that I remember was the visit to the local pharmacy where the "soda jerk" made fruit flavored "phosphates."

Label me what ever you care...... I still call it "soda."

To make a soda, one takes a soda glass (about nine inches tall, on a pedestal, bigger at the top) and squirt in some flavored syrup (chocolate, strawberry, even vanilla) and squirt carbonated water into that, causing lots of bubbles. Then top it up with a couple of dips of the same flavor ice cream. Serve with a long spoon and straw. A soda is best served with two straws to lovers.

Mr. Alura

That's pretty authentic, Mr. Alura. But ice cream was not used in my home town...until later when the "float" was added to the "soda jerk's" menu.

Am I the only one that remembers "soda jerk?"

I agree that soda is not entirely an accurate name; and that just calling it "coke" (or "co-coler" by those who use that expression) is merely the name of one brand of cola product and therefore confusing if you desire a different or will accept any brand; and that pop (usually pronounced "pap" by those who use that expression) is just a silly thing to call something (soda pop is also just a little too juvenile).

So how about we just all agree to call them soft drinks like the restaurant menus all do?

Originally posted by caberet3

That's pretty authentic, Mr. Alura. But ice cream was not used in my home town...until later when the "float" was added to the "soda jerk's" menu.

 

Well, Caberet3, a float in our town was ice cream with a coke of any flavor poured over it. It started, as far as I know, as a root beer float but most drive in's offered them anyway you picked, as did the dwindling number of soda fountains in pharmacies, when I was a pre-teen.

 

Am I the only one that remembers "soda jerk?"

Oh, my! Do I remember!!! We had a pharmacy on the corner that still had a soda fountain. The "soda jerk" was a gorgeous older woman of seventeen, who worked part time after school. All the thirteen-year-old boys, myself included, were hopelessly in love with her. I'm not sure whether it was the lure of the older woman, her looks, or the way she made Chocolate malts.

Mr. Alura

Well here in Montana, or Montuckey as it's sometimes referred, I have always said Coke. I drink Mt. Dew but I still call it a coke in conversation. I never hear anyone up here refer to it in any other way....the map seems to prove me wrong though.

We've always called it what it is! Pepsi=Pepsi, Dr.P=Dr.P and so on. We've never really spoken of it generally I guess, and never used pop OR soda. Is that strange of us?

In Ontario, it goes like this:

'wanna pop?'

'sure!'

'what kind?'

'got any coke?'

'yep'

'great'

What if they would prefer tea, coffee, kool-aid, etc?

How about:

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure, what do yo have?"

"Coffee, tea or me!"

I very seldom drink those things called carbonated soft drinks... and if I eventually do this I call them "soda" as generic term but I call them also by their names like Coke, Pepsi, Seven up, etc...

Because the board is sexually oriented my first thought was "oooops is it the way that US people are calling the sperm ?"... LOL.... and then I realised how silly I am and that it was not what I thought when I glanced at Julie's link

Bisous

JC

Originally posted by JustAskJulie

....He went across the hall to the drug store and bought me a bottle of COKE and brought it back to my table, then explaining that while the restaurant itself doesn't serve coke he was happy to do what he could to make his customers happy.

 

Now that's service.

How a guy could resist to your blue eyes Julie ? This can explain the quality of his service to please you

Bisous

JC

PS : I see them blue on your avatar...

Originally posted by MattMann

Coke was invented in Atlanta, Georgia and Pepsi was invented in New Bern, North Carolina both in the South. Also, RC Cola, Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper have southern origins.

 

So you can damn well call them what we tell you to! :slam"

 

Soda is acceptable but Pop is just TOO yankeefied (especially when pronounced with a nasal accent).

Watching a old Andy Griffith show, Andy referred to it as "pop"

show was based in the Carolinas::P:

Originally posted by Tanman aka Mike and Marie

Watching a old Andy Griffith show, Andy referred to it as "pop"

 

show was based in the Carolinas::P:

It didn't come out of Hollywood, Mike and Marie? I'd have never guessed!

Mr. Alura

I grew up in LA, moved to Texas, and we used the generic "coke". Pepsi, 7-Up, Coke, Fanta, Dr. Pepper, they're all different types of "coke".

I've traveled around a bit more now, so I use soda, but still lapse into the generic "coke" every now and then. I could never use "pop", it just doesn't sound right.

I say soda pop when I ask my family what kind of soda pop they want. When my customers come into the restaurant and ask for a Pepsi I say I am sorry we have Coke will that be okay???

Originally posted by windsor4fun2

Its always been "pop" here. And we are definitely NOT "hick Yankees" talking "with a nasal accent".

 

Jesse

Ditto

Originally posted by yawanna

In Ontario, it goes like this:

 

'wanna pop?'

 

'sure!'

 

'what kind?'

 

'got any coke?'

 

'yep'

 

'great'

 

Yep, that's pretty much how it goes around here too!

-B

It's a coke fur me and nuttin' but, but I growed up in Alabama so it is in me blood to say it.

this is for Poopsi

pepsi

Originally posted by Bama0468

It's a coke fur me and nuttin' but, but I growed up in Alabama so it is in me blood to say it.

 

this is for Poopsi

pepsi

All those years in MI and a Yankee wife and you still manage to call it all Coke?

Double Ditto to everything Mrs. O said.

Generically...I refer to most any carbonated beverage as a Coke. However, I have learned to specify Coca-Cola when ordering.

And for me, it is ONLY Coke. I don't want Pepsi, although I'll occasionally have Dr. Pepper if Coke isn't available.

Also...never, never, ever a diet drink. NEVER! Those things are just disgusting!

- EBF

LOL yes I still manage to say Coke, and I agree, never a Diet , unless thats all there is and I am thirsty .. and the occasional prune coke called Dr. Pepper outa texas is good now and then

Here we refer to it as Coke, no matter what product it is.

There are just too many tourists to tell. Along with the fact that many people if not most people living here are from somewhere else.

As for me personally, I call it Sprite, Sierra Mist, 7-up, or whatever decaf is available.

Then again, I noticed someone else has come along from this town, maybe they know a better answer...

Pepper's comment in their interview about Coke and the South reminded me of this thread so I thought I'd bring it back up.

Pop... but I called it soda when I was younger. When I asked the question there was a referal made to the old coke or pepsi challenge on TV...of which I picked Pepsi but hated any cola until recently.

I hadn't realized this about the south, mostly because when I was down in Georgia and Florida a couple years ago the only thing I ever ordered was ice tea and gosh darn it...they put sugar in it every time!

I voted pop...

I grew up in the south where everything is a coke. Then I moved to Missouri where everything is a soda. Now I am in Ohio which is the land of pop.

I guess where ever I go to, I sort of become that state's bitch...

Spoomonkey

Over here we call Coca-Cola Coke... What IS pop or soda??? Although we have many variations, we don't use either term, it's just cooldrink...

I grew up calling all carbonated beverages "Tonic". (Massachusetts)

We refer to Coke & Pepsi as "Soda" now.

up here in Nova Scotia it's pop... and then you specifiy what kind you want..Coke or Pepsi....

I've always had Coke, since I was little. there is no other. It just sounds strange to call it soda.

Believe it or not, the "old timers" in the south (carolinas especially) referred to Coke as "dope". ie: "Bring that Dope bottle over here". Popular thought is it was because when they were youngsters, Coke really did have a bit of "coke" in it. My grandfather used that term exclusively.

Around our house, it has always just been, "get me a drink please". Then you specify which kind after hearing the choices.

Don't worry MattMan, as the map shows, only hick yankees call it "pop". Those of us in the more populated, eastern areas call it soda. All those midwesterners call it pop.

 

Coke is a brand name. When I ask for Coke, I want Coca-Cola, damnit. If I wanted a Pepsi, I'd have asked for crap in a glass.

I have to say that I disagree with you, When I lived in Caifornia we called it "soda" or just by the name of what we wanted...... Now in Oregon We call it Pop, Soda, or Beverages, I guess it depends on what age era your from and what part...... I live in a Well populated area not the "sticks" as people like to assume and you find people from all walk of life calling it Pop not just "Hick yankees"

HICK YANKEE'S HERE accent and all ROFLMAO

Oklahoma born and raised, we say pop as a in general term

if we want a specific type when ordering......us silly ol' yankee's just say the name of the drink...after all we are HICKS not MIND READERS LOL

Dr. Pepper RULES

and for a break Mt. Dew or Pepsi are nice also

xoxoxo TnC