Soda. Coke is too specific. Pop is what The Beaver orders.

Awesome map!

I say soda most of the time, but sometimes coke (esp. if I’m referring to cola). This seems typical of my area according to the map.

Where I spent my summers in Massachusetts, it was “Tonic”.  But 70 miles north, where I lived in New Hampshire, it was “Soda”.  Go figure.

Crap, I was still using my “parody” name.

I’ve started to say soda now that I live up north, but growing up in “coke” territory, it was purely coke.  People here get confused when you say things like, “what kind of coke do yall have?  Can I get a root beer?”

Seriously, the hardest thing to get used to when I moved to Los Angeles from Chicago was learning to say “soda” instead of “pop,” because otherwise people had no idea what the hell I was talking about.  I learned it out of self-defense, but I think I’ve caught myself slipping back into “pop” when I go home to visit.

Grew up in pop country(Great Lakes region), but always say soda because i lived in DC for a few years and got funny looks when i ordered a pop. Now i’m back in pop country and they give me a hard time about saying “soda”.

I love that my home state of Wisconsin is the only one with a split that doesn’t extend into neighboring states (Illinois has the same pop/soda split, but shares it with Missouri rather than us).  I’m a soda man myself, and the “pop” thing has always struck me as kinda…rural.  Which is odd, because liberal enclave Madison is “pop” territory and the northeast of the state is soda country.  Weird.

I’ve lived in Georgia all my life and I guess there’s a forcefield around me because I’ve never heard anyone say “Coke” to mean “soft drink.” I wouldn’t call any ol’ soft drink “Coke” unless it was in fact a Coke, for what it’s worth.

I refused. Even living in Chicago - deep, deep pop country - I could never bring myself to ask for “a pop”. Just too much like asking someone to punch me. It did, however, break me of the habit of using ‘coke’ in a generic sense - even after moving back south - since I don’t actually like Coca-Cola. So now I use ‘cold drink’ generically but tend to just say “Dr. Pepper”.

I just gave my best friend crap yesterday for saying “soda” because we live in “pop” country (Chicago), dammit. She has been forever ruined by spending 3rd through 8th grade in St. Louis, which is “soda” turf. I went to college in Minnesota, but there were too many students from yeller “soda” territory who made “soda” prevail on campus.

Why can’t we all get along? “Sodypop” should work for all of us.

This makes SO much more sense now!
I grew up in southern Illinois (see where the red, blue and yellowish come together?).
People used “soda,” “pop,” and “Coke” interchangeably. This always used to confuse me. But now, seeing the blue meet red and that yellow blob over Missouri, IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!
Thank you, Pandagon, for helping me understand my childhood better!

I prefer to go orthogonal, and say “cola.”

I grew up in “tonic” country but I was always a “soda” person. I’d like to know what some of those other green counties are.

On a side note, who in the name of the Series of Tubes routes their http traffic to port 2998?  I can’t see the popvssoda image because that stupid off-the-wall port is blocked by my firewall.

As a native Oregonian now living in the SF Bay Area, I always say pop whenever, just to get a kick out of people acting confused as to what I’m saying. Soda sounds so Leave it to Beaver and 1950s ish.

Coke. Fuck yeah, I’m from Texas.

I’m a lifelong liberal and will say “Coke. What kind of coke?” til the day I die.

Intrestingly enough, “soda-water” is commonly used in Third Ward and in some of the rural areas.

My grandmother grew up in Cincinatti and lived in Vermont.  She alternated “tonic” and “pop.” I think I am mostly “soda”, but they may be influenced by elite liberal cosmopolitan and overseas upbringing.  “Refresco” is good too.

I like how every August and September students disperse throughout the country and enthusiastically take up this dispute.  It’s like a ritualized holy war.

Pop.  From the northern parts of Illinois and moved to the central parts and we still say “pop” here.  Of course, visiting my cousins in Virgina means I have to get used to saying/understanding “soda”.

What’s going on with North Carolina?  Their responses are all over the place.

They left out “cold drink” (used in Louisiana) pronounced in one word, as in “what kinda coldrink y’all want?”.  This opens the door for things like “red drink” and “ernge drink” (red cream soda and orange soda, respectively)  - staples of my childhood.  yum.

When I was staying with a family in an eastern European country, at one point I had mentioned, in passing, “the midwest” of the USA, and they stopped and asked me what “counted” as the midwest. I explained to them that as you move away from the coasts, there is a certain point at which they stop referring to soft drinks as “soda” and start using the term “pop,” which in the map you’ve linked to, begins in western Pennsylvania. That is where, I explained, the midwest begins.

In Canada, a pop is the most common, although people recognize soda as being the same. Asking for a pop in California was usually ok, asking for an orange pop in Maine was always met by blank stares, or “You’re from out of town, aren’t ya?”

I’m all about pop as I’m from Buffalo NY, but after spending a year in Virgina i switched to soda, I think calling all pop by one specific sodas name ( “hey can i get a Orange Coke?”) is much too confusing, and refuse to say it.

What’s going on with North Carolina?  Their responses are all over the place.

Alaska cracked me up—it looks like they use every single term in at least one county.

Pop?!?!

my grandfather says pop. I used to figure it was his way of saying “fuck you” to young vuluptuous waitress who moments before had surely scorned his unseemly advances.

Now I know it’s because he lives in Montana.

Coke?

If someone asked me “what type of coke do you have?” I would assume they were referring to cocaine, of which there are many varieties.

Soda, at least in Los Angeles, NYC and Boston, is the standard. Thank God for liberals!

Also in NYC at least, we pronounce Pakistan the ostentatiously elite way.

In Montreal, it was soft drink or liqueur. In Toronto, it’s pop.

New Yorkers are allowed to say soda because they’re awesome. Everyone else gets demerit points.

I say soda because, growing up my dad would “pop” me in the arm when I asked for a pop. And then he would laugh and laugh and laugh.

The NC data is fucked up. It says my county has a slight preference for “coke”, but I have never in my life heard someone use it and not get made fun of for sounding like a transplant (and “pop” is just straight up Yankee talk, but the map reflects that). It’s soda!

Yeah, but when you buy your pop (or soda) do they put it in a bag, a sack or a poke??

I say “soda-pop.” Anybody else?

Beer.

Where I spent my summers in Massachusetts, it was “Tonic”.  But 70 miles north, where I lived in New Hampshire, it was “Soda”.  Go figure.
Frying Tiger on 10/08 at 06:07 PM

yes—I grew up in NH and said/say “soda,” but my family in northern MA said “tonic.”  Confused the hell out of me when I was a kid!

Massachusetts is weird, though.

So now I use ‘cold drink’ generically

Co’ Drank!

The second best choice in the deep south!

Also, big ups to whoever mentioned “red drink”!

Nonsense.  The Seattle area should at least be a light yellow.  The only people I know here who say “pop” are from Eastern Washington.  All the Seattlites from California have turned the city into strict “soda” territory.

Another “soda pop” here, from rural Kansas.

And “coke” means “cola”.  If somebody asks for “coke” and you give them Dr. Pepper, there’d be trouble.  Give them Pepsi and they’d probably not notice the difference.

I am going to volunteer in the swing states to get people to say “soda.” Saying “pop” ‘round these parts will get you an incredulous look and a, “What? Pop? Did you really just say that?” every time.

I have never heard “cold drink” before, but I am very delighted by it.

Clicking on a state gives county-by-county data. Cool! I see that Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties in Massachusetts have significant minorities listed as “other.” I can guarantee you, 90% of those will be “tonic.” Mostly older folks, I think. I grew up in aforementioned Middlesex county as a soda person.

“Soda sounds so Leave it to Beaver and 1950s ish.”

This is how I feel about pop.

I grew up on Long Island—definitely soda—and now live in Western Massachusetts—also soda, though that could be cause there’s a lot of college students around here.  I previously was in the Finger Lakes area of NY, and it was kinda blending from soda to pop there.  On the map its where those couple yellow counties are before things turn blue. 

The coke thing—see, there’s a kind of soda (of a kind of pop) called coke.  If I want orange soda, it’s by definition <i>not coke<i>.

I love how Florida is mostly “coke” territory except for Miami.  Gee, I wonder why that is.

I’m a pop drinker from western Missouri.

I went to school in mid-state. We knew where people were from by what they called the drinks.

I grew up in Los Angeles but I live in Dallas now.

The first time I made a shopping list for our law firm, they told me to get “cokes.”  I came back with all Coca Cola and they asked me why I didn’t get any Dr Pepper.  I was very confused until they explained it to me : /

I grew up in northern Virginia, which is pretty solid “soda” territory. When I went to college in Nashville, my roommate, from North Dakota, said “pop,” and we had a friend from Atlanta who would say “I’m gonna go get a Coke,” then she’d come back with a Dr. Pepper. Hilarity ensued.

I love isogloss maps, btw. It’s the linguistics nerd in me.

Ha! And my old conlanging page still exists! Nothing ever dies on the internet, does it?

Pinellas, FL is also “soda” territory. Yet most of the Tampa Bay area (including Tampa) is apparently coke. I’ve always called it soda. I didn’t even know there were places in Florida (let alone near me) where coke was the norm! And I’ve never ever in my entire life met a coke person. But then again, whenever I’ve left the county, I never had any conversation with a local regarding these things…

Southeastern Virginia.

“Soft Drinks”.

Nonsense.  The Seattle area should at least be a light yellow.  The only people I know here who say “pop” are from Eastern Washington.  All the Seattlites from California have turned the city into strict “soda” territory

I live in Seattle, and I say “pop”, but that’s because I grew up in Michigan, which as you can see is hardcore “pop” territory.  I have noticed some Washingtonians say “pop”, but they tend to be 1) born in the state, 2) older, and 3) not had parents who were originally Californians.

Now I’ve got that G Love song in my head…“I like cold beverage, yeah, I like cold beverage, yeah, ‘cause I’m gettin’ kinda thirsty…”

can I have a sody?
I’ve got central Illinois based grandparents who say “sody”

I grew up a pop guy though.

My wisconsinite relatives say soda.

They’re weird.

As a native Oregonian, I said “pop” for about 28 years, but have completely switched to “soda.”

I’m honestly not sure why I changed. It may have been becoming a bit more interstate in my friendship and acquaintanceship base, or I may just hate the onomottiness of the word “pop.”

I drink coca tea (as well as rooibos, green and black tea, and kava), so I damn sure don’t call soft drinks coke.  Never heard the term coke used as a generic living in Atlanta.  It was you want a drink?

Actually kind of interesting about the regional variation, but I suspect some degree of correlation to population demographics (pop density, diversity).

In Toronto, it’s pop.

I would actually say it’s a pretty even split between soda and pop; at least in the city proper.  In the burbs it’s definitely pop.  Though you could say either and you wouldn’t get odd looks or comments.

I tend to go with ‘soft drinks’ unless I am speaking about a specific product.

Pinellas, FL is also “soda” territory. Yet most of the Tampa Bay area (including Tampa) is apparently coke. I’ve always called it soda. I didn’t even know there were places in Florida (let alone near me) where coke was the norm!

I don’t believe a word of it.  I’ve spent the majority of my life in central Florida (Tampa as a kid and Orlando as an adult) and it’s all soda here.  I’ve met exactly one person who used “coke” as the generic.

No one in Indianapolis uses small-c coke as a generic term for pop.  The Southern phrase “What kind of coke do y’all want?” wouldn’t make sense to a Hoosier.

That one person was my college roommate from Indianapolis. 

btw, it isn’t tonic, it’s tawnic, with a long _aw_.

JC

I don’t believe a word of it.  I’ve spent the majority of my life in central Florida (Tampa as a kid and Orlando as an adult) and it’s all soda here.  I’ve met exactly one person who used “coke” as the generic.

You’re probably right. They at least got Pinellas (and Pasco) correct, though. I always laughed when teachers (and some kids) from places like Chicago would comment on the area’s soda-ness.

I grew up in Southern California (hint: “Don’t call it that”), but I was raised in part by my grandparents, who were originally from Texas. So, I picked up the accent well enough to where I could code-switch, depending on if I was among family or my borderline-Spicoli-sounding friends at the time. However, I was too young to know there were different terms for “brown fizzy beverage” and, having learned from my grandparents that said beverage was called “coke,” I would constantly be ordering cokes at fast-food places and sit-down restaurants.

So when the waitress or whoever would ask, “Is Pepsi ok?” it would totally throw me. Pepsi is a “brown fizzy beverage,” and therefore, “coke.” I was eight years old - put some sugar water in a glass and blow some bubbles in it, and I’d call it “coke.”

Long story short, I drink too much soda.

Strange. I’ve lived in 9 different communities spread from coast to coast in my lifetime, 5 of them my individual choice. All 9 are “soda” close to “pop” areas. The more I perceive the spot I lived as my personal life choice, the more surrounded by “pop”, such that my two favs were islands of soda in a sea of pop that stretched for hundreds of miles.

Looking at the map, two things stand out to me:

1. the indecision of Virginia and North Carolina

2. the “soda” islands centered on St Louis and Milwaukee—how did those happen?

I grew up in central Florida, too, and it was 100% coke territory. For a displaced northerner it was a real shift.

For those who think it is inconceivable, consider your thoughts on “Kleenex” as a generic.  But I think there is a very real shift going on - and probably partly why people from the larger FL cities are saying they grew up with soda - both the fact that a huge percentage of the state is people from the north, but also the fact that fast food and chain restaurants are vigilant in the correct use of brand names. Restaurant workers cannot say “coke” at work even if that is what they would do at home. So where soda works, it catches on. Otherwise, they have to settle for “would you like something to drink with that?”

Me, the Navy career knocked me solidly back into soda territory, so it was a real shock to move to pop country. I tried to hold onto coke, because I truly have a strong preference for Diet Coke over Diet Pepsi, so I tried for an age to ask for a Diet Coke, but I am now a shellshocked survivor of the “Would a Diet Pepsi be okay?” wars at the drive-up window, and tend to order a “Diet Whatever.” So of course, Taco Bell comes up with three diet soft drink choices.

When I first became aware of this (I’ve seen this map before), my first reaction was that national television should have smoothed this over in a generation, until just a little more thought made me realize that such a central part of modern American life is simply never mentioned specifically on TV. Television characters rarely if ever refer to soft drinks by ANY term. So the regionalism can hang on, while terms like “Fridgidare” and “icebox” disappear forever.

Growing up in rural Northeast Mississippi, the adults would (and many still do) say “co-coler”, as in “Boy, you wanna co-coler? I got Mountain Dew, Coke and Dr. Pepper.” You don’t hear it much anymore, and I’ve never really heard it anywhere else except rural Alabama and rural Florida. Sometimes, you’d say “No, but I’d love a swee’tea.” A “col’drink” was used from time to time, but it meant anything cold, from ice water to a col’ beer.

The real, real old folks used to call non-cola drinks “bellywashers”. You’d go to the store and get an orange bellywasher or a grape bellywasher. but I haven’t heard that from anyone but my brother and Jerry Clower in 25 years.

Hearing the term “pop” is grating as hell. Calling all soda “Coke” is worse. (Seriously, the deep south & Texas have this thing about deliberate, performative vulgarity. Enough, we get it, you’re salt of the earth, blah blah.) But worst of all: “Coke Cola”. I’ve actually seen this expression *in writing* here in SC.

Soda, at least in Los Angeles, NYC and Boston, is the standard. Thank God for liberals!

Well, in Boston, I’m not sure that the decline of tahwnic is due to liberals.  Thank the gods there’s still “frappe” to mess with people’s minds.

People would look at me quizzically if I asked for “pop”.

This sentiment has come up a lot.  I know that at college in northern Missouri, the opposing camps would mock one another, but we knew what the terms meant.  This whole “confusion” bit strikes me as frequently being passive-aggressive bullshit.  Like no one in Jersey had ever heard the term “pop” applied to carbonated beverages before.  And there’s always making use of context.

Hmm, now I’m wondering how long back Shasta was “pop” in their rare commercials, despite the presence of “soda” in the name of a couple of their products.  The company started in Baltimore, but was taken over by Consolidated Foods (Sara Lee) out of Illinois.  Coincidence?

I like how every August and September students disperse throughout the country and enthusiastically take up this dispute.  It’s like a ritualized holy war.

It needs to be taken up a notch.  Kirk says “soda” and Picard says “pop.”  Kirk’s got a team of pirates, and Picard’s accompanied by ninjas.  Who wins the fight?

Everybody’s anecdotes are entirely superfluous, given that the chance for responding to the mapmaker expired 5 years ago.

Everybody’s anecdotes are entirely superfluous, given that the chance for responding to the mapmaker expired 5 years ago.

Speak for yourself, The Left.  I respond to The Mapmaker every night… in prayer.

my first reaction was that national television should have smoothed this over in a generation, until just a little more thought made me realize that such a central part of modern American life is simply never mentioned specifically on TV.

The interesting thing about the advent of TV wrt regional dialect is that you’d think TV would “smooth things out”, but now that we’re raising our third or fourth generation of children who learned to speak with a TV blaring in the background, we’re finding that not much has really changed.  I guess it’s probably because babies and toddlers have dozens of local real-life-human examples to learn from, but only the one disembodied voice of TV.  You’d have to watch far more TV than is really possible to get to the saturation point.  And TV can’t talk back, either—it’s conversation where we really learn to talk, not just hearing other people say stuff.

I love that all of Western Pennsylvania is a solid wall of dark blue.

Funnily enough, in this iteration of pop country, I’ve never actually heard any ask for a pop. You may ask the waiter/ress “What kind of pop do you have?” but when ordering you’d order whatever specific brand you wanted. If pushed into a necessarily non-specific situation (like a fast food drink fountain) you’d either order by size or ask for a soft drink.  Pop is always used as a generality rather than a specific: “I’m going to the store to pick up some pop” meaning you’re either going to get several kinds or you’re not sure what you’re going to get.

LOL! Yep, “Frappe” drives everyone not from New England crazy! (grin)

Everybody’s anecdotes are entirely superfluous, given that the chance for responding to the mapmaker expired 5 years ago.

Also, the same sizes are *really* small.  IIRC, my current home county is represented on that map by 23 people.

I say soda. South Jersey represent!

My husband is from Nashville. We can be on our hundredth visit to a Pepsi-branded chain restaurant and he will still ask for a Coke. (“Is Pepsi okay?” “Sure.”) Not because “coke” is a generic, but because “Coke” is the platonic ideal of beverages and ought to be on offer at all times and in all places.

Ask me about the infamous ice-cream wars of our early co-budgeting days…

Frappe!  Yay!

Started in St. Louis and ended up in Massachusetts.  Never pop.

In Rhode Island years and years ago as a child, they had a frappe called a cabinet.  I think it was where you stuck your grinder when you were done with it.

Soda or soft drink is what I’d say (California), pop would strike me as sounding a little rural/anachronistic, but the meaning is well known. Sody or soda-pop is also clear but anachronistic sounding.
If I heard tonic, I would think of tonic water, a specific, bitter, drink used in cocktail mixes. If I heard coke, I would hope that if I noticed the southern accent I’d ask before giving them a cola. Coldrink works, though. If you come from coke territory, I’d suggest using coldrink if you’re traveling.

I like how both soda people and the pop people think that the other term sound anachronistic.

I’m a non-American and a non-native English speaker (Finnish) and, to me, soda sounds more correct. I’d probably use ‘soft drink’, though.