Joe_Stax
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Pop vs Soda!So what do you call it? I came across this map, which breaks down by county (!) what people call their fizzy drinks...
I grew up in the eastern part of Penna, so we called it soda. When I went off to college in the Erie area, it looks like I crossed the "pop" line... and here in Pittsburgh, it's pop, pop, pop. I just can't get the hang of saying that, so I sound like a weirdo when asking for a soda. Oh, well. I say "rubber bands", too, and not "gum bands" as is the local custom. 
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Joe_Stax
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Hey, I forgot to mention that I found this at Strange Maps, where you can get some more details about how this was put together, plus some of the other euphemisms for fizzy drinks, along with other weird and wondrous cartography.
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JimENight
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Very inneresting, Joe. I'd like to see some of the terminology that falls into the "other" category! 
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Joe_Stax
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From the Strange Maps site, here's a description of the terms...
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coke: this generic term for soft drinks predominates throughout the South, New Mexico, central Indiana and in a few other single counties in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. ‘Coke’ obviously derives from Coca-Cola, the brand-name of the soft drink originally manufactured in Atlanta (which explains its use as a generic term for all soft drinks in the South).
pop: dominates the Northwest, Great Plains and Midwest. The world ‘pop’ was introduced by Robert Southey, the British Poet Laureate (1774-1843), to whom we also owe the word ‘autobiography’, among others. In 1812, he wrote: A new manufactory of a nectar, between soda-water and ginger-beer, and called pop, because ‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn. Even though it was introduced by a Poet Laureate, the term ‘pop’ is considered unsophisticated by some, because it is onomatopaeic.
soda: prevalent in the Northeast, greater Miami, the area in Missouri and Illinois surrounding St Louis and parts of northern California. ‘Soda’ derives from ‘soda-water’ (also called club soda, carbonated or sparkling water or seltzer). It’s produced by dissolving carbon dioxide gas in plain water, a procedure developed by Joseph Priestly in the latter half of the 18th century. The fizziness of soda-water caused the term ‘soda’ to be associated with later, similarly carbonated soft drinks.
Other, lesser-used terms include ‘dope’ in the Carolinas and ‘tonic’ in and around Boston, both fading in popularity. Other generic terms for soft drinks outside the US include ‘pop’ (Canada), ‘mineral’ (Ireland), ‘soft drink’ (New Zealand and Australia). The term ‘soft drink’, finally, arose to contrast said beverages with hard (i.e. alcoholic) drinks. |
Ya know, it's funny... back in the good old school daze, we had to read To Kill A Mockingbird, and one of the kids refers to his fizzy drink as a "dope". I didn't get it then, but I finally understand...
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