Do Americans really split between saying soda, pop, and Coke, or is that exaggerated?

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TheOwlMarble@reddit

More or less. People move around a lot, so there's been some blending, but there are still regional trends.

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AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit

I grew up in a pop area and its fading away. I hear most people calling it soda now. To the point where I said "pop" to a cashier and they looked at me weird and I said "soda"

I believe there is some data saying pop is fading in popularity also

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debbieae@reddit

I grew up calling every soda a coke. In my home territory, they know to ask me what kind of coke I want. I quickly learned I should not say coke if I am really wanting a Dr Pepper.

My grandmother used soda pop....or more accurately as said: sody pop.

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I grew up calling it soda. I learned about the coke thing when I moved near New Orleans. First time I went to a movie, I ordered a Coke. Concessionaire asked, “What kind of coke?” So I said, “Huh? I want a Coke.” She said, “We got Coke coke, Diet Coke coke, Sprite coke…” She listed all the flavors adding coke to each. Boggled my mind when I heard someone ask for a Pepsi coke.

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devnullopinions@reddit

Boggled my mind when I heard someone ask for a Pepsi coke.

Me to. We all have a fixed number of seconds alive, why was any of it on Pepsi? Just a huge waste 😞

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Blubbernuts_@reddit

Found my people

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Loisgrand6@reddit

Sody pop. Aww

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rubiscoisrad@reddit

Haven't heard that one in a coon's age

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Hammerhoused@reddit

Here before this comment turns into a racial debate lmao

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Capital-Yogurt6148@reddit

My friend was trying to figure it out the breed of her rescue dog and I said it looked like he had some coonhound in him. Her eyes got wide and she lowered her voice, going, “I was gonna say that! But I thought it might be racist.”

I laughed and explained that no, it was not a racist term.

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lollipop-guildmaster@reddit

Just a deeply triggering one, if you grew up reading Newberry award-winning books.

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Magerimoje@reddit

Big Dan and Little Ann 😢

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SepulchralSweetheart@reddit

Stop that, you, stop that right now.

Now I'm triggered, and it's nothing to do with time analogies or pronouns.

"It's strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man's mind for so many years. Yet those memories can be awakened and brought forth fresh and new, just by something you've seen, or something you've heard, or the sight of an old familiar face."

Rude asf

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HrhEverythingElse@reddit

I recently saw a guy from South Louisiana get censored on TV for calling himself a coonass, which is not racist, but causes a lot of confusion for the unfamiliar

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danny_ish@reddit

Might not be a racist term, but the first word of the term is incredibly racist. Thats how words work.

It’s the opposite problem that the saying ‘Alabama wind-chime’ has. None of those words are racist, but the term is

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dgillz@reddit

I have live in Alabama for 25 years and I have never heard this term. I had to google it.

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Entire-Flower1259@reddit

Honestly, I thought those were dogs used to track down escaped slaves, so…

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Throwawaydontgoaway8@reddit

It doesn’t have anything to do with race. Can google it, I have lol. It’s from back when people were super dumb and believed raccoons lived forever, hence coons age means long time

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Hammerhoused@reddit

Look, I'm from the south. I've heard it used in both ways and I don't gotta tell you what the second one is. I'm not debating anything, I just commented so I could read the shit storm of comments that his comment would have lol

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rubiscoisrad@reddit

I didn't realize I'm racist AND a man lol. I'm learning all kind of things today. ✨️

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Hammerhoused@reddit

I default to male pronouns when I don't know someone or somethings gender because I myself am male. Same with say, cats. "He's cute" before I'm informed it's a female. Next time I will use my powers of telepathy to guess your gender or preferred pronouns before I speak. Won't happen again.

I never called you racist. I simply commented because I knew you using "coon" in your comment would trigger a response in the replies. Especially on reddit.

I can only type the comments. I can't understand them for you. Hope this helps

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RubiksCub3d@reddit

why not just use they if you don't know the gender? Before you get the "they is only plural" Singular they predates singular you in written English

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Hammerhoused@reddit

Yeah I'm not doing the gender debate. I don't care what someone identifies as or what pronouns they use. I'm not some maga chud. I simply default to male because I myself am one.

To use the animal example again, if you showed me a picture of an otter or a giraffe I'd say "what a cute lil guy." Not because I factually believe the animal is a male, it's just my default.

I consider myself a far left liberal but not far enough left that I worry about someones gender or ask what they prefer for every single online anonymous interaction. If they want me to refer to them as a certain thing, they can tell me and I'll gladly do it. But I'm not walking on eggshells. It's a non issue for me

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Dandibear@reddit

Oh man that's a relief. I've been trying to get this phrase out of my repertoire, but now I can add it back!

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Conscious_Damage8678@reddit

Or you can say, "Since Hector was a pup."

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Dandibear@reddit

Who's Hector?

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cptjeff@reddit

Eh, still probably better leaving that in the past. Maybe the origins were innocent, but it's hardly some really wonderful turn of phrase worth the fight, and better to avoid any confusion.

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Northeast_Mike@reddit

And if you run the risk of having to explain the phrase every time you use it, what's it really communicating?

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Throwawaydontgoaway8@reddit

Your welcome

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Little_Green-Ghoul@reddit

The phrase predates that word being used as a slur. That doesn’t mean it’s not in poor taste to use it now given the connotation of the word for the last 120 years

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Acceptable_Tea3608@reddit

So glad Im a reader and knew its true meaning so just roll my eyes when people want to turn it to something its not.

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Little_Green-Ghoul@reddit

I know it’s meaning too, but the phrase predates the slur. That doesn’t mean it’s not in poor taste to use that word today especially when there are just as easily understood phrases to use in its place

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Acceptable_Tea3608@reddit

Well it really wasnt in the vernacular of where I grew up so I didn't know any people who used it.

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rubiscoisrad@reddit

Nah we should just cancel trash pandas and call it a day.

(I say while wearing a shirt with a raccoon on it.)

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Guinnessron@reddit

Unnecessary but yeah necessary.

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Little_Green-Ghoul@reddit

The phrase pre-dates the slur, but that doesn’t mean it’s in poor taste to use it still

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narwhal_platypus@reddit

My grandma said sodi water. Never heard anyone else use it.

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HrhEverythingElse@reddit

I also grew up calling everything Coke, but have consciously switched to sody pop because I love it

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ElectronicCorner574@reddit

Grew up calling everything coke as well. Great grandma used to call it soda water.

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functional_moron@reddit

Strange. Ive been all over and ive known some people that say pop or soda pop but I've never personally encountered someone that calls soda "coke" most of the u.s. Just calls it soda.

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IntelligentWay8475@reddit

Nope. Virtually the entirety of the south says coke.

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Personal-Presence-10@reddit

Arkansas here: everything is a coke here. Little c coke is all carbonated beverages, big C Coke is Coca-Cola. It’s like Kleenex and Qtip. The brand name became the general word for any soda.

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MiaZeta@reddit

The ppl I know who say the coke thing are all in the Deep South.

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Usual_Singer_4222@reddit

I lived on the west coast (soda) and north east (pop). Ended up saying soda pop just just to because I'd confused people. It's faded with asking for the actual flavor

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Legitimate-March9792@reddit

The Northeast doesn’t say pop. I live in Connecticut and we have always said soda. I don’t know what part of the Northeast you are talking about!

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MiaZeta@reddit

Maybe Northeast Indiana or something. Lol I’m a NYer and we definitely do not call it pop.

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Real-Broccoli-9325@reddit

You don’t live in Western NY then, because pop was real big west of Rochester.

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MiaZeta@reddit

Nope. I’m in NYC.

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battlesong1972@reddit

It’s not pop in the whole northeast. I live in PA, grew up split between the northeast and southeast parts of the state and had never heard the term “pop” until we visited my stepmother’s family in the western part of the state when I was around 13. Confused the hell out of me

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Apperman@reddit

Everything was “Coke” back in my day. “You want a coke?” “Yeah? What kinna coke you want?”

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Equivalent_Position6@reddit

Tennessee?

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AmazedAtTheWorld@reddit

Yes.

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rlw21564@reddit

Texas?

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EmoZebra21@reddit

Im from the Midwest and will always remember my first job as a server, I had a table of people from the south who told me they wanted coke to drink. I brought them a coke and they were upset it was Coke and not dr. Pepper, and they didn’t seem to understand why I brought them a coke when they asked for coke. 😂

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LittleWhiteGirl@reddit

I briefly lived in TN and a friend was making a beverage run, I asked for a coke. He came back with Dr Pepper because “I didn’t know which kind you wanted, and everyone likes Dr Pepper”. I wanted a coke, I literally asked for it! It’s funny to read this going the other direction.

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haileyskydiamonds@reddit

Mine called them co-colars.

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MiaZeta@reddit

I had to read that a few times to get it. 🤣

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Thick_Journalist7232@reddit

My grandmother said that too. She was born in Arkansas in 1921, and about the only one I remember really saying sodie pop. In the around St. Louis, it’s typically soda, or in a restaurant, you can say coke and you get whatever cola they have on tap. As far as I’m concerned, Coke usually works for: Coke, vess cola, Sam’s cola, Pepsi, rc cola, but not Dr Pepper or root beer or any of the not brown sodas like 7 up or orange…

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One_Advantage793@reddit

That's me and mine, too! Gran said sody pop and my parents said Coke, no matter what kind. I have recognized that Coke doesn't work, always. Like, if I tell my hubs - who grew up in soda-land - to get me a Coke, he says "you know you're not supposed to have caffiene!" When I answer "I know! I want a ginger ale," he looks at me funny.

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Magerimoje@reddit

My grandmother also always said "sody pop" with a bit of a southern accent --- even though she was born, raised, and lived her entire life in central Massachusetts.

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Icy-Reception-1267@reddit

Yeah everything is coke to me. After I decide I’ll have my semi annual coke, I’ll then decide if it’s cherry coke or Dr Pepper.

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Roaming_Cow@reddit

I say sody pop all the time. It’s my favorite way to call it and it also makes absolutely no sense where I am from. No idea where I picked it up.

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sundialNshade@reddit

Feel this!! "I'll take a coke" "okay what kind?" "Orange coke [meaning a fanta or whatever]"

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mrs-sir-walter-scott@reddit

My grandma said "sody pop" too!!! Any chance she also said "tater tarts" for tater tots?

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Restless_Wonderer@reddit

I spent some of my childhood in the Texas Panhandle where people will ask, “what kind of coke do you want… Coke, Dr Pepper, Sprite?”

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juliabk@reddit

Houston here. Same. It’s weird now that I live in Virginia. My housemates are a couple, one from Rhode Island and the other from Australia. Fortunately, I generally drink Diet Coke when I go carbonated, so it’s moot.

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rancidmilkmonkey@reddit

Florida, too. Florida and Texas tend to have a lot of the same expressions, just a different accent.

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juliabk@reddit

Coke is the default. Like Kleenex. :-)

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WittyFix6553@reddit

Atlanta?

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anonymous_fart5@reddit

I think Texas is the only place I've ever been that calls everything coke

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Tricia-1959@reddit

My grandmother called everything a drink. What kind of drink do you want? Do you want a drink? Except in middle Tennessee, It came out as “drank”. What I’d give to hear it once more.

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catlady421@reddit

My grandpa said sody pop too! I say it all the time at work haha

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Acceptable_Tea3608@reddit

I grew up calling it soda. Maybe because back then there were a lot of luncheonettes around and they served plain soda (seltzer to everyone else). I live in the N.E.

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Zannie95@reddit

I grew up calling it soda, however in a different area for college, everything was called Coke. I would say; no, I want a Sprite. And my friends would say; yes, let’s get a Coke. Those from rural areas called it a pop.

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superkase@reddit

Knew a feller that called them "sody dopes"

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Open-Neighborhood459@reddit

Lol same here

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reddititty69@reddit

Is Pepsi OK?

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Familiar-Ad-1965@reddit

We called every thing a Coke. Or a ColDrank (one word and that is my best typing a verbal anomaly).

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babygotthefever@reddit

I’ve done the same. I also tried to order sweet tea while hungover in Chicago and felt like an idiot when they brought me a cup of hot water, a tea bag, and sugar packets.

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fighter_pil0t@reddit

Why would you make a whole confusing conversation over ordering a DP when you could have just asked for a DP? The rest of the country thinks your use of the word Coke is woefully impractical l.

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not_NOT_lickin_toads@reddit

So what do you say when you actually want a Coke?

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debbieae@reddit

You say you want a coke, they say what kind. You say coca cola or regular coke.

Complicated, but understood.

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Level_Working5084@reddit

I lived in Louisiana when I was in the Army and every soda was a Coke. Like when you order, it’s “I’ll have a Coke. Make it a Sprite” 😂.

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skypuppyusedfirespin@reddit

My mom and I use sody pop. 😊

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af_cheddarhead@reddit

Iowa?

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debbieae@reddit

Texas panhandle.

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asphid_jackal@reddit

I've always heard it's a thing in the south, but I've never actually heard anyone do it before. I wonder if it's a Texas thing and people just got confused

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AlarmedTelephone5908@reddit

I have the same exact story! A little south of DFW.

Sody pop ❤️

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ennuiui@reddit

I grew up in TX and VA so had experience with people using “soda” and “coke” to describe soft drinks, and had heard people use the phrase “soda pop,” but up until I was 18 and waiting tables at a restaurant I hadn’t heard anyone using the word “pop” by itself. This was my first experience hearing it used:

I was waiting tables one evening (in VA) and I get a big party, 3 families together, on a road trip. The parents were all at one table, with 4 kids at another. The oldest of the kids is a girl probably around 12 or 13 and given her seniority has taken charge of the table. When I asked the table what they would like to drink, the girl, being as mature as she can, sets her menu down, turns to me and asks, “what do you have in the way of pop?”

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user6734120mf@reddit

I’m from WA and I’ve noticed I know longer say pop nearly as often. As a kid my Californian cousins made fun of us for saying pop.

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mua-dweeb@reddit

I’ll never stop popping. You bake with soda. You snort coke. You drink pop.

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swb1003@reddit

I *used to snort coke, thankyouverymuch.

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fresh_as_daisies@reddit

Pop is for weasels

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kteerin@reddit

I love this one!

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FitLoveLeo@reddit

Going to be quoting you for a while. lol

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curiousleen@reddit

I can’t imagine not calling it pop… even as I’ve stopped consuming it.

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Practical_Celery_878@reddit

Me neither...first time I heard someone use the full "soda pop," I was amazed! I'm in the midwest.

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KrispyAvocado@reddit

I started doing that because I was living all over the country and I couldn’t remember what people called it where I was. So I just called it soda pop. Covering my bases. Until I lived where everything was just "Coke."

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tony282003@reddit

I think it's weird some places call soft drinks - all of them - "Coke".

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AgreeableCommission7@reddit

Its the same thing as people calling facial tissue kleenex regardless of what brand it is.

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lisalef@reddit

No because Coke proper is cola while using the term Coke could refer to any soft drink including lemon lime sodas like Sprite, orange like Fanta, or any other type.

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Beefalo_Stance@reddit

This is the disconnect. People who call all soda 'coke' are referencing the brand, not the drink. People outside of a certain radius of Atlanta don't understand that Coke-a-cola had the market conered in this region (aside from RC) until the 80's. The Coke brand IS soda in this region.

It's confusing because Coke also has a drink called Coke. However, once you understand the context, the Kleenex analogy is practically perfect.

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AgreeableCommission7@reddit

Coke is a brand name same as kleenex

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Leoliad@reddit

I’ve never thought about that, but I definitely do that!

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JoonNolu@reddit

Eh, it's more like referring to all loose paper as Kleenex.

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cptjeff@reddit

All paper products, really.

"I'd like a kleenex." "What type?" "Cardboard box."

That's how stupid it sounds.

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curiousleen@reddit

lol which I do… and have received much flack for

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AgreeableCommission7@reddit

Same and I'm sticking with it

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jayzisne@reddit

Not really as it is all the same pretty much. Sprite vs root beer is not even remotely similar from an off brand tissue to a kleenex

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spidermans_mom@reddit

Yes those places are often weird. I grew up in one.

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cptjeff@reddit

Sure, but other sodas are not Coke. It's not like they sell Coca-Cola, Coca-Sprite, Coca-Root, etc. Coca-Cola is the specific name for one specific beverage.

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spidermans_mom@reddit

Oh yeah I’d never argue that it’s not ridiculous LMAO

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RupeThereItIs@reddit

so it’s understandable inside the city.

I mean, maybe 100 years ago, but with mass media I'm surprised this level of weird regionalism can remain.

Soda & pop are often referred to in mass media, pop less so and becuase of this is slowly dying. Never have I ever seen the generic "coke" used in a movie or TV show.

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spidermans_mom@reddit

Well you probably don’t understand the blind loyalty to Coke products either. A while ago Pepsi had an ad campaign that said “it’s your choice, Atlanta” and it bombed. It’s the only place I’ve ever seen anyone say “no” when waitstaff says “we have Pepsi instead, is that ok?” It’s like a damn sports team.

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juliabk@reddit

Ugh. Pepsi sucks.

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RupeThereItIs@reddit

I would say no to Pepsi, the extra sugar makes my tummy hurt.

I don't order Coke often either though, if I want a soft drink it's Sprit (no caffeine) or Dr. Pepper for me (Mr. Pibb is OK too).

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BUBBAH-BAYUTH@reddit

Theyre not referring to specific drinks, in the same way soda does not refer to a specific drink

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tony282003@reddit

Yes, that's what makes it weird.

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BUBBAH-BAYUTH@reddit

it’s also not really a thing

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tony282003@reddit

I'm reading that it is, indeed, a thing

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BUBBAH-BAYUTH@reddit

Well definitely don’t listen to the person born and raised in the south

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tony282003@reddit

I don't understand. I thought this was a southern thing.

You mean to say that they don't really do this? Ugh. I believed what others have told me my entire life.

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juliabk@reddit

Texas does.

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cptjeff@reddit

Georgia does. Effectively nobody else.

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cptjeff@reddit

It's really mostly a Georgia thing, not a broader southern thing.

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Great-Mediocrity81@reddit

Yep. I’m in the south and they are all cokes. “You wanna coke?” “Yeah, I’ll take a Dr Pepper.” Perfectly normal conversation here

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Fragrant_Payment9670@reddit

Side point! My mom was born in the South but moved to Milwaukee (that’s up North for reference) at age 9. She was used to calling “lollipops” suckers. One day she joined my grandmother buying groceries. While at the store my mom (still quite young) asked the grocer where she could find the “suckers.” He told her she was a rude, nasty little girl and wouldn’t sell her anything. My grandmother had to explain to the stunned grocer what was being asked for. 🥴

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plantverdant@reddit

One of my grandmas was southern. She would call different flavors+coke. So orange coke, grape coke, lemon coke... I was so disappointed to find that orange coke was just orange slice pop.

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fkthishit44@reddit

Ordering at a southern diner - "what kinda coke you got? If you have Dr pepper I'll take that"

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Txidpeony@reddit

More or less from the Midwest. my grandfather called it soda pop. also he only ever bought glass bottles.

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Forsythia77@reddit

My dad says soda pop because he's a soda guy from central Pennsylvania living in Northwest Indiana with pop people so now his brain has made it into an unholy amalgamation. 🤣🤣

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noneyanoseybidness@reddit

Soda pop was used regularly throughout my teens. Now it’s mostly soda.

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TidesTheyTurn@reddit

If there’s anything us “pop” versus “soda” people can agree on, it’s never to say “soda pop.”

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CEDWAR22@reddit

“Soda pop” is how I am able to rationalize “pop” as an option. All three beat using “Coke” as a generic term though.

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B-Train_ATL@reddit

I agree with Lewis Grizzard on this: Pop is just wrong. When you open it, it doesn’t go pop. It goes woosh.

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nope-its@reddit

I can’t imagine not calling it all coke. Pop is a name for a grandfather (or maybe some dads) to me.

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CEDWAR22@reddit

How do you distinguish between Coke and every other brand?

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thesturdygerman@reddit

You ask “What kinda coke?”

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rubiscoisrad@reddit

I both love and hate that this is probably the right response.

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nope-its@reddit

This is absolutely what happens.

I’d like a coke.

What kind? We have coke, Diet Coke, sprite, Dr Pepper, etc.

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profitgirl@reddit

Why not just say which one you want in the first place? When I'm ordering food I don't say, I'd like a sandwich and then wait for the waiter to ask me what kind. I just say give me a sprite and turkey sandwich

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nope-its@reddit

The exact same situation occurs when someone asks for a pop or a soda. It’s no different here.

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devnullopinions@reddit

If I went into a restaurant in Seattle and ordered a Coke I can be fairly confident they will not ask any further questions and give me a regular Coca-Cola

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nope-its@reddit

This isn’t for a restaurant. This is for a person’s house or a bbq or something. For a restaurant you look at the menu and say what you want.

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CEDWAR22@reddit

That’s what they were trying to do by ordering a Coke. In the case of sandwiches, it would be like if a region of the United States decided to collectively refer to all sandwiches as “Reubens”.

What kind of Reubens ya got?

We have a BLT, a turkey club, a pastrami.

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CEDWAR22@reddit

I guess that works?

Like I know it’s a cultural difference, but it would drive me crazy having to ask for the same soda twice every time I wanted it. If I’m jumping straight to asking for a Coke, I’m largely doing it to avoid unnecessary follow ups.

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Familiar-Ad-1965@reddit

And the answer is CoCola

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thomchristopher@reddit

waited tables and tended bar in the South for many years and this is the way

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Agitated-Sock3168@reddit

They have different labels, with the name on them

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CEDWAR22@reddit

If you can read the labels, then why would you still call them by the wrong name?

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Agitated-Sock3168@reddit

If you don't understand the basic concept, you wouldn't understand the explanation. Thanks for trying to play, though, and bless your heart.

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devnullopinions@reddit

Isn’t bless your heart used as an insult?

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curiousleen@reddit

What’s funny is that “coke” is the second most heard term in my area and half of the time we’re asking for a Pepsi

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juliabk@reddit

It’s a cultural thing. Slamming it is no different than insisting on calling a Minnesota “hot dish” a casserole and saying calling it anything else is dumb.

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MamaLlama629@reddit

I call it soda

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AutomaticNovel2153@reddit

In Oregon it seems like the baby boomers still call it pop while most Gen X or younger transitioned to soda. I think the brief popularity of Jones Soda coincided with the shift.

My grandparents said sore pop. They also pronounced day as “dee”.

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Open-Neighborhood459@reddit

I call it coke

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WrittenInTheStars@reddit

Pop will never be dead as long as I live and breathe

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malledtodeath@reddit

onomatopoeia is the superior term! POP! embrace it. it’s way more fun.

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Prof_Fuzzy_Wuzzy@reddit

It's also a palindrome. It's a palindromatopoeia

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Tomj_Oad@reddit

But soda bottles don't pop anymore

They hiss

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malledtodeath@reddit

the bubbles pop

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Sami_George@reddit

The cans pop, though

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Tomj_Oad@reddit

True enough

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kteerin@reddit

Amen.

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Pficky@reddit

Aww, he lives on in your memory!

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YourHooliganFriend@reddit

I like to say "soda pop". Crowd pleaser.

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gc3@reddit

My pop died of cancer

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OffTheMerchandise@reddit

I call it pop in my day to day, but soda online

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AllSoulsNight@reddit

My Mother considered it "country" to say 'pop'. It was Coke or the trade name, Sprite, 7up, Pepsi, etc. She gave me grief when I came home from college calling everything 'soda'.

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sleeplessaddict@reddit

It's like nails on a chalkboard for me when people call it "pop." I've always called it soda and will never not do so

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curiousleen@reddit

lol, I had a friend when I was younger who was a military brat and a staunch soda gal. YEARS of friendship and she never stopped with a sarcastic comment or an eye roll at every pop. Never didn’t deter me.😆

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AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit

It was so weird.

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TheBraveToast@reddit

I called it pop my entire childhood and beyond buthave noticed myself saying soda more and more layely. My culture is leaving my body ☹️

[-]

DaBingeGirl@reddit

Same. I (38, Midwesterner) said pop as a kid, but now it's mostly soda or Coke.

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AluminumCansAndYarn@reddit

Whereas I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and everyone around me says pop but my mom had us trained from a young age to say soda. She would say she would give us a pop and shook her fist at us if we asked for a pop. I'm now in my mid 30s and still say soda even if everyone around me is saying pop.

[-]

sillygoldfish1@reddit

Same - texas used to be coke, now what I hear is mostly soda.

[-]

lumaga@reddit

Stand your ground, my friend. It's pop.

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Early_Beach_1040@reddit

It used to be labeled in the grocery aisles as "pop" when I was a kid. Generally now in the Midwest you will see soda/pop rather than simply pop. I really didn't know that anyone said "soda" until I moved to NJ at aged 12. I thought soda sounded hopelessly old fashioned. Now it seems that "pop" is as old fashioned as I imagined soda to be as a kid. For reference I'm in my mid 50s

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guess214356789@reddit

I'm doing my best to keep pop extant.

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AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit

Doing God's work.

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keladry12@reddit

I grew up saying pop...I noticed a couple years ago that I default to soda now. :(

[-]

yaxAttack@reddit

I grew up in a “pop” area, went to college in a “soda” area, and got constantly made fun of for saying “pop”

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Kitzira@reddit

I grew up calling it Coke... even though I wanted a Dr. Pepper instead.

As an adult, I discovered I don't like Coke/Pepsi. Tastes flat and syrupy. Only use is to accompany rum or burbon.

So now I call it soda.

[-]

bananapanqueques@reddit

You want a coke?

Yeah.

What kind?

Dr Pepper.

😅🤣

[-]

Acceptable_Tea3608@reddit

Im really amused by that. I grew up calling it soda. And then you'd say the difference. But I do like Dr. Pepper now and again.

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infinitefacets@reddit

I grew up in a pop area. I stopped saying it a long time ago because of people’s reactions lol

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jollyroger822@reddit

Like I told my ex wife from Michigan that is because it's called soda, pop is a noise.

[-]

glimmergirl1@reddit

I say pop too and you are right, get lots of funny looks now and no one says it anymore.

[-]

mentalissuelol@reddit

Everyone I knew growing up called it pop, and I had a realization at some point during my childhood (probably due to reading a lot) that Soda was a better word to use. It’s less easily misunderstood and it only really means “a carbonated beverage”. It also doesn’t feel as stupid to ask for out loud if you are nervous.

What really threw me for a loop was a patient who once asked me for a coke. I brought them one, they’re like “this isn’t what I wanted” I’m like “oh would you rather have diet?”. They say “no, I want regular sprite.” I said “but you asked me for a coke?” “Yes.” And then we just stared at each other for a moment and I went to get the sprite. But I was like who the fuck asks for a sprite by asking for coke. Apparently some southern people.

[-]

antidavid@reddit

I’m a bit sad about it. I’m from soda territory and moved to a pop territory and it’s kinda fun saying it. But I’ve noticed less people say it now.

[-]

Open-Neighborhood459@reddit

In Wyoming it's called pop..

CA it is soda it is coke

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Black_Velvet_Band@reddit

I’m from Minneapolis, in the heart of pop region. I knew it was over when Target, a Minneapolis company, used “Soda” to label the aisles with these drinks in their stores.

[-]

Anyashadow@reddit

Target stopped showing Minnesota roots for awhile now. They are just corporate slop now.

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No_Procedure_3799@reddit

As far as I understand it, that’s all regional dialects and to some degree accents too. Combination of the internet making the world smaller and more population movement

[-]

icekraze@reddit

It is still holding strong in my area of Michigan. Can’t speak for the whole state but nobody around me calls it soda. It is unsurprising considering we literally have a flavor called “red pop”.

[-]

green_prepper@reddit

Yep. I started saying soda about 20 years ago and used to get funny looks for it but now it’s as common as saying pop in my area. When I’d go visit my dad in the south I remember asking for pop at my neighbors house and neither the little girl nor her mom knew what I was asking for. The mom figured it out after a few moments but my friend had no idea.

[-]

Proud-Delivery-621@reddit

It's the same where I am for coke. Everyone always says that "coke" means soda here but I'm not sure I've ever heard it in my life. Everyone always either just says soda or the name of the drink.

[-]

iamr3d88@reddit

Yep, I live in a "pop" area and soda seems much more common. I've always called it soda, but soda cans come out of a pop machine. Fast food has soda fountains though.

[-]

Alert-Willow3458@reddit

Yeah as a kid in the Midwest calling it pop was a lot more common but it’s been fading out recently. Now I hear more people call it soda

[-]

rubiscoisrad@reddit

If someone said it I wouldn't bat an eye, but I'd register that they not from around here. Growing up, anything that wasn't coke was soda pop (especially in the orange or cream soda categories).

[-]

gc3@reddit

Oh snap, pop is dead. Crackle.

[-]

Embarrassed_Bag_9630@reddit

Good. It’s an abomination.

[-]

LovesDeanWinchester@reddit

Not in Michigan! It will ALWAYS be pop here. Anybody here saying "soda" is just being pretentious!!!

[-]

RupeThereItIs@reddit

Only Michiganians say Soda.

[-]

crunchyfoliage@reddit

I was about to be outraged at "Michiganian" until I realized what you were actually saying. Absolutely agree lol

[-]

AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit

Actually that conversation was inside a Meijer on Michigan!

[-]

Happy-Estimate-7855@reddit

I'm in Ontario Canada, and I've noticed that Soda is beginning to catch up to Pop. It's strange how terms shift.

[-]

kamon405@reddit

Yea when I was growing up in Oklahoma everyone around me called it pop. But now that's fading away. And they wanna pretend to be down with Texas or some weird ish now so they like it's coke now. We don't know you pop people. Its weird

[-]

Tankieforever@reddit

Where I live now they still say “pop” and if you were to say soda, it would be assumed you mean soda water, like plain sparkling water, and even then people will still be confused. Where I grew up, no one ever said “pop” to the point that I hardly believed that it was an actual word that people used anywhere at all.

[-]

ks99@reddit

I live in a pop area and absolutely no one says “soda” still

[-]

xqueenfrostine@reddit

Same. I think when I was growing up I said pop more often. But I’ve used to word soda exclusively through adulthood. And I live in the same city I was born in. It’s a well studied phenomenon that regional accents and other regionalism are fading with time especially in urban areas.

[-]

Pernicious_Possum@reddit

I grew up with soda, then moved to pop country in my teens. These days you hardly anyone say pop. That makes me happy because it always sounded so dumb to me

[-]

UltraShadowArbiter@reddit

I grew up and still live in a pop area.
I've always called it soda. Pop never sounded right to me.
I'm glad it's starting to die off asca term.

[-]

Tricky-Wishbone9080@reddit

I live in a pop area. I say soda to be contrary. If pop does and everyone says soda I’ll start saying pop again.

[-]

terrible-gator22@reddit

Same. I said soda because it felt more “mature” when I was a little kid. Now I feel nostalgic for pop.

[-]

botulizard@reddit

I think you're right. I live in a distinctly "pop" area right now, where I work for a beverage distributor that uses "soda" for that category of product.

[-]

Nice-Block-7266@reddit

It used to always be pop in Colorado, but all those darned transplants are shifting it to soda.

[-]

bass679@reddit

I'm from Utah ND my wife is from Michigan. Our kids, until quite recently, assumed Dr pepper was a soda and Pepsi a was a pop because that's what each of us drinks and they assumed each was a specific kind of drink.

[-]

Fearless_Ad4904@reddit

Haha, my kids call all soda, "spicy drink" and I'm good with that.

[-]

Open-Neighborhood459@reddit

Lol that's cute

[-]

BeerWench13TheOrig@reddit

Americans move around way too much these days for any of those to stick. I think most people adapt to their surroundings. Even if you’re a “pop” person, a “soda” person or a “Coke” person, if you move to a certain region, that differs, you will adopt their dialect.

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TheOwlMarble@reddit

My wife and I both still use the terms from our respective home regions rather than the one we've lived in for a decade.

[-]

Inside-Run785@reddit

Wes, but I grew up in Wisconsin where it’s soda. Come at me, rest of the upper Midwest.

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wilkinsk@reddit

That's actually what they say about regional accents.

Once travel became cheaper and people also started attending colleges beyond their home state kroe often the regional accents started to die.

We've still got them, but not as hard as we used to I guess

[-]

aachensjoker@reddit

And most prefer one or the other- either Pepsi products or Coke products.

Even restaurants have one or the other.

I prefer Coke products.

When i ask for Coke at a restaurant, its usually short for asking for Coke products.

If they say yea, then its Diet Coke or Sprite.

If no, the Pepsi equivalent of Sprite.

[-]

Megalocerus@reddit

We called it tonic. I think it's an old Boston thing.

[-]

Well_Spoken_Mute@reddit

It's definitely Pop in Minnesota

[-]

CapinWinky@reddit

With the internet, things are converging, but yes. As someone from the southeast, we said coke and then people would ask what kind. The first time someone asked me if I wanted a Pop was when I went off to college and I thought they were randomly picking a fight.

I think everyone is converging on soda as the lest weird option.

[-]

NemeanMiniLion@reddit

Also, tea is either sweet or unsweetened and there's basically a line drawn across America where it changes what is the default.

[-]

arcinva@reddit

It's called the Mason-Dixon Line. 😂

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ephemeriides@reddit

No, Maryland is still Unsweet Tea Land (which a 14-year-old me was very sad about when we moved there from Georgia). I’m guessing it changes somewhere around mid-Virginia.

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danny_ish@reddit

Huh, til some people consider maryland the south. It was always considered the north to me who grew up in NY. I always thought that line ended on its eastern end at ohio/west virginia, so then west virginia would be the last southern state and Maryland + Pennsylvania would be northern

[-]

sparksbet@reddit

Pennsylvania is northern by pretty much every definition, but Maryland is traditionally a southern state. The Compromise of 1790, where DC was decided as the capital and placed on the Maryland-Virginia border, was to place the US capital solidly in what was considered the South.

West Virginia isn't usually considered part of the South both because it was on the North's side during the Civil War but also because it culturally is very Appalachian, rather than Southern (and yes, there is a difference).

[-]

danny_ish@reddit

Thanks for the knowledge bomb! You rock, enjoy the day!

[-]

ephemeriides@reddit

It’s still considered Northeast, or at least Mid-Atlantic, but it was south of the Mason-Dixon Line. It makes it into the North category on a technicality because it never seceded.

[-]

iesharael@reddit

There’s some places in southern PA and northern DE that do sweetened

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kmr1391@reddit

huh? not by default and not like southern sweet tea. if you’re talking about when they ask sweetened or unsweetened in a restaurant, that’s not the same thing.

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Princessformidable@reddit

I'm in Atlanta and no where has sweet tea that doesn't have unsweet. Signed a southern oddity. You do have to be careful that unsweet may have sat out too long.

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arcinva@reddit

I blame the influx of people to work around D.C. I'm curious is western Maryland has more sweet tea than the areas from DC to Baltimore. Because Northern VA is definitely different than the rest of the state, as you mentioned.

[-]

me6519@reddit

Eastern shore southern sweet tea is the norm. Allegheny county in western MD I’d say is 50/50

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Comfortable-Elk-850@reddit

I live in Bmore and sweet tea is not a norm. It’s usually unsweetened , some places you can get sweet tea but it’s not as sweet as the Southern states. I’ve lived farther South for many years also and know my share of the old Southern ladies with their sweet tea!

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Wise_Marsupial8256@reddit

Only Old bay in md

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Veronica612@reddit

More like the southern border of Tennessee. It’s not until MS/AL/GA that people assume sweet.

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Able-Brief-4062@reddit

You'd be surprised how much people in Illinois and Iowa drink sweet tea. They are practically just the south of the midwest.

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Fluffy_Mantis3133@reddit

It’s standard to ask which you want in Northern Ohio but that’s fairly new. Sweet tea is spreading like a disease.

Why anyone would want all that sugar as sweet tea instead of something better like a milkshake is beyond me. It feels like a tragically wasted opportunity.

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Veronica612@reddit

I know they drink a lot there but it’s not the default most of the time the way it is in the Deep South.

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Acceptable_Tea3608@reddit

My iced tea is def not southern sweet tea. I know that and its ok. Im up North.

[-]

lacunadelaluna@reddit

Kentucky and even Southern Indiana assume sweet unless you specify unsweet. "Iced tea" is always sweet, and if you only want it a little sweet and not syrupy you better get half and half/half unsweet in a restaurant.

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Veronica612@reddit

I lived in Kentucky and it was not like that there in my experience. I have also lived in Tennessee, Mississippi, and the Carolinas.

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ParryLimeade@reddit

I’m South Carolina and North Carolina are purely in the sweet tea camp. What are you smoking lol

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Tizzy8@reddit

I encountered sweet tea for the first time in Maryland, it’s definitely sweet tea territory

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manatee1010@reddit

I'm from MD and can assure you the north/south line isn't really the Mason Dixon line.

It's where Northern VA becomes the rest of VA.

[-]

Wise_Marsupial8256@reddit

Understated answer but Coke is Georgia. The Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta was/is? a thing of capitalist glory and beauty. The soda fountains at the end were amazing. Who liked Beverly?

[-]

frederichenrylt@reddit

Lmao

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Leg_Final@reddit

Surprisingly, Mississippi is unsweet tea. Surprisingly might not be the correct word. Shockingly.

[-]

crownjewel82@reddit

Also pretty much everything west of the Mississippi except for Texas and Louisiana. Maybe Arkansas and Oklahoma.

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TheFotographer2Be@reddit

Actually Google the McDonald's Sweet Tea Line. It shows where McDonald's stop serving sweet tea in Virginia.

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arcinva@reddit

Yep, that map looks right to me. Though I'm shocked by the unsweet tea cluster around Lynchburg.

[-]

Snicklebot@reddit

Man the redditors are really coming out in force to "well actually ☝️🤓" your joke lol

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chivopi@reddit

Coming from someone in VA they should know better 🫪

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Individual-Gas-5406@reddit

Theee's also an east-west divide, that has slowly been moving westward across Texas over the decades.

Used to be when you asked for iced tea, the default was to give you real tea, and you could add your sweetener as desired. But as time has gone on, the sickly oversweet sugar water has been encroachimg on that territory.

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Timperior@reddit

At a restaurant? You better say unsweetened or they're gonna go over to the soda fountain and get you Lipton Brisk

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NemeanMiniLion@reddit

Close. I've seen that the line in Missouri is about 45 minutes by car south of the middle of the state rather than the entire state. I traveled down that way a lot the last decade or so. Strangely a topic I've researched a bit. But yes, that's basically it

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Adventurous-Exam-719@reddit

Missouri doesn’t know what it is 🙄

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Opening_Cake5246@reddit

Misery, it's in the name.

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CEDWAR22@reddit

As long as you don’t call it Missoura

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EvenLettuce6638@reddit

That Manson-Nixon Line.

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Proper_University55@reddit

In modern days, the Mason-Dixon Line isn’t this cultural divide people seem to think it is. Everyone says soda in eastern PA and central MD.

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Cock--Robin@reddit

I grew up in Birmingham Alabama - the original home of Milo’s Hamburgers and Milo’s sweet tea - and you can buy Milo’s extra sweet tea by the gallon jug in the grocery store now.

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badsucculentmom@reddit

we also have gallons in the stores here in michigan i didn’t know it was from a burger joint that’s my FAVORITE lemonade/tea

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KongUnleashed@reddit

Dude Milo’s hamburgers are so good. They’ve got this like…kind of gravy-like sauce on them that I can’t even describe because nothing else tastes like it. Messy as hell but an absolute banger of a fast-food burger.

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Cock--Robin@reddit

There was a burger joint in Bessemer called Giglio’s Eat Shop years ago which had a similar sauce, but the owner took the recipe with him to the grave.

[-]

reddock4490@reddit

The burgers are absolutely amazing. It’s like Alabama’s regional star burger chain a la in n out to California, except there’s only like 6 of them and no one outside of Alabama has any idea it exists, lol

[-]

KongUnleashed@reddit

You said it. How Milo’s hasn’t escaped containment, I will never understand. Absolute crack burgers.

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reddock4490@reddit

I haven’t lived in Alabama for 13 years, but I eat there about once a day every time I’m back in Birmingham, lol

[-]

Cock--Robin@reddit

This. Every time we find ourselves back home we make a point to go to Milo’s at least once.

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Memphissippian@reddit

Milo’s Hamburgers

Do what now?

[-]

NemeanMiniLion@reddit

A great option for those wanting to try it

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OtisSpunkmey3r@reddit

That sounds absolutely terrible. At a certain point it stops being “tea” and just becomes vaguely tea flavored syrup.

[-]

pappapirate@reddit

2 parts milos, 1 part water, dash of lemon juice.

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Able-Brief-4062@reddit

Extra sweet is definitely a little strong for some, but they have their normal sweet tea too.

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thatshoneybear@reddit

Which is still going to be too sweet for anyone not used to it. I like to mix half sweet half unsweet. The sweet stuff is delicious, but I can only drink a few sips now.

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Able-Brief-4062@reddit

Yeah, definitely helps if you grow up on both.

[-]

cptjeff@reddit

It's absolutely tea flavored syrup. And your point is?

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B-Train_ATL@reddit

Especially when a doctor says you’re diabetic but you still want to drink similar stuff. You know what? Artificial sweeteners are just dang fine.

[-]

Rick_Sancheeze@reddit

Milo’s is awful. Red diamond is king.

[-]

Vulcion@reddit

Red Diamond is the only tea anyone should be making sweet tea with, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the Milo’s extra sweet when I stop at a gas station or something

[-]

laythrehman@reddit

We have huge sections full of Milo’s teas and lemonades here in Texas! I’m not going to debate on who’s got the better BBQ, but y’all are the sweet tea kings. Never knew about the burgers, guess I gotta come on back and give ‘em a shot :)

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DaBingeGirl@reddit

Dare I ask how much sugar is in extra sweet? My friend's recipe for sweet tea was 2 cups of sugar to a gallon of tea. Extra sweet... that sounds deadly.

[-]

chickadeedadee2185@reddit

I visited Birmingham and Mountain Brook.

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AluminumCansAndYarn@reddit

You can buy milos by the gallon in stores around me in suburban Chicagoland now. I will admit that I have not seen the extra sweet tea by the gallon but I can buy the little pint bottles of it at the dollar general. I however love the milos lemonade so being able to buy that by the gallon is such a boon for me.

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ShanLuvs2Read@reddit

We get Milo’s up by me and I am close to Canada …

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_IndyCar@reddit

My grandmas got the sweetest tea in the north

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cdsbigsby@reddit

Milo's has spread, I can buy it at my local grocery stores here in Ohio

[-]

thesturdygerman@reddit

Tagline - “You’ll have diabetes by next week!”

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Proud-Delivery-621@reddit

You can buy gallon jugs of sweet tea in the gas station by my apartment lol.

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ParticularlyPigeon@reddit

🎶Everybody goes to Milo's!🎶 Lifelong Birmingham resident and Milo's enjoyer here, and at least in Birmingham, you've been able to buy Milo's sweet tea at the grocery store for at least a decade or so.

[-]

OldBlueKat@reddit

A lot of us in the north who don’t care for SWEET tea still like a bit of sugar and lemon in our iced tea.

Just not so much it sets our teeth on edge. Bring the unsweetened stuff with a wedge or two of lemon and some sugar packets and I’ll be my own mixologist, thanks!

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Rfisk064@reddit

Most southerners graduate to half and half as we get older, and usually to a 80/20 or 90/10 ratio when eating at restaurants eventually

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Stealyosweetroll@reddit

As a 12 year old I remember getting a sweet tea in NOLA that was basically the consistency of syrup. It was incredible. I would never want that 16 years later.

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Memphissippian@reddit

You just weren’t drunk enough to enjoy the NOLA way.

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battlesong1972@reddit

The sugar dissolves so much better when it’s added while the tea is hot. Also, at least where I am, no restaurants hav the long iced tea spoons to stir it

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OldBlueKat@reddit

Agree.

Especially the spoon thing, though joints that do ice cream stuff usually have long PLASTIC spoons. Straws do a half-assed job in a pinch.

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battlesong1972@reddit

Straws don’t even do a half assed job. I’ll stir with my butter knife before trying a straw. Even with a spoon sugar just doesn’t dissolve nearly as well when the tea’s cold; it’s so much better to add it while brewing

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OldBlueKat@reddit

Agreed, but sometimes you’re just making do.

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Jendolyn872@reddit

lol as a Minnesotan, solid agree. I used to think i had a sweet tooth but when i tried sweet tea it was too much.

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ShanLuvs2Read@reddit

I prefer sweet tea but most places up here don’t know how to make homemade sweet tea.. they just do Lipton sweet tea from the soda machine

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Vulcion@reddit

I’d drop gloves with anyone who brought me sweet tea from a soda fountain

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ShanLuvs2Read@reddit

They make you get it yourself 🤣🤣🤣

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MotherofaPickle@reddit

Bite your tongue. I like my tea black. No milk, no sugar, no lemon, no honey.

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Stealyosweetroll@reddit

As a 12 year old I remember getting a sweet tea in NOLA that was basically the consistency of syrup. It was incredible. I would never want that 16 years later.

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thatshoneybear@reddit

Genuine question though, don't you just end up with a pile of sugar at the bottom of your glass?? Unless you're stirring for an hour, I don't see how it's dissolving in a cold liquid.

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OldBlueKat@reddit

I don’t use ‘a pile’. A small amount will dissolve, but yeah, it’s easier to sweeten warm tea and then chill it.

[-]

Appropriate-Win3525@reddit

My order at McDonald's is half sweet/half unsweetened with light ice. That perfect combo of being just a bit sugary, but you still taste tea over sugar.

[-]

Fecapult@reddit

I'm in the confused area where they ask if you want sweet or unsweet.

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manatee1010@reddit

In my experience that means you don't live in an area where they have full-on SWEET TEA.

Sweet tea is a separate drink that makes "sweetened tea" look like black coffee - it's also never referred to as "sweetened," always "sweet."

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Fecapult@reddit

In central VA, it's unsweet or insulin shock.

[-]

ShanLuvs2Read@reddit

Same here

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Mysterious_Jello69@reddit

A lot of the US, especially outside the south its just "iced tea" and youll get a sweetened tea with lemon flavor as the default with no other options.

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sparksbet@reddit

Outside the South in my experience they usually ask if you want it sweetened or unsweetened. I don't like that kind of iced tea much though so I can't speak to whether the sweetened kind tastes as sweet as proper sweet tea down South.

[-]

AluminumCansAndYarn@reddit

Here in Illinois it defaults to unsweetened tea but "we have sugar packets on the table that you can use". I have never been anywhere outside of the south that sweet tea was the default.

[-]

Vulcion@reddit

This is the only thing a waiter can say to me to make me genuinely upset. You cannot put sugar packets in iced tea, and make sweet tea. The sugar never dissolves right and it always tastes gross. The sugar needs to be added when the tea is hot. Luckily this is only a mistake that northern waiters make from my experience

[-]

Mysterious_Jello69@reddit

The north east is probably most common outside for sweetened iced tea being default. You'll get something like Brisk or another pre-made commercial iced tea with lemon flavor and sweetened.

[-]

leesainmi@reddit

In Michigan the default is unsweetened with a lemon wedge

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OppositeSalamander60@reddit

2 lines, at least. There is a line in South Florida where it switches back to ice tea.

[-]

Tight_Set3317@reddit

I was near the north/south border, and heard a southern fellow refer to them as tea and Yankee tea.

[-]

NemeanMiniLion@reddit

If I must be a yank to have plain tea, then a yank I will be.

[-]

muhhuh@reddit

I have a strong af west Michigan accent and when I’m traveling in the south, sometimes a waitress will pick up on that and just ask if I want unsweetened.

[-]

NemeanMiniLion@reddit

Recipe: add sugar until it can grow crystals. Dash of tea.

[-]

gabriel77galeano@reddit

Here in SoCal there's no default. If you order iced tea at a restaurant the waiter will usually ask if you want sweetened or unsweetened, or specify which teas they have are sweet.

[-]

battlesong1972@reddit

I wish we’d get that here in northeast PA. Here I order an Iced Tea and almost every restaurant is “unsweetened or raspberry?”

[-]

manatee1010@reddit

There's a difference between SWEETENED tea, and SWEET TEA.

I wouldn't expect to find sweet tea in SoCal, it's more of a "down south" thing out east.

[-]

aimlesstrevler@reddit

I would say most restaurants in SoCal have unsweet tea and serve it with sugar packets.

[-]

gabriel77galeano@reddit

Naw what the heck. I eat out a lot and iced tea is literally my go-to, having to use sweetener is at least somewhat rare here. Most places have raspberry tea or some other fruity tea as the sweetened option.

[-]

aimlesstrevler@reddit

My own experience is only finding sweet tea at fast food places. I've waited tables in a ton of places as well and none of them have had sweet tea.

[-]

teke367@reddit

Same when I was in NJ. Also, there was a noticeable difference between when the tea is referred to as "sweet tea" or if the person says "it's sweetened". The sweet in "sweet tea" describes the taste much more than the "tea"

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hewhoisneverobeyed@reddit

“Sweet” is an understatement.

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manatee1010@reddit

The fact that "sweet" seems like an understated version of "sweetened" always makes me laugh.

I went to college down south. My parents were visiting - my father being a drinker of sweetened tea. He ordered sweet tea in a restaurant and didn't understand/brushed me off when I tried to explain it wasn't what he was thinking it was... his eyes about popped out of his head when it arrived and he took a swig. 🤭

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devnullopinions@reddit

The Diabetes-Diabeetus line?

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Kitzira@reddit

As a young kid in the south, I had sweet tea. Moved to Texas in the 90s and had to suffer through Sweet n' Low flavored tea for the longest anytime we went out.

Somewhere in the late 90s, the tea offerings split to sweet & unsweet just like the smoking and non-smoking sections combined.

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Clym44@reddit

Sweet n low tea sounds horrible

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bizwig@reddit

It is. Before Splenda artificial sweeteners were (and still are) awful.

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ShanLuvs2Read@reddit

It is … my mom only would by sweet n low and so I started eating things without sugar because it was worse with it

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MotherofaPickle@reddit

My mom was an Equal lady. Learned the true power of actual sugar in college.

Fun fact: I dislike both.

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71-lb@reddit

Im from just outside Houston, nw Harris County, and I had sweet tea all my life .

I suspect its a Houston thing .

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Kitzira@reddit

I moved to Dallas around 1991 in the 3rd grade. Servers had tea & pointed to the packaged sugars on the table for years. Mom told me that sweet tea was pretty much an Alabama thing. Later on learned it was a southern thing & Texas really isn't the south.

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AtomicFall99@reddit

The first time I had sweet tea, I was surprised by just how sweet it was; like now I have to lay down and fall into a diabetic coma sweet.

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iesharael@reddit

And when you live near that line you never know which you’ll get

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Throwaway-ish123a@reddit

New Engalnder I do unsweeted and add a small amount... slowly. Southern sweet tea? We call that "DiabeTea"

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Master-Collection488@reddit

However, Canada's iced tea is sweetened by default. I believe the Underground Railroad brought it there.

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Reception-Whole@reddit

this is true but to call sweet tea "tea" is not quite accurate.

it's basically hummingbird food.

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troublesomefaux@reddit

I love it that on one side of the line “tea” will get you one of them and on the other side of the line “tea” gets you the other one.

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El-Viking@reddit

And cornbread. I prefer northern iced tea and southern cornbread.

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NemeanMiniLion@reddit

Same.

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Northeast_Mike@reddit

Elotes (and Esquites): TIL! Sounds great. Where are these found?

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NemeanMiniLion@reddit

Maybe a street vendor at a big event. You can make them at home too. Some restaurants will do a cup style version but I don't prefer it.

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Maleficent_Air9036@reddit

I was in for a rude surprise when I ordered tea for the first time in an American restaurant. Whether sweet or not, ICE tea is the default when you ask for tea. And you might as well not bother asking for hot tea. They will look at you strange and serve you a cup of tepid water and a teabag. Disgusting.

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NemeanMiniLion@reddit

Tea is here, it's just usually made poorly at a restaurant or at varying quality levels at home. I keep a half dozen or so varieties. Earl Grey is my favorite overall.

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Traditional_Trust418@reddit

Unfortunately, I live where the default is unsweet

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NemeanMiniLion@reddit

I prefer no sugar or low sugar.

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lets-snuggle@reddit

Tea to me means a mug of hot tea. Iced tea would be the generic for sweet tea and “unsweetened iced tea” for unsweetened tea

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

I'll add that tea thing to the question list I'm building at my site!
https://www.leximap.fyi

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parable-harbinger@reddit

Unsweetened tea would just be tea with nothing added, no?

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katrinakt8@reddit

When we are talking sweetened or unsweetened it’s referring to iced tea, not hot tea.

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cptjeff@reddit

I'm from NC originally. If you order "tea" you get a liquid that, by scientific classification, is actually a syrup.

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Open-Neighborhood459@reddit

Lol yes I assumed tea

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

Sweet tea is terrible! You Southerners should be ashamed about doing that to iced tea, which is perfect as is (okay it’s better mixed with lemonade)

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IDidItWrongLastTime@reddit

Sweet tea is disgusting. Keep that southern sugar mud away from me

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SpiritOfDearborn@reddit

SWATE TAY

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Helpful_Web2226@reddit

Yeah. And for whatever reason, in the north, it’s either unsweet tea with sugar packets to add or some gross raspberry tea.

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TheMissLady@reddit

I experienced culture shock when I got fast food in Detroit and they didn't have sweet tea

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MsE0@reddit

It's true. I'm from the "pop" part of Colorado.

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21crepes@reddit

I grew up in the pop part of Colorado, but now live in the soda part. I’m used to saying soda, but hearing pop is perfectly normal to me.

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TiredNurse111@reddit

Same. Although I hear pop less often even in my home town less often nowadays.

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Fluffy-kitten28@reddit

Yes. There is also more regional variations of speech. My partner is from the south and we run into these differences sometimes. Griddle/skillet, dressing/stuffing, funnel cake/fried dough.

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wozattacks@reddit

In a technical sense, the difference between stuffing and dressing is whether it was, y’know, stuffed into something. A lot of people will refer to dressing as stuffing regardless (I do), but I don’t really see it as a regionalism per se

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Fluffy-kitten28@reddit

It’s all stuffing over here to me. I know there’s a difference…. But still. All stuffing.

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TiredNurse111@reddit

Same here. Dressing goes on a salad in my neck of the woods.

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strawberrysunday00@reddit

In the south, “dressing” is often cornbread dressing. We had cornbread dressing AND stuffing at my Thanksgiving dinners as a child.

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Fluffy-kitten28@reddit

Nice.

My mil discussing what to make for thanksgiving said dressing and I thought salad dressing, threw me for a loop! Who wants salad dressing and green bean casserole?? Yuck! Then I remembered.

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strawberrysunday00@reddit

Lol!!

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FeelingPlayfulNow@reddit

We have both griddles and skillets where I live and they are very distinct things. One is a flat cooking surface and the other is a wide, shallow pan with a long handle. I could cook a pancake on either one, but I wouldn't want to make something wet and soupy like shakshuka on a griddle due to a lack of walls to contain the liquid.

If these two words are synonyms up there, did one of those two items get renamed to something different?

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Fluffy-kitten28@reddit

The history of it I’m not sure.

We would refer to a long cooking device as the griddle/skillet.

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Vulcion@reddit

In that case, I’m guessing yall call what we call a “skillet” just a “pan”

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Fluffy-kitten28@reddit

That sounds correct! Pans are flatter and pots are taller.

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IDontLikeYourToan@reddit

This was in the military. Saw a girl get in a big fight with her boyfriend. They were from different states. Very very hot day, and the store was a 20 minute walk.

“I’m going to the store. Want anything?”

“Yeah. Get me a coke.”

He comes back with a Coke.

Her, yelling from the stoop. “What the hell is this!?!”

“It’s a Coke! You asked me for a Coke!”

“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL I DON’T DRINK NO COCA-COLA! I wanted a ginger-ale!”

“Then Why’d you ask for a Coke!?!”

“Ginger ale is the only Coke I drink. You know that.”

Confused states from him and everyone else watching argument.

“You know… Grape coke, Orange coke, Peps coke, Ginger Ale coke…” she looks around wondering why everyone is so confused.

“Then what the hell do you call Coke-Coke?”

“Coca-cola.”

“Soda! It’s called soda! Arggggggh!” He starts walking back to the store.

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Effective_Stranger85@reddit

I grew up in Florida and pretty much everyone said "soda." I now live in Washington state and it's interesting because basically Gen X and older all say "pop" but Millennials and younger mostly seem to say "soda."

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Memphissippian@reddit

I grew up saying “coke” but switched to “soda” when I moved to Miami for easier understanding. Now that I think about it though I think I always defaulted to “Coca” when speaking in Spanish.

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Gloomy_Eye_4968@reddit

Agreed. I've seen the shift. "Pop" was what I heard as a kid, but the shift has largely been made to "soda."

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Mackheath1@reddit

There's a good mix, but where I am:

"Hey, hun, what what do you want drink?"
"I'll have a coke."
"What kind of coke?"
"Dr Pepper."

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Ecstatic-Seesaw-1007@reddit

It’s more generational, like my parents still say Coke as generic for Soda.

But a lot of old regional dialects exist like this.

Pittsburgh-ese/“Yinzer” dialect is real, but once again, that’s more of an older generation thing.

My favorite regional word is “gummy band”.

I couldn’t figure it out in context. Had to ask. It’s a rubber band.

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Dontyellatmeimnice@reddit

I grew up in a "coke" area and moved less than two hours away and am now in a "soda" or "drink" area.

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L_Is_Robin@reddit

I think saying Coke is overblown unless in really rural areas, the pop vs soda thing is true though, I know many folks from the Midwest and whenever they say pop my brain is like “oh yeah you are from the Midwest”

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Revolutionary-Fan271@reddit

Tonic for all things soda. “ what kinda tonic should I bring to the cookout?” Boston (62 y o here) young family members use term Soda.

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LindaNoKings@reddit

Pop, here in Ohio. I offered a guy i met from S Carolina a pop, and he didn't know what I meant. Thought the Northern gurl was offering him drugs, lol. (80s). I said, " Pop. Soda pop? Soft Drink? Coke, Sprite?" He took a Sprite. I asked what he would have called it, and he said "Coke". I was so confused,lol.

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

I asked because I’ve been working on a county-level map of this, but I didn’t want to make the post just a survey link. The regional stories are honestly the most interesting part.

If anyone wants to compare against the live map:
https://www.leximap.fyi/q/soda-pop-coke

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garbageman2112@reddit

Very regional.

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GenXer76@reddit

Do they still say “pop” in Washington? I’m in Colorado now and it seems like most people say “soda.”

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garbageman2112@reddit

Pop mostly but soda has almost caught up

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GenXer76@reddit

Nooooooo

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garbageman2112@reddit

I don't make the rules

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Tangled-Lights@reddit

I’m in Washington, and say pop/soda 50/50. I only say grocery cart though, never buggy or carriage or wagon.

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RunninOnMT@reddit

Yeah that map is hilarious, i moved from Boston to Washington as a kid and had never heard "pop" until i got to washington. It was always soda.

But lo and behold it's flipped in that map. Im also 40 something so "when i was a kid" was a long ass time ago.

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zanylanie@reddit

Your map doesn't have this broken down enough. For example, most people in Chicago say "pop." I grew up in IL, but right across the river from St. Louis, MO. We said "soda." It's not necessarily consistent within one state.

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

Yep! Like Ok-Advantage said, you can select counties, zoom / move around the map and select them to see the breakdown

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Deep-Hovercraft6716@reddit

There are other better maps available already covering this.

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Ok-Advantage-1383@reddit

It is broken down, though. You can see results by counties.

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thomsenite256@reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/18fyz9q/use_of_pop_vs_coke_vs_soda_to_refer_to_sweet/

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

Thank you for that link! I know this isn't that original, but I want to see how much it changes over time. As well as ask other questions too. Like fireflies vs lightning bugs or something

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thomsenite256@reddit

Yeah sorry didn't mean to discourage you. Just take the anecdotes here from coke country with a grain of salt.

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

Oh no worries, I want any criticisms people have. Really interested in the data and anything to help that is greatly appreciated 😄

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NSNick@reddit

If you're looking for other interesting regional sayings: https://brilliantmaps.com/linguistic-maps-that-divide-americans/

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coolpoop@reddit

FYI this particular map is fake. The 1947 part is based off of real data, but from the early 2000s, while the 2023 part is just a completely made up progression from that.

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thomsenite256@reddit

Good to know

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wozattacks@reddit

People have to be trolling lol. I’m from Florida and have NEVER heard someone say “coke” to refer to soda in general, I thought it was a Texas thing?

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thebarnhouse@reddit

Your survey doesn't take us territory zip codes. It's soft drink in northern Mariana islands.

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ValorVixen@reddit

It's still a thing but regionalisms like this are becoming less common. It's not as strong a trend as it was say 30 years ago.

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shelwood46@reddit

The Harvard Dialect Survey did this one, here's their map http://dialect.redlog.net/staticmaps/q_105.html

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duderdaisy98@reddit

This makes sense to me. Every time people say 'midwest says pop' I'm confused because not a single person around me has ever said pop ever. But it looks like most of Wisconsin is an island of soda in a sea of pop.

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

Thank you! That's great

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TsundereLoliDragon@reddit

A number of these already exist.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/puklj/soda_vs_pop_what_people_call_their_soft_drinks_in/

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

Yeah I've seen some but they're older and I'm curious how much it changes over time. As well as asking other questions in a single site that is easy to look at different regional things

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Kelsusaurus@reddit

I grew up next to a military training base, so we had people from all over the world in my hometown. It was a constant conversation, and kind of funny to see the confused faces of transplants when they realized the born-and-raised people call sodas something else lol

In my hometown, any caramel colored, fizzy beverage is a "Coke". So when you're at your friend's house, the convo goes:

Me: Hey will you grab me a Coke from the fridge?

Friend: Yeah, what kind? (Coke, Dr Pepper, Root Beer, etc)

That said, you could always guess the approximate area the military kids moved from based on how they call sodas. My friend group eventually had kids from every corner of the country/globe, so we all just called "soda" by whatever we were used to and everyone's brains translated accordingly.

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Persis-@reddit

When I lived in Missouri as a kid, I called it “soda.”

We moved to Michigan, and I’ve called “pop” ever since.

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msut77@reddit

Soda. By me its often so der

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AJKafei@reddit

It’s real ☺️. I was born in Pennsylvania but raised in Florida and Georgia. My family in Pennsylvania say “pop,” we said “soda” in Florida, and when we moved to Georgia (which used to be more Southern than Florida because a lot of people from the northeastern US move to Florida), it became “Coke” because Coca-Cola is headquartered in Atlanta. (A standard fifth-grade field trip was to go to the “Coke Factory” downtown where we’d taste Coke from around the world and try to get classmates to try the weirdest or grossest ones [to our palates].)

I lived abroad for almost a decade and recently moved to Ohio. It has made me happy here to hear some people say “pop,” because it reminds me of my mom’s side of the family. But most people sY “soda.”

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Yup. Don’t forget about “tonic.” (Mostly older-generation, Eastern Massachusetts people.)

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arcinva@reddit

"Soft drink" is another common term. I'm born and raised in Virginia and most of us seem to use either soda or soft drink (or both).

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threebayhorses@reddit

Nice to see another soft drink person. I grew up in northern Kentucky near Cincinnati and that’s what we always called it.

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Western_End_2223@reddit

I grew up in central KY. It was always soda or soft drink.

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Kali-Casseopia@reddit

I have definetly heard soft drink in place of soda but it never made sense to me. Why is it soft? With the bubbles it seems un-soft lol.

I'm in a soda area but I think Pop is cuter!

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threebayhorses@reddit

I guess a hard drink has alcohol and a soft drink does not? I don’t really know.

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Jwkaoc@reddit

Same area. Feel like I've cycled through Pop, Soft Drink, and Soda my whole life, lol

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Due_Alternative_6539@reddit

Grew up in southern Indiana - new Albany and it was soft drink.

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mmlickme@reddit

Ohh yeah as a kid we’d drive up to Belleview kentucky in the summers and I’d have Ice cream and soft drinks all week with my cousins at the shoppes in Kentucky

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Stevnated@reddit

Yeah, I grew up in N.C. and "soft drink" is what I would call it. Except I don't, because there's never any occasion to talk about it so broadly. I generally just say the name of the beverage I want, which is "Diet Coke" 😄

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Reveluvtion@reddit

I thought soft drink is an umbrella term for all non alcoholic drinks that are served at restaurants. Sodas, mocktails, even just regular fruit juice, I thought they all fell under the "soft drink" category

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Awkward_Past8758@reddit

I always thought soft drink was if it was out of a fountain - like I would get a cup to fill up a soft drink but I wouldn’t get a soft drink in a can.

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wozattacks@reddit

That’s so odd because in the food industry, “soft drink” doesn’t imply carbonation. “Soft drinks” as opposed to “hard drinks” (those that contain alcohol).

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arcinva@reddit

That's correct and how that term is used across all parts of the industry (manufacturer's, vendors & restaurants, and I think even govt regulations). But somehow it shifted in common parlance to imply a carbonated beverage and you made me curious when/how/why that happened and this was my top result:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/pop-soda-or-coke-a-linguist-explains-the-history-behind-the-various-names-for-the-drink

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Interesting! I thought that was a catch-all restaurant term only.

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GiraffesCantSwim@reddit

Yeah, in my family it was always just "drinks". Southern Baptist, so nobody was going to confuse it with the other fun kind of drinks. 😂

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wtfblue@reddit

My mom is from Worcester and tonic, I should say "tawwnic," always reminds me of my grandma.

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machagogo@reddit

I can still hear my great aunt and grandmother saying that with their thick, thick accents.

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Hawthorne_northside@reddit

Yea, this. We moved to Boston from Jacksonville Florida and my mom was flabbergasted by that.

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Few-Might2630@reddit

Or seltzer (pronounced seltza)

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Illustrious-Shirt569@reddit

Yeah, for my grandparents from Boston, “tonic” was the generic word for soda/pop, and “seltzer” was seltzer (carbonated water).

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Fragrant-Act4743@reddit

Out of curiosity, if you order a gin and tonic at a bar do they know what you mean? Or do you have to specify that you actually want tonic water?

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Careless_Produce5424@reddit

'Gin and tonic' is an understood set phrase. If you were out of the fixings, you'd tell someone to get the tonic water from the pantry.

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Illustrious-Shirt569@reddit

No one calls it “tonic” as a term for all sodas anymore that I’m aware of, unless they’re quite old. Like my grandparents that called it that were born in the 1920’s.

A gin and tonic is also a very specific thing, like fish and chips. You would always get gin and tonic water with a lime if you order that drink.

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WritPositWrit@reddit

Seltzer is seltzer though. Is there a place where it’s used to mean soda?

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Atlas7-k@reddit

Nope, but there is a place where soda is seltzer.

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ImTheHollaBackGirl@reddit

Soda water is seltzer, soda is tonic, tonic water has quinine. C'mon kid!

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Seltzer is not synonymous with soda.

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vampirinaballerina@reddit

And New Hampshire.

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StopNowThink@reddit

Can confirm older generation in southern NH

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UnrulyPoet@reddit

+1 to this! Lived in Eastern MA when I was little, moved to Central MA in first grade (in the 90s) and always got razzed for calling it tonic instead of soda lolll

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LimeSalty4092@reddit

Lives on as part of ‘Gin and Tonic’

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Beginning_Ebb908@reddit

That is specifically Tonic Water that contains quinine.

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Tonic water has quinine by default. Otherwise it’s club soda (or seltzer, if there’s no salt.)

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Beginning_Ebb908@reddit

...

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Serious_Letter_1902@reddit

I remember being a bit confused by my Massachusetts cousins referring to tonic when I was a kid.

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jdsav29@reddit

Yikes! Older generation?!? (Sigh from Gen X). 🤔😂

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Let’s face facts. We’re getting old.

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Lakeguy67@reddit

Had to scroll a while to hit bingo. Parents grew up off Broadway in Somerville

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Couldthisnamebetaken@reddit

Really miss “tonic” - it was really the perfect term. Somehow more forceful and deliberate than “soda,” like when you got that shot of bubbles up your nose on first opening a can. There was a time corner stores listed “Newspapers, Cigarettes, Tonic” over the door — and even the Porter Square Star Market had it on the aisle signage. Yes, I’m old. Sigh. 🥤

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Exact_Friendship_502@reddit

Everyone who said tonic is dead now. Any hold outs are doing it on purpose, not naturally.

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Happy_Confection90@reddit

I grew up in MA & NH and the only people I've ever heard say tonic instead of soda were born before WWII.

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WhoWhaaaa@reddit

I grew up on the South Shore of Massachusetts in the 60s/70s and called it tonic. In the early 80s I went to a restaurant in Southern New Hampshire. I asked the waitress what kinds of tonic they had. She had no idea what I was talking about.

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feliciams@reddit

Yes! Was looking for tonic. My whole family called it that. All from West Roxbury and Quincy.

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mwood60@reddit

Found the southie

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thejt10000@reddit

You say tonic? So don't I.

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Alternative-Being181@reddit

It’s an old Boston thing, like literally only people like my 100 year old grandmother uses it as far as I know.

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Original-Peanut-4727@reddit

Funny the mention of tonic and the “so don’t I” gives you Mass vibes.

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mwood60@reddit

My aunts and uncles call it tonic, but they were born in the 50s, meanwhile my grandmother born in the 40s called it soda, not sure if it’s because she was born in Leominster or what.

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sltydgx@reddit

That’s what we called it and a sub was a spuckie

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FreeStateOfPortland@reddit

The South Shore of Massachusetts would even have tonic on the menus of the Greek pizza joints

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Agua_Frecuentemente@reddit

And for people who don't know how to identify if the pizza joint is Greek.... it's always "xx House of Pizza".

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Original-Peanut-4727@reddit

Greek… best pizza ever !

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Always and forever.

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botulizard@reddit

"Roast Beef, Pizza, and Seafood"

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Agua_Frecuentemente@reddit

And occasionally doughnuts

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toonces_drives_cars@reddit

goin' to the spa to get a tonic!

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Get me a spuckie when ya they-ah, would ya?

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worrok@reddit

I lived on the south shore for nearly 30 years and I cannot remember 'tonic' ever being common.

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RedditSkippy@reddit

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think of it as a close-to-Boston term that’s growing much less common if you’re not over 50.

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Devtunes@reddit

I miss tonic as a term, it's really dying out.

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RedditSkippy@reddit

It really is.

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Native_Prairie_@reddit

Wtf lol 😂

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apple_pi_chart@reddit

My parents and in-laws (they grew up in or near Boston) both said "tonic" and my wife still says "tonic" (which our kids always laugh about).

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Beginning_Ebb908@reddit

Also french Canadian

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South_Bumblebee7892@reddit

I switched from tonic to soda around 1977 or so. Should stayed on tonic.

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Calaveras-Metal@reddit

Cold drink.

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deemarie1223@reddit

Yep! Im in New England and we call it soda overall and then the type to be more specific "(I'd like a coke/Pepsi/sprite please" and "going to pick up soda)".

My entire family in Kentucky calls it coke, like everything is coke....at a restaurant and you want a sprite you start by asking for a coke lol "(can I get a coke please?" -Waiter asks what kind- "a sprite" and "stopping to grab a coke" (they mean Pepsi).

My family in Kansas calls it Pop "(I'm going to grab a pop at the store" and "can I get a pop, ohh let's go with diet coke)"

This has always blown my mind. Interesting to know what people in the UK call it, especially Brits since most of New England seems to still use words and phrases more in line with across the pond then the rest of the country.

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umbrawolfx@reddit

When I lived in IL, everyone called it pop. Moving to NC I had to adjust to soda/coke.

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Remarkable-Junket655@reddit

When i was a kid in rural North Carolina in the 1980s, “Coke” was very much a generic term for any soda. I really haven’t heard it used that way in a long time except as a joke.

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smilineyz@reddit

In New England … tonic was common for all soda.

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pinniped90@reddit

Kansas....we'll often say soda for any carbonated beverage, not just soda water. Rarely hear pop - I think that's more the eastern end of the Midwest??

Most people will generally default to Coke products but when a waiter asks if the Pepsi equivalent is ok, we mostly say yes.

And then you'll run into a random town where Pepsi products dominate out of nowhere - maybe because the regional distributor is there or something??

[-]

HMW347@reddit

They really do!!! I grew up on the west coast - it was pop. My friends who went to school on the east coast would come home on break calling it soda - we all through they were being pretentious. When I moved to the east coast, no one said pop - ever!

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HermioneMarch@reddit

Coke or soft drink is what we called them.

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Ratatoskr_The_Wise@reddit

There are already maps for this. https://laughingsquid.com/soda-pop-or-coke-maps/

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SgtDoakesSurprise@reddit

Yes absolutely true. Some places, “Coke” is used as a generic label for soda in general. Like Q-Tips for cotton swabs, or Kleenex for facial tissues.

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SpunkySideKick@reddit

I grew up in the Coke area.

I currently live in the Soda area.

My child's godparents live in the Pop area.

I piss them all off by saying Soda Pop.

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OppositeSalamander60@reddit

Pittsburgh used soda pop when I lived there '80s-2000s.

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patticakes1952@reddit

I grew up in a Coke area. I now live in a pop area.

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porkchopespresso@reddit

Similar, I grew up saying coke and moved to a pop area. Pop was absolutely never going to happen but now that I live in a soda area I will accept saying soda if it feels like it will skip some confusion

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diversalarums@reddit

Yeah, I also grew up in a coke area but now live around a ton of Midwesterners who all say soda. I've gotten used to it, I guess, but way down inside it still sounds a bit strange to me.

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RipeMangoDevourer@reddit

Where do they say coke for all soda?

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Real-Broccoli-9325@reddit

Texas, not all of it, the influx of people from elsewhere has diluted it some, but my cousin and her husband are born and raised Texans, they absolutely will say “what all kinds of coke d’you have?” “Pepsi coke, Diet Pepsi coke, Sprite coke…”

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diversalarums@reddit

In certain parts (like most) of the American South. I never heard a live person ask for a soda or pop until I was in my 30s and had moved to Florida. No one where I was raised ever used those words. And I was urban Southern, so it's not just a rural thing.

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

I’m a pop guy but have been soda-fied after moving and a couple decades. Soda is the most normal one.

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diversalarums@reddit

Yeah. I keep waiting for someone to demand my Southern card back, lol.

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

Pacific Northwest are poppers

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Shiney_Metal_Ass@reddit

"what kinda coke you want?"

"Pepsi" . 🙄

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Real-Broccoli-9325@reddit

My entire Texas family still calls it coke. I learned young that when my aunt says, “Ya’ll wanna coke?” To reply with flavor. “Thanks, a Diet Coke, if’n ya got one.”

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Global-Discussion-41@reddit

Do people in the coke area say things like "I'll have an orange coke"?

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LoudSheepherder5391@reddit

Yes. Also, at a restaurant:

I'd like a coke.

Waitress: what kind?

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PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

This doesn’t happen. Greatest Reddit myth. If you order a coke at a restaurant they bring you a Coca Cola.

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LoudSheepherder5391@reddit

Weird. I had the literal interaction when I was traveling the south back in 2003. It was about an hour outside of Atlanta.

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PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

I’ve just never in my life been asked a follow up question after ordering a Coke and never been at a table where that was ever asked. I think a lot of people will be very disappointed if they come to the south and order a Coke and expect their server to ask follow up questions. You order a Coke - you’re getting a coke.

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LoudSheepherder5391@reddit

Oh, for sure. The entire south is a monolith, and anything you experience in one state will apply to all of its neighbor states.

Maybe, just maybe, this is more prevalent the closer you get to Coke headquarters. Maybe, just maybe, this was more prevalent 20+ years ago, but with the internet, and more communication this has softened. I don't know. But to say "that has never happened" seems a bit of an extreme stance.

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PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

I never said it has never happened, I said it doesn’t happen. People who have been to the south once in their life always say on Reddit with so much confidence that this is the way we do it and it’s funny to me because it’s not.

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LoudSheepherder5391@reddit

That feels like a difference without a distinction.

What, exactly is the difference between "that doesn't happen" and "that never happend"?

[-]

PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

If I said one time I was in Oregon and a server spit in my food therefore in Oregon servers spit in your food - would you say that’s accurate?

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LoudSheepherder5391@reddit

If I said that doesn't happen, would you think I'm a right tosser, because it literally happened to you?

[-]

PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

No, I would think you make a lot of sense that just because an isolated incident happened to me once doesn’t mean it happens frequently.

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LoudSheepherder5391@reddit

But.. you live in Louisiana. Right? So not Georgia? Right?

You know that's a different state, right? And may do things different, right?

Like, I don't live in Oregon, so I don't make an assumption of what happens there.

And I would be a right tosser if I, who live in neither of those places, decided you were totally wrong. But maybe I'm wrong. I guess you're the expert in all part of the south, and there are no regional differences whatsoever. That's why the best crawfish etouffee is from Florida. Since it's also in the south, right?

[-]

PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

It sounds like I’ve been to Georgia a lot more than you have when you’re pulling from a single 20 year old experience, but I do love how much you’re digging in your heels about this!

Especially when your first message was that we call orange soda “orange coke”- tell me more!

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enraged_hbo_max_user@reddit

So if you really do just want an “original taste” coca-cola, how do you answered that question? “Regular”?

[-]

PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

I promise you as a long veteran southern coke drinker 10 times out of 10 if you order a coke you will get a Coca Cola.

They don’t ask other questions.

The translation is off because people think Coke = soda but that’s not it, it’s a plurality thing where a bunch of sodas = cokes.

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PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

This is how it’s actually used from someone in a “coke” area.

“Hey welcome in, we have water and cokes in the fridge help yourself”

Inside the fridge is probably an assortment of carbonated beverages.

There is no complicated riddles three when ordering the same way no one sits down at a restaurant and orders a “soda” and then needs to clarify with the server what kind. If you want a sprite you order a sprite. You get a sprite.

I think people like to make it sound cuter than it is. If you want an orange soda you’d ask if they had orange soda and everyone knows what orange soda is.

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GiraffesCantSwim@reddit

No. I grew up in a generally 'coke' area but it was only used in the most general/generic way. If someone said cokes were on sale at the grocery store, they might come home with a variety of flavors of soda, one of which may be cola or not.

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Adventurous-Exam-719@reddit

No we usually use it to determine that we want a carbonated beverage rather than sweet tea, water or juice. So the conversation would go something like this: What would you like to drink? A coke would be great. What kind would you like? A Fanta, thank you. If we’re ordering at like a drive through or we know that the only beverages available are carbonated, we use the brand name. I’ll have a Fanta please

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SamIAre@reddit

I hadn't thought about it before your question but even in "coke" areas, if the specific flavor has "soda" in the name it would still be common to say "soda" for the specific drink in those instances. It's more that coke is used in place of a generic placeholder, but not for individual flavors.

I'm going to the store. Want anything?

Coke.

What kind?

Orange soda.

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Dombat927@reddit

My husband grew up in coke area. You say you want a coke, they ask what kind, you say dr pepper.

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weealex@reddit

Go harder. Start calling it tonic

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riversroadsbridges@reddit

When I was a server I had a grumpy old man order a phosphate.

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velociraptorfarmer@reddit

In my family, if you say you want a tonic, you get a red solo cup with a vodka tonic in it with a splash of lime juice and a jalapeño stuffed olive

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

Fizzy elixir

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opheliainwaders@reddit

Hey are you my grandma??

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briank3387@reddit

My father, uncle, and grandmother all used to call it "tonic" (we are from the Boston area, obvs.). You still hear people say it occasionally, especially if they're older (although I am 63 and say "soda"), but it has definitely faded out a lot.

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Megalocerus@reddit

It was tonic to me, but I suspect that died out.

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nomyar@reddit

🎵my little soda pop 🎶

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PhotosFromEarth@reddit

You're all I can think of, every drop I drink up

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dumbredditusername-2@reddit

🎶 You're my soda pop, my little soda pop 🎶

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DynamiteWitLaserBeam@reddit

🎶 has the sweetest smile 🎶

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macthecomedian@reddit

"My little soda pop, won't you stay a..."

"While! While!"

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glowybutterfly@reddit

🎵 Dear little soda pop, you're all I can think of 🎶

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Mean_Nun@reddit

Those Saja Boys are so hot right now

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hawffield@reddit

I had a bus driver who would say “sodey pop”. It was so funny that my brother and I would call it sodey pop as well. I even got my fiancée to start saying it. Now it’s to the point that I sometimes unironically say sodey pop.

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chardeemacdennisbird@reddit

I grew up in the Pop area, moved to a Soda area. I just gotta say, the Soda area just makes more sense to me.

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DoubleBack9141@reddit

Idk man, Soda just feels so weirdly formal. Like if an alien spy was trying integrated into society and was like "Ah yes, I love drinking those Soda's. Please, more Soda's for me to consume"
Pop, although goofy, feels more casual and normal. But again, I'm a Midwesterner soo...

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Momik@reddit

Ha, I thought the same growing up! Like yeah, they say soda in the movies, but that’s just Hollywood. Tbh it still throws me off lol

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CEDWAR22@reddit

See now, if I’m trying to be formal about it, I’ll bust out “soft drink”.

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CyndiLouWho89@reddit

I grew up Chicago, still live in the suburbs. No idea why but we always called it soda. I still call it soda, while most people I know say pop.

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Momik@reddit

Same here, but I stick with pop. Like my daddy and his daddy before that.

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IDidItWrongLastTime@reddit

My dad is from the coke area, my mom is from the pop area and I grew up in the soda area. Weird household lol

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SpiritOfDearborn@reddit

Stick it to ‘em, Soda Popinski.

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Binky182@reddit

I grew up in a Pop area and now live in a Soda. I now say Pop, Soda Pop like Nond, James Bond because most servers look at me funny when I just say " what kind of Pop do you have?"

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a_duck_in_past_life@reddit

Extra points if you say "sodey pop"

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raviyoli@reddit

Who is out here calling any other soda but coke coke?

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bubbameister1@reddit

People in the south. We want some cokes. Hey sweetie, what kinda coke you want? I'll have a sprite and she'll have a coke. Sure thing hun.

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raviyoli@reddit

As a New Yorker, I didn’t know this—thanks for confirming!

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Dale_Earnhardt_@reddit

Parents grew up in pop territory but I was raised in a disputed zone between coke and soda so I use the two interchangeably.

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FormidableMistress@reddit

Coke till I die.

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sarahhylandsknee@reddit

Stay golden ponyboy

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noneyanoseybidness@reddit

Great movie.

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Fancy-Restaurant4136@reddit

And a great book.

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Slippery-Pete76@reddit

Call them soft drinks and watch their heads explode.

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Glittering-Act3077@reddit

I’m from the Pop area and since moving to the soda area I’ve pretty much converted because no one understands when you say Pop. A lot of people around here also say Cold Drink. Guess where I am

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SheShelley@reddit

I live in a distinctly “soda” area and Circle K (convenience store chain) markets “Polar Pop” which I keep thinking is a popsicle but really is soda in an insulated cup. Every time I see or hear it I think they’re not targeting the market properly!

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Trillian75@reddit

Interesting. I wonder if that’s an artifact from them taking over Holiday, which was a Minnesota-based chain. We still have Holiday stations, but the employees wear Circle K uniforms. I didn’t know they called it “Polar Pop” in other regions.

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SheShelley@reddit

It’s … jarring!

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eclectic_hamster@reddit

I feel like switching to soda pop in defiance of all the soda people around me. I grew up on a pop household.

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ilikepants712@reddit

Gotta be more chaotic than that.

Ask for a Dr thunder and do not compromise

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OldBlueKat@reddit

I’m sorta the mirror image.

Grew up on Pop, then went away to college and my first BF there was from Soda land and HATED my usage. “Pop is my FATHER, not my beverage!”

So I started saying ‘soda’, getting side-eye back home until “soda-er-pop” became my response.

I still say Soda Pop decades on.

I don’t get the Southern ‘Coke’ but what kind of ‘Coke’ but that isn’t even a cola thing at all.

And I hardly drink carbonated beverages much at all!!

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Buzz8522@reddit

I call it So-Dee Pop just because I think it sounds funnier that way.

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sean8877@reddit

I'm in the south, it's soda here. I think some places down here they call everything Coke though. I've never seen that done here in GA though.

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Ratatoskr_The_Wise@reddit

Oh yeah, it’s definitely a thing. Lots more words too, like grocery sack/bag, grocery cart/wagon, water fountain/bubbler, things like that.

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wozattacks@reddit

Wagon?? There’s people who call grocery carts/buggies “wagons”?

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OppositeSalamander60@reddit

Buggies? Like a dune buggie?

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PissedCaucasian@reddit

In the Netherlands they’re called “winkle wagons.”

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MerryWannaRedux@reddit

Glad they're not called tinkle wagons!! 🤣

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PossibilityOk782@reddit

You say buggie like that's normal lol

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Latter_Upstairs6567@reddit

They’re called carriages

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lowtdi850@reddit

It’s a buggy not a cart. All plastic grocery bags are called “Walmart bags”. Every soda is a coke unless you want a Coca Cola. But like you mentioned there are lots of words we argue over.

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Ratatoskr_The_Wise@reddit

You’re not from a state where there is a state income tax, I take it.

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

Awesome! I'll add those to my list on the website as well, thank you!

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Catswagger11@reddit

There are a lot more:

Water fountain/bubbler, sub/grinder/hoagie/hero sandwich, sneakers/tennis shoes, rotary/roundabout, remote(control)/clicker, jimmies/sprinkles for ice cream.

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Ratatoskr_The_Wise@reddit

We in Chicago also say “gym shoes” for sneakers.👟

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No_Procedure_3799@reddit

Not to mention pronunciation varies widely. Where I live now it’s a grocery bag, but in other states it’s a grocery beg

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Prestigious-Wolf8039@reddit

Soda where I am. Pop in the Midwest. Coke is a brand of cola.

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Mother-Stuffer@reddit

Grew up in Chicago calling it “pop.” Now I’m in Arizona where “soda” is the norm but people know what I mean when I say “pop.”

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brokenlilbean@reddit

This confuses me so much. I wonder if it's shifted because I live in the Chicagoland area and have my whole life yet I've literally never heard someone call it pop once.

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Blurple_Berry@reddit

What are you served when you ask for pop?

Usually, I just ask for Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew etc. Unless I'm asking a store where they keep said beverages.

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Jebral@reddit

You wouldn't just ask for pop. You would maybe say what pop do you have? Otherwise you would say the name of the soda.

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charmainbaker@reddit

I also moved to a soda area. I started a little rebellion by putting pop on a price sheet for a garage sale instead of soda. The adults knew it but there were confused kids.

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devilbunny@reddit

If you say it with a Great Lakes accent, pretty much everyone will know what you mean by “pop”. Say it with a Texas accent in Texas and they are more likely to think you want a beer. My in-laws open up a lot of college stories with “well, we’d had a few pops, and…”

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Native_Prairie_@reddit

I know "soda" sounds more regal, but my instinct is to say pop.

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kickasskoala89@reddit

Yup! I grew up in Southeastern Wisconsin and have always called it soda. I moved down to Chicago, and it's mostly referred to as pop. However, you still do hear some people call it soda also.

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MuseoRidiculoso@reddit

Actually, most just say the name of the soft drink.

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hikingyogi@reddit

Grew up in Michigan (pop). Moved to Chicago area )soda mostly). Moved to Tennessee then Alabama, where I expected "coke" but really haven't experienced this, instead I usually hear soda.

However, making the shift from "hey guys" to "y'all" has been a process.

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yellowdaisycoffee@reddit

It's not a hard rule, but there are regional differences.

I am from the south, but not the deep south, and I say soda. I moved up north, and people here say pop.

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Constant-Tension3769@reddit

Grew up in the north. Pop is pop, soda is a mixer you add to vodka or scotch -or to blot a stain

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HooksNHaunts@reddit

I have a friend from Louisiana that calls everything Coke.

I’m in the Appalachian mountains and call it pop unless I’m talking to someone who might call it soda then I’ll call it soda.

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RipleyKY@reddit

Absolutely real. Where I was born, we all said pop. Where I currently live they call it coke.

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Soggy-Attempt@reddit

Yep. It’s regional.

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BlakeMajik@reddit

The interesting part of this conversation in 2026 is how much less of this beverage is being consumed nationwide than 25-30 years ago.

It used to be a cute regional thing; now because it's so much less common, it feels a little odd.

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Auquaholic@reddit

Pop is for regions where it's cold enough to explode in your car. Thus, the name.

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golden__tuna@reddit

My husband says pop and I say soda and sometimes we make a big deal of it to tease eachother, but also there’s kind of a regional pride behind it so we make a purposeful effort to not switch to the way the other does.

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Efficient-Panic3506@reddit

I grew up in soda territory and didn't fully believe the "everything is Coke" thing until I heard an actual conversation go:

"You want a Coke?"
"Yeah."
"What kind?"
"Dr Pepper."

My brain still hasn't recovered.

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DisneyDragonfly17@reddit

I only say pop, I rarely hear people say soda, but I'm near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

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underscore197@reddit

It's not an exaggeration. I could never say "pop", it makes me a little ill saying it.

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One-Yellow1504@reddit

Yes

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hereFOURallTHEtea@reddit

I grew up in the asking what kind of coke I want region and then after joining the military and living all over the place and being around people from all over, I converted to soda.

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bitchywoman_1973@reddit

I grew up calling soda, “soft drink.” Still do, but mostly I am specific, i.e. Diet Coke, Sprite, etc.

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Twistedanddemented73@reddit

Depends on where a person is from. Deep South- everything is a coke : sprite coke, Dr Pepper coke.. easy coke is soda and usually up north is pop.

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goldilox_zone@reddit

Old time Yankees still call it "tonic".

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Alarmed_Drop7162@reddit

In ca we don’t ever say pop when we’re describing it

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VerdantChief@reddit

In Albuquerque I've definitely heard all soft drinks be referred to as "cokes" by the natives. Boggled my mind when I first encountered this.

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shadydelilah@reddit

I’m from Toledo and it’s always pop there. When I lived in Columbus for 8 years, I grew to calling it soda about 60% of the time because of what other people around me were calling it. Moved back closer to home and proudly say PAWP

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unix_name@reddit

We are a very big country, and there are so many regional changes based on where you are in the US. I would say after having lived on the east coast and the west, and traveled around, yes, Americans can be very different from state to state and coast to coast. That includes mannerisms, words, sayings, you name it.

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magaketo@reddit

Yeah it is true. I love in pop central.

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sfdsquid@reddit

We say soda in the Northeast but I just wanted to add to the list, "tonic." My Grammy called all soda "tonic." She was born in the early 30s and grew up in NH.

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7GrenciaMars@reddit

NYC and south Florida (sort of the south) it's called soda

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No_Body_675@reddit

In New York (finger lakes region and western) some will call it soda and others, going towards Buffalo call it pop. It can cause arguments.

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NotlikeotherBelles@reddit

My parents are both kinda Midwestern and say pop. They kept making me live in soda regions so they're the only people I know who say it.

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Responsible_Tax_998@reddit

Pop was leading with 46% until I voted. Then soda was leading by 46%.

Wisconsin is soda, surrounded by pop states.

Wisconsin drinks Megasota!!! (oops wrong thread)

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SKatieRo@reddit

We say "soft drinks".

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Hammingbir@reddit

You left out “soft drink.” I grew up using that term or using “Coke” meaning all varieties of soda. Deep South.

There, “soda” is acceptable but “pop” isn’t. It’s Yankee-talk in the same vein as “youse guys.”

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dorv@reddit

Yes. But it’s not a big deal.

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Felderburg@reddit

When I was 5, we moved from Michigan to New Mexico. I distinctly remember a conversation about how where we were going called "pop" "soda". My sibling and I determined "soda pop" was a good compromise. I now use "soda" exclusively.

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LeapingQuince@reddit

Yes, but the true battle is between 'need to be washed' and 'needs wash'.

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JadeChipmunk@reddit

Its soda, or soda pop for me. Lol

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Remarkable-Tip9548@reddit

Grew up in Chicago, live in Milwaukee and those are soda drinkers. My grandparents lived in very southern IL and called it soda pop. The Coke thing always makes me laugh when I am down south. Not sure where pop is common. looks like upper Midwest. Haven't really noticed that.

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jdthejerk@reddit

I grew up near the Kentucky mountains and was stationed on the East Coast while in the military. I started calling it soda pop at some point in my early 20s, I still do. It is called pop here. Across the river about 60 miles inland, it's called soda.

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Momingo@reddit

Yes, and they are vehement about what it should be. My wife and I are from opposite ends of the country and we bicker about it often.

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happyfirefrog22-@reddit

Depends on the area.

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6gravedigger66@reddit

Depends on the Midwest state. In Illinois it's pop, in Wisconsin it's soda.

[-]

lexicon951@reddit

I think in Chicagoland pop died out and it’s soda here too, I’m wracking my brain and can’t remember anyone saying pop even though we’re supposedly in a pop region

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6gravedigger66@reddit

My wife is from the Chicagoland area and close to 10 years ago she heard pop down there. But maybe it changed since then.

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thatsad_guy@reddit

That is a very real thing. I have family from the Midwest and they all say pop. I am from the northeast and soda is what I heard growing up. Every time I hear pop I have to mentally change it to soda.

[-]

elphaba00@reddit

I live in the Midwest, but I think I'm in the minority for calling it soda. My cousins who live closer to the Missouri border used to call it sodie-pop

[-]

babykitten28@reddit

I’m from the Chicago suburbs, so it’s pop. However, my Peoria cousins called it sodie.

[-]

Atlas7-k@reddit

St. Louis is a major outlier in the Pop/Soda regionalism.

[-]

HarveyNix@reddit

Southeast Wisconsin = soda. I'm from there and have always preferred "soda" to baby talk.

[-]

velociraptorfarmer@reddit

You guys also call drinking fountains bubbles though

[-]

Momik@reddit

Yeah it’s a major outlier in a bunch of ways (linguistically)

[-]

MurphyCoDinoWrangler@reddit

Ended up down in Springfield, MO for college, so a good combo of people from around missouri. One night in the cafeteria, a group of us were hanging out and a friend of mine (both of us KC natives) excused himself to go get some pop. Another member of the group, famously from STL, legitimately asked what he was talking about. STL can suck it. Your ravioli is divine but your pizza sucks ass.

[-]

mac979s@reddit

hello msu friend. i graduated in 07

[-]

Whatever-ItsFine@reddit

You’re not supposed to like the pizza. Even we don’t like it. That’s the point.

[-]

MurphyCoDinoWrangler@reddit

I've got an Imo's near me, and I just don't get it. My now BIL is from the STL area, and before my sister and him got married, our family went out to visit his in St. Charles (yeah, they lived comfortably). I was still a teenager and knew nothing about "St Louis Style" anything. I lived by the whole 'even bad pizza is still pizza' kind of philosophy. That bright-eyed Pollyanna innocence died the day they had pizza lined up on the counter in the kitchen.

Now, I'm a big believer in hospitality, the host offering food to the guest and the guest accepting and appreciating that food no matter what. Think of that scene in Temple of Doom in the Indian village, Indy gets it. I had a slice of that pizza. A part of me died that day. But then that part grew back as I came back to Kansas City, knowing full well that even some of the worst BBQ in KC is miles ahead of whatever the 'best' BBQ is in most of the rest of America.

[-]

GoddessOfOddness@reddit

Cleveland/Toledo are pop. Cincinnati is soda.

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Atlas7-k@reddit

Please.

[-]

notsosecretshipper@reddit

No, Cincinnati is definitely pop.

[-]

wayneforest@reddit

Same. I grew up in Buffalo, New York and it was called Pop. Then I moved to Chicago, Illinois in the Midwest where eventually I got used to people calling it Soda and I picked that up instead.

[-]

elangomatt@reddit

I grew up and live in the midwest too but for some reason I've been calling it soda for years now. I'm not sure when or why I changed from pop to soda. The funniest bit is that my mom is actually from the east coast and grew up calling it soda but she always calls it pop and has since she moved here.

[-]

itmightbehere@reddit

I made a conscious effort to change when I was a teenager 😂 I liked how soda sounded better

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elangomatt@reddit

I don't remember making a conscious effort to change from pop to soda but I totally like the way soda sounds better.

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Low_Cook_5235@reddit

Midwest here,,,Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Always Soda. the only person I knew who said Pop grew up in Florida.

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Tuff_Wizardess@reddit

I also live in the midwest and have always said soda. I think my dad’s the only one in his family who says soda tbh, but he also grew up in Florida (his siblings are a lot older and grew up in the midwest).

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AssassinSnail33@reddit

I don’t know, I’ve always lived in the Chicago area and nobody says pop, and I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Wisconsin and Michigan and rarely heard anything but soda. But my family in Missouri all say pop. I think it’s split pretty evenly

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Low-Creme-1390@reddit

I also say soda. Pop has never sounded right to me.

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peakdecline@reddit

I'm from (central) Missouri. Everyone I know that isn't over 70 says soda. My grandma would have said "sodie-pop". My first run-in with the "pop" people was traveling east into Ohio where seemingly everyone called it pop.

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Untimed_Heart313@reddit

I grew up in SEMO, and everyone said soda there as well, except for a few people from out of state who said pop

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efflorae@reddit

That is so strange. I am in Wisconsin and I almost never hear pop, not even from my family in more rural parts.

[-]

SlipperySloane@reddit

Visiting family in the Midwest when I was a teenager from California, when a cousin asked if I wanted a pop I thought they were talking about drugs. I was like what’s a pop, and they just kept saying what do you mean it’s a pop. We were both incredibly confused.

[-]

xYoSoYx@reddit

Yeah this is why I’m always called weird…I’m from, and currently live in, the Midwest, but I call it soda.

My wife thinks it’s weird as hell because she calls it pop, but that’s just what I call it. It’s soda to me 🤷‍♂️

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Mary-U@reddit

I grew up in the south saying Coke. I went to college in Chicago and the midwestern kids and the east coast kids had an entire pop v soda debate. I was very confused.

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Dawner444@reddit

I’ve always lived in the Chicagoland area and my family, friends, and I have always referred to it as pop. Hearing it called the others is fine with me, but I will admit it is strange to hear all cola soda pop referred to as Coke in the southern states when I’ve always been a Pepsi girl, though :)

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Wild_Ticket1413@reddit

I grew up on the northeast. "Pop" has always sounded weird to me.

"Soda" is a drink. "Pop" is the what a balloon does when it you poke it with a pin.

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Dawner444@reddit

Soda pop’s bubbles pop in my mouth, though. Agree to disagree?

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Can_I_Read@reddit

It’s also what the soda bubbles do at the surface

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oh_such_rhetoric@reddit

I was born in a soda area and then grew up in a pop area. I say “soda,” but it’s a “pop machine.”

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CptNemo55@reddit

I live in the Midwest, everyone around here says soda. Its mainly northern Midwest that call it pop.

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LibrarianByNight@reddit

Yes, grew up in New England and never in my life heard any of my neighbors call it anything but soda.

[-]

TManaF2@reddit

When I was in the Boston area for uni, the locals used "tonic" for all nonalcoholic carbonated beverages - not just tonic water.

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cinnamongirl73@reddit

My state has a different way. The east and central part say soda, and the western part (the Appalachian mountains) say pop. So, my answer would definitely be yes.

[-]

butterflygardyn@reddit

Completely true. I grew up in the northeast and it was soda. Moved to the Midwest and it was pop. Later moved south and it was Coke. No idea what they call it on the westcoast.

[-]

Far-Valuable9279@reddit

I grew up calling it pop. Moved to Florida and got made fun of. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[-]

Willing_Recording222@reddit

This absolutely is a thing. The U.S. is so large, that it’s bound to happen though. The same thing goes for shopping carts too. I work at a small grocery store that sees a lot of tourists and I’ve heard them called all sorts of things! Around here, southeastern Pennsylvania, they are just carts, but I have people calling them “trollies”, “buggies”, “baskets”, etc!

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ItsJJ_bitches@reddit

Soda it is. A friend I grew up with visited and said Pop and it caught me off guard. It sounded so strange because I hadn’t heard anyone say that for a looong time.

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coachmoon@reddit

i’m in florida. mostly say coke. what kind of coke you want? soda sometimes. pop mostly never. but also i don’t drink coke.

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heybud_letsparty@reddit

I have never heard pop said west of the Rocky Mountains. They wouldn’t even know what I’m asking for in California

[-]

winerdars@reddit

Our country is the size of the European continent. We have regional dialects where things are called different words

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highstrungknits@reddit

I have some family from the pop region but grew up in the soda region. As a result I often heard "soda pop" growing up. I mostly say "soda," but occasionally "soda pop" sneaks out.

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FOURSCORESEVENYEARS@reddit

Its absolutely regional. But not regional enough to start a fight.

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RecentlyIrradiated@reddit

I say cola just to add more confusion to the situation

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imaguitarhero24@reddit

I refuse to belive people in the south actually order a "sprite coke"

[-]

Meester_Tweester@reddit

Where I live in suburban Texas it's called soda, though my Texas grandmother calls all soda "soda water"

[-]

bmccooley@reddit

Yes

[-]

drifts180@reddit

We don't swap between. We just all have our own ways of saying it from different regions. You'll never hear me say pop lol

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fresh_as_daisies@reddit

I grew up in New Orleans calling them soft drinks or cokes. But a lot of the older generation would say "col' drink"

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dumbsugarplumb@reddit

From the Midwest and I mostly say pop, will occasionally say soda, and only say coke if I’m talking about a coca-Cola

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shakebakelizard@reddit

Grew up with everything being coke but now it's turning into "soft drinks".

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First_Drive3967@reddit

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and we all said pop. Then I moved to California where everyone says soda and it became my new normal.

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The_Menu_Guy@reddit

Yes. That is real. I think it is changing over time, but the term difference still exists regionally.

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Automatic-Tea-4150@reddit

I say soft drink.

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pegasus2118@reddit

Grew up in rural Illinois saying pop. Moved to Texas and it was Coke for any soft drink.

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BigGanache883@reddit

I’m from the Coke area and nearly crashed out when I did an internship in Ohio and heard someone casually say pop (but it was more like paaahhhp). I say soda now since it’s more accurate unless you’re actually drinking a coke.

[-]

gypsysniper9@reddit

No. This is true. Window lickers that call all soda/pop a Coke should not be able to vote.

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Middle-Wealth-6755@reddit

Yes. I’m a Coke person myself (with Dr Pepper being my preferred soft drink).

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Zivata@reddit

Definitely regional

[-]

Temporary-Solid3204@reddit

I live in Washington state. To me, soda is a carbonated coke, coke in a can is pop.

[-]

Sugah-mama21@reddit

It's true

[-]

Cyrious123@reddit

Coke is used generically in parts of the south but is actually a specific brand not a general term everywhere else. Soda or pop just refers to any carbonated beverage.

[-]

shadowmib@reddit

Its regional. In indiana everything was pop. In texas its all Coke except Dr. Pepper

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androidbear04@reddit

Up Nawth we called it soda. In Georgia, my mama's family called all sodas a "Co-Cola". (Figures, since Atlanta was the Coca Cola company's home)

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MaybeCats@reddit

Went to Cali for two months. I said “pop” for the first time and the locals made genuine shocked comments that I said pop instead of soda 😭

[-]

Drakeytown@reddit

I think all these distinctions lessen over time as we all watch the same few TV shows and talk more and more like Angelinos.

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Rays-R-Us@reddit

Even within a state Pop and Soda are regional.

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Ollly77@reddit

I call it “N A” … (non alcohol)

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lexicon951@reddit

wtf? Does anyone understand that?

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Rock-Wall-999@reddit

Yes, Coca Cola is standard in the Deep South, where it was born, and was once called bottle dope, based on the original recipe. I heard soda a lot in the mid Atlantic states, pop in the Midwest and kind of a mixture elsewhere. Tea is not only sweet in the South but cold with ice. Made the mistake of ordering tea with dinner in Philadelphia and got a cup of hot water and a teabag!

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Plane_Jacket_7251@reddit

It's regional, yeah. My grandma on the east coast used to call it "Tonic". As in Tonic Water. Here in the Pacific Northwest is mostly Soda, but I don't think anyone would care if you called it Pop. However if you ask for Coke, then you're getting a Coke (or they'll offer Pepsi).

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lexicon951@reddit

Tonic is so strange to me bc isn’t that implying it’s medicinal?

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MOSHIMOSHIatl@reddit

I’ve lived in GA my entire life and nobody in Atlanta metro, and north Georgia call all sodas ‘coke’ I’ve never heard that in my life ever

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Angsty_Potatos@reddit

Coke is a type of soda. I don't use pop

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angrygirl65@reddit

Dude, it’s soda. Don’t call it pop that’s weird.

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smjurach@reddit

Unfortunately it is. We’re a soda area but I’ll accept pop. Coke is never appropriate that’s just ridiculous.

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Allaiya@reddit

Idk but it’s pop to me. A coke is a brand

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BlockHeadTimo@reddit

I'm a Chicago guy born and raised. It was Pop while growing up. Became Soda as I got older.

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lexicon951@reddit

Thanks, I’ve seen so many people saying it’s pop here and I’m like am I crazy bc I don’t think I’ve ever heard that

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ThingFuture9079@reddit

Yes. There are other things that are said differently to refer to the same item depending on where you're at like tennis shoes and sneakers.

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lexicon951@reddit

Or gym shoes. I live in the tennis shoes/gym shoes region

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Signal-Weight8300@reddit

I'm from Chicago, it's pop here, and it's one of the easiest ways to sort out who was born and raised here versus transplants, although the transplants always end up on the north side.

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lexicon951@reddit

I was born and raised here but I think it’s generational, I cant recall anyone ever saying pop. I think most people say the drink they mean, or say soda. I’m 30. I’m repeating “do you want a pop/can I get a pop” to myself like a madman and I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say that

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chickadeedadee2185@reddit

Old Timey New Englanders call it TONIC.

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SheZowRaisedByWolves@reddit

It’s regional but I have never in my life of living in the south heard someone say “coke” when referring to a soft drink in general.

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Ponchyan@reddit

I’m from the Midwest. Grew up saying “pop,” as that’s what everyone called it. Also used “Coke,” as a generic word for any pop any brand, flavor, or color

Move to California a long time ago. Now it’s “soda.” Never “pop.” When in Rome.

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lexicon951@reddit

I live in Chicagoland which is apparently supposed to be pop but I’ve only ever heard soda? Anyway I don’t drink it so I say “carbonated beverage” as in “I don’t drink carbonated beverages”

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PdxGuyinLX@reddit

I grew up in the Chicago area and it was absolutely 100% pop. Went to college in the Northeast and stopped saying pop because no one else did and they all kind of made fun of me for saying it. After that I pretty much called it soda.

I haven’t lived in the Midwest for a long time but go back to visit multiple times a year. I think pop is kind of dying out but I’m not sure because I don’t drink it any more so it doesn’t come up often.

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oneislandgirl@reddit

There are differences what cola drinks are called in various regions but it simply shows where you grew up. No matter which term you use, people know what you are talking about.

Not sure you have it right - I grew up midwest and it was always "coke".

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UnableLocal2918@reddit

yes.

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dadsgoingtoprison@reddit

I live in the Deep South and if it’s carbonated it’s called coke. As in “will you get me a coke?” “What kind?” “ Mountain Dew”. Yeah it’s just how it’s always been.

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vt2022cam@reddit

They did, up until 20 years ago the country was fairly evenly split in 3 parts, with Soda being in the northeast, west coast (Milwaukee & Saint Louis), Cole having the Southeast, and Pop covering the Midwest and plains. Now, soda dominates, even in Atlanta, where Coke is headquartered. People drink much less soda now anyways though.

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shammy_dammy@reddit

I grew up a member of the Coke crowd. You order a coke and the wait staff asks what kind. I will now usually say soda because I moved other places.

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Fancy_Particular_494@reddit

I actually say sodie.

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The_Biercheese@reddit

Being from Ohio, I remember my first sweet tea experience. I had ordered iced tea, and automatically put like 4 packs of sugar in it. Didn’t realize it was sweet tea until I took a sip of liquid diabetes.

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CupcakesAreTasty@reddit

I grew up in “tonic” region, but soda is also acceptable. Coke is only ever coke, and pop is a sound, not a drink.

Yes; it really is this real.

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somer_and_omchick@reddit

As a youth I remember traveling and asking for soda and being very offended at being served sparkling water/soda water. So yes it’s a thing…

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BlackCatWoman6@reddit

I've always used the proper name of the soft drink I would have. Soda to me is an ice cream drink that I don't like. Pop doesn't make any sense.

I spent my first 18 years in Northern Ohio.

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barredowl123@reddit

I grew up in the South, and a convo would go something like this: “I’m getting a cold drink. Y’all want a Coke?” - “Sure!” “Alright, what kind?” - “I’ll take a Dr Pepper.”

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pconrad0@reddit

Not exaggerated. It's one of the sharpest remaining regional differences in a language that is continuously undergoing homogenization.

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jackssweetheart@reddit

Coke. It’s just Coke. Even if it’s Pepsi, it’s Coke.

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Jayfourgee@reddit

CA: My family and friends said Coke. "Can i get you a coke?" Sure, thanks. "What do you want?" Dr. Pepper.

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Just_Me1973@reddit

I live in Massachusetts and we call it soda.

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Clear_Event7275@reddit

Yes. Any of those can be generic name of soda in general, or they could be tied to a specific drink.

You come to Southeastern OK, people say they want a "Coke". then are asked "what kind". they will say "Dr. Pepper".

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Lanky-Antelope7006@reddit

Yes

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West-Birthday4475@reddit

“Soft Drinks” is another one “You want a soft drink?” A Pepsi Cola?”

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UninspiredNameChoice@reddit

I'd very real. I grew up and live in the south and everytime I see my mom's family in the north them using "pop" throws me

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MicheleAmanda@reddit

Western ct...no change. Soda then, soda now.

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IneffableOpinion@reddit

I grew up saying pop. Then Californians made fun of me so I changed to soda

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Betzjitomir@reddit

Soda and pop are regional. Coke is never generic it is a brand, sometimes people will say coke when they mean any cola but it does not refer to soda in general. I am from New York so it's soda.

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killersoda@reddit

South/Central Texas, and I've never heard anyone call it "coke" (unless they're talking about Coca-Cola) or "pop". It's always been called "soda"

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heyitsfranklin6322@reddit

My grandmother would say tonic water or just tonic and she’s from the Boston area.

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Reception-Whole@reddit

yes but it's not that big of a deal.

where you're born determines what word you grow up using but when you get older they become kinda interchangeable.

it's not like how the british people lose their MINDS when we call the back of a car a trunk.

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forgetfulsue@reddit

Yes. I moved from a region where “pop” was the word of choice. Now I live where soda is the word. I have switched to soda and my husband might divorce me. I’m a teacher so I don’t want to confuse the children that are being raised wrong.

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XCarrionX@reddit

Pop is a sound and Coke is a type of SODA.

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Boomvanger@reddit

“You want a coke? OK what kind?”

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Chickadee831@reddit

It's pop. It's been pop here longer than I've been alive. I will never call it anything else.

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brUn3tt3grl@reddit

I’ve always said soft drink but it never comes up as an option

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Early_Beach_1040@reddit

Yes! I am from Chicago where we say "pop". I moved to NJ when I was 12 and a friend of mine cracked up when I said "pop." (Growing up, In the stores aisle markees that told you what was in a particular grocery aisle said "pop")

I was like what do you call it "soda?" Yes. Yes most of the US both east and west coasts use soda.

Calling everything a coke is a southern thing. My husband is from St. Louis and they do call everything coke - at least when he was growing up.

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ProveISaidIt@reddit

Soda in the northeast.

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femmedenebuleuse@reddit

i am from the deep south and moved to the cold north and yes, there is a huge difference. almost everyone living a rural area here says pop, city folks say soda or pop, whereas almost everyone in the south says "coke" or the specific drink they're looking for.

as a bonus this is not an uncommon conversation when ordering at a restaurant in the south:
waiter: "and what to drink?"
customer: "I'll take a coke please"
w: "what kind?"
c: "*specific brand name*"

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Ok_Membership_8189@reddit

It’s real. It’s a big place over here.

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AnnaNicole2015@reddit

I grew up in Michigan and say Pop. My husband grew up in Texas and says Soda. Its a constant battle between us

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iteachag5@reddit

It’s true. I grew up calling it pop and then moved to the south where it’s soda.

[-]

Ms-Metal@reddit

Yes. We do. But there's been about a million threads on this so you should already know that. But yeah I've lived in multiple regions of the country, I've never called it Coke but I've used pop and soda depending on what state I lived in at the time.

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WillGrahamsass@reddit

Pennsylvania says pop in my neck of the woods.

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sundialNshade@reddit

My vote is locked 😕

People where I grew up (Washington Co Arkansas) mostly said soda

People where my mom grew up (Pulaski Co Arkansas) mostly said coke

Where I live now (Hennepin Co Minnesota) people say pop

[-]

Altruistic_Role_9329@reddit

It’s real.

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TheOfficialKramer@reddit

Yes, it's very true. It is called pop. You can get a bottle of pop or a can of pop. Coke is a kind of pop. Soda is carbonated water.

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efflorae@reddit

I am a born and raised Midwesterner, including with rural farming folk. I have only on occasion heard people use pop as an alternative, with soda predominant. The older you are, the more likely you are to call it that, from what I can tell.

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edelmav@reddit

my husband is from WV (so a yankee with a southern veneer) and i'm from WI. we both grew up saying 'pop'. while serving in the military with people from across the country, our speech became kind of homogenized and we both started saying 'soda'. now that we're more settled back into the north, we're trying really hard to abandon the homogeneity and teach our children regional terms like 'pop'

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DeliciousBeanWater@reddit

That is very real

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Nude-genealogist@reddit

Pop, the others are wrong

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fibro_witch@reddit

In New England we call it tonic. But soda is becoming more popular as New people move in.

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Leoliad@reddit

I say soda pop. I’ve been told it’s a little weird no matter what region you’re in but I have heard others call it that too and I feel like everyone in my family did. Dad was from Ohio and mom was born in Kentucky so regionally pretty close but my mom had a thick Appalachian accent.

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beattiebeats@reddit

Yes. In my state it’s pop.

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ExistentialWonder@reddit

Funny enough, my grandmother (born and raised in Boston) used to call it 'tonic'.

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PartTineOx@reddit

I’m in SoCal. Most people call it soda. Some call it coke if that primarily drink coke products. No one here calls it pop.

[-]

Murky-General5131@reddit

I grew up in the Midwest where any kind of carbonated soda is cald pop. I moved to Florida, where it is called soda. Then I moved back to the Midwest where I get the side eye when ever I call it anything but pop

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marksman81991@reddit

I still say pop. Michigan is still very largely a “pop” state.

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Good_Ad8057@reddit

Not exaggerated. A lot of people outside the US fail to understand just how big this country is. Many regional dialects and terms

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Fire_Mission@reddit

Coke, mostly here. No one says pop or soda around here. If it's not Coke, then the specific drink is named, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, whatever.

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Illustrious-Shirt569@reddit

But, if someone said that they’d like a Coke, the correct response would be to ask what kind, right? Not to assume that they specifically wanted a regular Coca-Cola?

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hbi2k@reddit

Where I'm from, if they don't have Coca-Cola Classic, they'll offer whatever cola-flavored soda they do have (usually Pepsi ) and ask if that's okay.

I find it a bit of a tedious ritual personally-- I have literally never known anyone to say "oh God no, I'll just have a water"-- but I guess they feel like it is good customer service to ask.

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Cock--Robin@reddit

Every one I know will say “no” when asked if Pepsi is okay, and order iced tea instead.

[-]

GoVols8604@reddit

It’s rare I’m in on the mode for a “soda”. If it’s not coke I’ll do a mt dew or Dr Pepper. 99% of the time though it’ll be sweet tea. Don’t have sweet tea and there’s a much better than average chance I am walking out.

[-]

greeneyedandgroovy@reddit

Done it plenty of times myself.

[-]

MaevriPlays@reddit

This is the way

[-]

Illustrious-Shirt569@reddit

This seems normal to me, but not if Coke is actually being used as a generic term for a fizzy, heavily sweetened drink. It seems like what people mean is that “Coke” is used as the default type of soda referenced generally, but when someone says it in a restaurant context, they still mean actual Coca-Cola, and a desire for cola is assumed.

This makes me feel less the world is upside down as someone who has never experienced this.

And if I’m correct in reframing it in my own head that it’s a default (like Kleenex) and not the actual name of a type of drink, it would still be ridiculous to say “Coke is a brand name of coke,” right?

Whereas soda and pop are the actual category of drink.

[-]

GoVols8604@reddit

Nah ifI ask for a Coke the appropriate response is what kind.

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GoVols8604@reddit

“Is Pepsi okay?” Absolutely not. Just bring me a Mountain Dew.

[-]

knosmo78@reddit

yeah, if they don't have actual Coca-cola products, or Dr. Pepper, I will just have tea, thank you.

[-]

Ill-Box-6543@reddit

I don’t like Pepsi, so if they don’t have coke products I ask for a Mountain Dew.

[-]

Murderhornet212@reddit

I usually get a Sprite if they don’t have Coke Zero. None of the Diet Pepsi varieties taste anything like it, and Diet Coke is straight up nasty. I’d rather just have an entirely different soda.

[-]

gtrocks555@reddit

What kind would be regular, diet or Coke Zero. The whole “Coke means any soda” thing is a bit exaggerated although it still happens.

[-]

wozattacks@reddit

So that’s just literally not what’s being discussed lol. As another commenter said, Texans literally refer to soda/pop as “coke.” As in, “what kind of coke do you want? Sprite, orange, or root beer?”

[-]

gtrocks555@reddit

Again, it does happen but people would just say what they actually want as far as soda goes but the only products are Coke products.

People just saying Coke and meaning sprite is vastly exaggerated and novel the same way when people find out about the Waffle House index

[-]

soap---poisoning@reddit

It’s really not exaggerated.

For example, I could ask my husband to get some 2-liter Cokes to serve at a barbecue. Because he is also from the Deep South, he would immediately understand that Coke doesn’t mean just Coca-Cola. He would ask what kind, and I would tell him to get a variety. He would come home from the store with Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, root beer, etc.

[-]

gtrocks555@reddit

Texans don’t know coke, that’s Georgia territory

[-]

macrocosm93@reddit

I'm in North Florida, near the Georgia and Alabama lines. If I say coke, they bring me a coke.

A common dialogue in restaurants in the south.

"I'll have a Coke."

"We have Pepsi products."

"Alright, I'll just have just water then."

[-]

wozattacks@reddit

Yeah I’m surprised by OP’s map, as someone from Florida who’s lived all over the state. I drink Coke at restaurants all the time and I have never once ordered a Coke and had a server ask me “what kind?” I ask for Coke and they bring me a Coca Cola.

[-]

elfn1@reddit

It would depend on your age. I’m 58, and grew up in Georgia probably at the end of “Coke is a generic term for all soft drinks” times. It’s definitely changed - I may think, “What kind of Cokes do we need to buy this week?” But I can’t imagine a server having to ask what kind of Coke someone would want. I would never automatically say, “I’d like a Coke, please,” and think I’d be served anything else.

[-]

Candid_Huckleberry15@reddit

Similar for me. I’m 50, grew up in North Carolina. Coke as a generic for all soft drinks was only used by a few people from my grandparents’ generation or older (roughly, people born before the 1930’s). Same with people who would put peanuts in their coke bottles. Was a treat for those older folks, but we never did it. Most people I was around growing up in the 1980’s used “soft drinks” instead of soda, pop, or coke.

[-]

Foamcorner69@reddit

Where I’m from in the South, I have never heard this occur. No one says “I’d like a coke” and expects to be asked “what kind.” What does occur is that people might use “cokes” as a collective noun for an assortment of soft-drinks, e.g. “there are cokes in the fridge” meaning there are coca-colas and other drinks in the fridge. Maybe there are parts of the country where that interaction does occur but I kind of doubt it and think this is a commonly spread misconception.

[-]

AndyVZ@reddit

Usually there's context, and "Coke" as a generic term is often used as a collective/category indicator. If you're ordering at a restaurant, you wouldn't say "Coke" to "what would you like to drink?" if you meant something other than Coca-Cola. You might ask "what kind of Cokes do you have?", or the waitress might say "we have Coke products", but there will always be specificity at some point in that process.

If it's at somebody's house, and they asked what you wanted to drink and you said "Coke", depending on level of familiarity you might get whichever brown caffeinated soda they have in the fridge (in the same way as if you responded "diet" they might bring you the sugar free version). Or if you asked your spouse to pick up some Cokes at the store, they would buy whatever brown caffeinated soda is the default for your household.

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CardStark@reddit

I grew up calling it coke and was shocked when I first went to a restaurant alone and they didn’t ask what kind. I’ve called it soda ever since.

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CommonCents1793@reddit

Right. A guest comes to my house, I might say: "Can I get you a coke? We've got Pepsi, Diet Sprite, root beer..."

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Choirmom1@reddit

This exactly. I ask for a coke I get a diet Dr Pepper.

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Asleep-Assistant-269@reddit

Interesting - I live in GA as well and I almost never hear anyone say Coke to mean any soda. Most everyone says soda.

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WarthogStock9937@reddit

I've ordered an orange coke before

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wozattacks@reddit

To me, that means Coca Cola with orange flavor added

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wozattacks@reddit

I mean…if they’re only using “coke” to refer specifically to Coca Cola that’s not really what the question is asking about? It sounds like you’re saying that people just don’t use a general term for soda very much where you live

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Ok-Advantage-1383@reddit

What part are you from? I’m born and raised in Metro Atlanta and I’ve only heard it called soda. I’m guessing you’re in rural Georgia?

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BubblegumBxh@reddit

I was born and raised in the suburbs of Columbus, GA and basically everyone I know that was raised there calls any carbonated drink a "coke".

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BloodOfJupiter@reddit

Florida is mostly Soda, but most of the South is "coke".

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5ilvrtongue@reddit

When i was a kid in New England we called it tonic.

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LettuceInfamous5030@reddit

I am in the northeast and people only say side but yes this is a real thing

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JulesInIllinois@reddit

It's true.

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abstractraj@reddit

I will only say pop. Even after 25 years in NYC. Fuck “soda”

[-]

jakerooni@reddit

I have never generalized a sweetened, carbonated beverage as “coke” or “soda.” It’s always been “pop” and it will forever remain “pop.”

How can you order a Pepsi if you ask for a “coke?”

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SomeACDude@reddit

Foreigners need to grasp the utter size difference the US is compared to these tiny countries around the globe. There’s vast cultural differences across the country.

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VictorianPeorian@reddit

In Central Illinois, it's mostly "soda," but it's not like "pop" is unheard of (or "soda pop"). I'm not sure about the new version, but the old county by county map showed "soda" following the Illinois River up a ways from St. Louis. I only became aware of "Coke" (should that be lower case?) being used as a generic term for soda when our new minister's family moved here from Virginia and told a story about confusion when ordering drinks at a restaurant.

I think it was that same minister who also mentioned there are potentially dangerous regional differences in whether people at an intersection will anticipate a green light (go through early) or stretch out the yellow (go through late). Central Illinois is in the latter camp, so don't be jumping the gun here.

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Immediate-Way-4065@reddit

I swear the Coke thing in the south has to be like a practical joke that caught on, I have never once in my life heard anybody say it, old or young. It has to be incredibly regional or something

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chutzpahlooka@reddit

I'm from soda California and now live in pop Pennsylvania.

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bailasola@reddit

I do. Grew up saying pop but I tend to know my audience and say soda at work, since I work with people from all over, and when I travel out of the Midwest.

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Whos_that_Gorilla2@reddit

They do, but it's not a big deal where people argue about which term is better. People are fine with whatever you want to call it, for the most part.

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Maorine@reddit

NE used to say tonic.

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Sociolinguisticians@reddit

Yeah, pretty much. I say soda, my Aunt says pop, and my grandpa says Coke.

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Perringer@reddit

I see "Soft Drink" isn't on the list. Would have been neat to see where that pop's up geographically.

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r2k398@reddit

It’s coke.

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NiceTuBeNice@reddit

Even in my own household it is split. I am a pop man. Wife is a soda girl.

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Northeast_Mike@reddit

We traveled across the country (US) occasionally while growing up, to visit family (and "see the land"). Plus lived in 3 states that I distinctly remember (from c 8-20 yo). I remember being surprised encountering pop and coke as generic names, so I guess that means I grew up in soda territory. (As in "I'd like a soda" or "soda drink".) I don't think we ever called it soda pop, tho of course I heard that name.

How many people remember getting something from "the soda fountain"? Tho the original "soda fountains" long predate me, my first summer job was at a drive-in burger place, and my position was referred to as a "soda jerk" because I filled the drinks (vs the car hops who interacted with the customers in their cars).

What TV shows contributed to maintaining or changing this terminology? Were there regional favorite shows?

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JohnnyRelentless@reddit

Soda is the right one.

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Slow_Appointment3540@reddit

Yeah, my husband will insist on calling it pop. I used to, but I’ve switched to saying soda the older I got. I do hear pop more from the older generations.

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OccultEcologist@reddit

I grew up saying 'soda-pop' for clarity between the two branches of my family, one that said soda and one that said pop.

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meltedbananas@reddit

Other than "Coke", you can say either without confusion, and people might just think of a regional difference. Outside of specific areas of the South, "Coke" means Coca-Cola. If you are in Des Moines, for example, and say "I want a Coke". Everyone is going to assume you mean Coca-Cola specifically. If you said "pop" or "soda", they'd assume you wanted a fizzy, sweetened drink. If you say the same in Georgia, there's a chance that the people would take "Coke" to mean any of the fizzy, sweetened beverages.

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brenawyn@reddit

Pop

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dorkpool@reddit

It’s a coke, even if I want a Dr Pepper

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GrannyTurtle@reddit

It’s different by region. We cover an entire continent! I usually get lemonade, so that avoids the “soft drink” vs “soda” vs “pop” nomenclature. There is a deep divide between Coke and Pepsi, too. Most people prefer Coke. Pepsi is somewhat sweeter. I avoid drinks with caffeine, so I don’t come down on either side of this division.

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idiot_sauvage@reddit

I’m in Ohio, it’s pop to everyone except me, it’s soda because I bartended for a decade

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DeskRepulsive6128@reddit

Anyone with business Chase account?

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pinkrobot420@reddit

My parents were from the Midwest and I grew up saying pop. But we lived in Southern California and everything was a coke, as in what kind of coke do you want. I started saying soda when I joined the military because that's what everyone else called it.

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Complete_Entry@reddit

I look down on those who say pop.

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read2live2today@reddit

It's true :)

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VernapatorCur@reddit

You're leaving out Pepsi as the generic name for a soft drink. It's not as common, but there are pockets of it here and there.

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Brave_Mess_3155@reddit

Growing up in Chicagos suburbs in the 90 people said pop but my family would road trip a lot to the south and west. People in Washington alway thought it was cute that me and my sister said pop. Thats also the first place I ever had a "dirty soda" but they just called it an "Italian soda". I think when we went to the south we would ocasionaly run it to people that said coke and it was very confusing and I had completely forgotten all about it until I started reading about it on reddit.

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Substantial-Ad2200@reddit

Yup.

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MidnightEntourage@reddit

Just moved to the opposite side of my state and was baffled to hear everyone calling it pop. Where i grew up, still in the same state, it was always soda

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Prestigious-Fan3122@reddit

Absolutely! My husband is from the deep south (Mississippi) and if someone there is offering you a beverage, they will say, "do you want a Coke?" And if you say that you do, they ask you what kind of Coke you want. Sprite? Dr Pepper? Diet Coke?

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soldiernerd@reddit

They definitely do

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North-Country-5204@reddit

I live in the South and have never heard anyone use Coke to refer to any soda unless it actually was a Coke. Everyone says soda or soda pop.

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iCeE_147@reddit

Calling it pop is pretty archaic at this point

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Shadow_Lass38@reddit

Heck, back in the 1960s/70s, the people in Massachusetts used to say "tonic" for soda.

Yes, there are regional differences. It's like having different names in French and German and Italian.

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wholesomeinsanity@reddit

Raised in California by Okie parents. We call it a soda, soft drink, or a coke/pepsi, regardless of brand.

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superanth@reddit

There's also "tonic" in the North East.

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Big_McLargehuge59@reddit

Soda sayers are monsters, but Coke as a stand-in for Sprite is just disgusting.

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lets-snuggle@reddit

It depends. I am from NJ and we say soda unless we are actually drinking Coca-Cola, then it is Coke. I’ve heard of pop being said in other parts of the country, but never Coke for non coca-cola

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IHSV1855@reddit

Yes

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Al-Pastor@reddit

Yes. Also, in the New York City area we call soda water “seltzer”. It’s understood in the north east but I’ve seen some puzzled faces when I’ve asked for seltzer in other parts of the US.

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DirtyDuckman53@reddit

Growing up in Kentucky I heard the phrase “soda pop”

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Antique_Success296@reddit

Yes. I live in northern Illinois and people say both “pop” and “soda” all the time, usually the older generations say pop instead of soda though. I also go to the south all the time, and there every soda is Coke.

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karebearofowls@reddit

The area I live in says pop.

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Forsaken-Season-1538@reddit

Yes-ish. Soda/coke is sort of interchangeable in the South now, but my cousins in New York drive me nuts by calling it pop.

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fruitsnackguy45@reddit

In California it’s either Soda or the type of soda . So if you’re specifically referring to the soda called Coke, then it’s Coke, or Dr Pepper if it’s Dr Pepper, Sprite, etc. But we interchange “soda” and the actual sodas name. I’ve never heard anyone call it pop here

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Mysterious-Art8838@reddit

Upstate NY- pop, specify which kind

DC/NYC/San Diego -soda, and you specify which kind

That’s my experience

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calcarius_@reddit

I grew up in western New York, and we say "pop." My husband grew up only an hour and a half away, and he says "soda." Western New York shares a lot of things with the Midwest. We used to tell the joke that you could lose friends in college based on which one you said.

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Junior_Ad_7613@reddit

Yes. I first really ran into this when I was in Chicago and asked the guy behind the counter (whose first language was not English but he had learned enough English in Chicago to work food service) for an orange soda (I could see the cans right there in the fridge) he had no idea what I meant until I said “orange pop.”

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cameronpark89@reddit

pop is definitely in the midwest. i’m in ohio.

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SouthernTrauma@reddit

It's real. I just snort when I hear somebody 'round here say "pop." We say "coke," thank you.

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Dry_Negotiation_9696@reddit

It’s all Coke in Texas. Even Dr. Pepper is Coke.

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auntmilky@reddit

I live in south Florida and everyone calls it by its name. If you’re drinking sprite, you say sprite. If you’re drinking coke, it’s coke.

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parable-harbinger@reddit

Yes but soda is usually what’s said in media so someone like me who says “pop” isn’t thrown off by it, while someone who says soda will be weirded out by me saying pop

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No-Heat-436@reddit

Colorado here. I say soda. Came here from New England when I was 4, they say soda so I say soda. Lol. But Colorado is such a mix of the whole nation, that I do hear the others often. 😊

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Traditional_Trust418@reddit

Yes, it's true. When I was little I lived in an area that said "pop" and now I live in an area where the majority say "soda"

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Mrs_Noelle15@reddit

Yes. It's very real

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Silver_Breakfast7096@reddit

I have pop. Everyone else is mistaken.

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spotnruby@reddit

We called it dope

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Affectionate-Use6412@reddit

Pop! Always and forever!

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Taira_Mai@reddit

New Mexican here - every soda is a "coke". I now live in El Paso and you can tell those from other parts of the country when they say "soda" or "pop" because most say "coke" here.

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tomnan24@reddit

Ohio In the 50s we referred to it as soda pop. Now shortened to pop. I never hear anyone use soda.

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Robot9P@reddit

Yeah, Midwest calls it pop, east coast calls it soda, Texas calls soda Coke.

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Coconuts71@reddit

Southern Illinois. It’s soda. Except for my boyfriend. He calls it sody.

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yeetskeetleet@reddit

I live in a very strange corridor of the Midwest that calls it soda. I’ve met people outside that corridor that call it pop. It’s always jarring

What’s even more strange are the “sodie” people. Where the heck did that come from

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whatisscoobydone@reddit

I was born and raised in the south, I've lived in different areas of the south, and I have literally never heard anyone call soda "coke". I'd say most people call it soda, few people in the Midwest and North call it pop

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notyourcinderella@reddit

I grew up saying pop, and currently live in a mostly-soda area. For a while, I used to piss off my (now ex) husband by saying that I was going to grab a pop from the soda machine. Now I just say pop.

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Outrageous_Invite945@reddit

Yes we do

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normiepitbullmom@reddit

YES, they do. I’m from “soda” country (Maryland) and now living in “pop” land (Ohio) and it’s weird at first but I’ve gotten used to it

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SpellVast@reddit

I moved around a lot so I say soda-pop.

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Antares1228@reddit

Grew up in western Washington state in the 70s. It was soda pop then.

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Sample-quantity@reddit

California. We don't say pop. Most people I know only say Coke if they mean the brand name Coke. Some people say cola if they mean the dark colored soda but not brand name Coke. Everything else is soda.

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wilkinsk@reddit

They do, but the smart people call it "Soda"

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Satsuki7104@reddit

I always said coke because 9/10 times that’s exactly what type of soda I was drinking. Never left the West coast.

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flortny@reddit

100%, it's crazy

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classiest_trashiest@reddit

I’m from the south and if I’m referring to Coca Cola, it’s Coke. If it’s anything else, soda.

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riz3192@reddit

I actually don’t think this one is exaggerated.

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trikakeep@reddit

Very regional. There’s even a small population in Massachusetts and, I think, Wisconsin, where it is referred to as tonic, no matter the flavor/brand. Not sure its used as much as it maybe 40-50 years ago or so

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SparrowChirp13@reddit

It's absolutely true. I spend summers in Michigan where it's always called a "pop" - which is not what it's called in other states, where you just have a coke or a soda. I'm in California now and people would laugh if I asked for a pop, or they literally wouldn't understand.

[-]

Twinson64@reddit

It’s a filter on a first date.

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Bright_Eyes83@reddit

it's real

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fairyboyjstar@reddit

I usually say soda or sometimes soda pop because I think it sounds cute.

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Hydro-Sapien@reddit

From Minnesota. It’s pop.

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Glum-Welder1704@reddit

When I was young in NorCal, it was soda pop, but soda was also recognized. If you asked for a coke, you'd get a coca cola.

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Dianag519@reddit

Yeah I brought this up on another post. When I move down south form the nyc area people would laugh at me for saying soda. And I asked the same thing. If you call them all cokes how do you distinguish brand and they said you ask what kind of coke. They drink a lot of coke down there too. In the nyc/nj area we will say soda. We also say soft drinks. We don’t say pop. I think that’s more of a Midwest thing. It’s also old fashioned. I think it was used more in the past in other areas.

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ScarletDarkstar@reddit

Many decades ago I grew up in Colorado saying Pop. My dad had a tendency to say coke, but he actually drank coca cola more than any other softdrink so it was a long time before it registered he was using it for other drinks.

I moved to the east coast, southern half, and soda was most common.

[-]

Kat1653@reddit

Here in Pittsburgh it's pop.

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Maurice_Foot@reddit

Meanwhile, in New Mexico…

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Odd-End-1405@reddit

It’s super regional.

My husband’s niblings from the upper Midwest looked at me like I had three heads when I offered them a soda while they were visiting.

Mom jumped in and said pop which to my west coast brain sounded like something from the 1950’s.

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daisytat@reddit

Would you like a soft drink?

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LayerNo3634@reddit

It has been Coke the past 60 years and continues.

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rexeditrex@reddit

Tonic. But I moved to soda.

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horsecrazycowgirl@reddit

It's very true. I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic saying soda. It was a consistent joke of people saying "you mean pop" when I did my undergrad in the Midwest.

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n_diamond@reddit

Pop

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RandomFleshPrison@reddit

It's 100% true. At times I will call it fizzy just to screw with all the factions.

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HRHSuzz@reddit

IMO - it's SodaPop - so calling it "soda" is like calling green pants "green" and expecting people to know what you're talking about. Calling it coke is just not in the realm of any logic at all and I don't talk to people that use this phrase.

It's always Pop!

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Dangerous-Variation@reddit

Not exaggerated at all. I say “Soda” because I like the word better than “pop” but “pop” was what was common where I grew up. When I was in my 20s, it was “Dew me!” Cause… you know, we were geeks and we liked Mt. Dew and we had to have innuendo. Where I live now, it’s “Coke or Tea? Coke? What kind of coke? Sprite? Got it.”

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Zailema0s@reddit

Yes

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FireBallXLV@reddit

You left out " Soft drinks" which is a popular term in the part of the South I grew up in. Some Grocery Stores still use that term in signs that indicate what is in each aisle.

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cstar4004@reddit

Ive always called it soda, but I understand when people say “pop.” They are both short names for “soda pop”

Coke is just a specific type of soda.

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limbodog@reddit

Soda is what you put in a mixed drink. Pop is your dad. Coke is a brand name.

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Crying_in_99Ranch@reddit

And Soda Pop is a KPop Demon Hunters song

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CEDWAR22@reddit

And Ponyboy’s brother

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owiesss@reddit

This made me laugh more than it should have

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KCsalesman@reddit

I’m from Kansas and I proudly say pop! I never say coke. It’s either soda or pop

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MoriKitsune@reddit

Yes, we are. I am southern, and I even act offended when someone says "pop" around me lol pearl-clutching and everything. "Coke" and "soda" are what's commonly used here.

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DEdwardPossum@reddit

Do you mean soft-drinks?

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Zephyr_Dragon49@reddit

This is still true but yall can miss me personally with anything other than soda.

I vaguely remember it being Pepsi in Alabama when I had to help my grandpa move to Arkansas but that might have just been a him thing

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GrowHappyPlants@reddit

Grew up with pop now you soda pop so people don't look at me like I have two heads

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ByWillAlone@reddit

I feel like "pop" usage is diminishing even in those regions where it used to be prominent. Case in point: I grew up on Portland Oregon where "pop" usage was so dominant in the 60s &70s that we even had a chain of stores called "The Pop Shop" where you got crates of bottles of all different varieties delivered to your door weekly. Eventually pop fell out of fashion in that region and now almost everyone calls it "soda".

Calling all soda as "coke" is really only a southern thing, and even then it's limited to just a couple of states.

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Mechanicalgripe@reddit

The PNW has been invaded by those who evangelize soda and I say enough! The term is pop! 🤠

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Stock-Promise-3562@reddit

I'd wtf pop is

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PrincessWolfie1331@reddit

Soda

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Want_To_Live_To_100@reddit

I’m shocked anyone drinks the garbage anymore to be honest…. My kids have never had it their whole lives…

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Skyvueva@reddit

When I first moved to Ohio, about 35 years ago, I would go into a store and ask where the soda is and they would look at me as if I was speaking a foreign language.

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CannonWheels@reddit

if you say soda i don’t trust you

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procrastinarian@reddit

It's pretty true. I cannot take anyone who says pop or says something like "I'll have a coke, dr. Pepper" seriously. I've heard this from actual human beings.

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Clean_Citron_8278@reddit

Massachusetts calls it soda. Any cola is called Coke.

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dimgwar@reddit

We call it Soda Pop and Coke. (Indiana)

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Top-Nectarine-835@reddit

Pop is still alive and well in Western New York

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Savings_Pipe_8029@reddit

Yes, I grew up in Michigan and we definitely say pop. I would say at other areas of the country and people did not know what I was talking about. I live in the south now say soda.

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Adventurous-Time5287@reddit

it’s not exaggerated. you might even find someone saying sodapop and sodie.

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plumberbss@reddit

The technical name for the machine that dispenses fountain drinks is "Soda fountain". So, all the other names are wrong

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CelebrationFar1351@reddit

I grew up in the northeast: it is soda. Lived in the Midwest: it is coke. Now live in the northern plains: it is pop.

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Practical-Attitude0@reddit

What about sodawater?

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Financial_Manager213@reddit

Yes but we don’t get mad about it. We do tease each other about it though

[-]

idrinkchocomilk@reddit

i mainly say pop but sometimes i’ll say soda

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Susso7@reddit

Yeah, pretty much. I grew up in a state where most call is pop, I did too when I was a kid. Then we moved to another state in my teens, and I spent a little time on the west coast. I usually call it soda because I like how it sounds better, now if I’ll call it pop, it sounds weird to me.

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unarmbears@reddit

Really amp it up. Soft Drink.

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Ok_Orchid1004@reddit

These terms are regional in nature. Depends on where in the USA. No one in western Pennsylvania says “coke” if they mean root beer. No one in Georgia says “pop”. Unless you grew up somewhere they use that term.

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Rose_E_Rotten@reddit

I was raised on soda here in Wisconsin. Most people that call it pop here were originally from Chicago. To me, pop is dad (Hop On Pop by Dr Seuss). If any one calls it Coke or Pepsi, they are being specific and want only that name not the other.

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FroYolentGreen@reddit

I grew up in Indiana.

We called every them all cokes. Even the sprites and orange sodas were called cokes.

It wasn't until middle school when I was around a different group of kids that didn't call them all cokes that I gave up and just called them soft drinks.

My first job was as an arena vendor that specifically sold Pepsi, so I couldn't call it coke. "Soft Drink" was too much to yell over and over again. "Pop" sounded weird when yelled, so I landed on soda.

All that said, I hear mostly soda now, sometimes pop from people that aren't from the area and coke is still used from time to time, but I think that they don't really care what they get so a coke is as good as anything.

Short answer: people say different things, but call it a "split" is exaggerated. I think people use a combination depending on circumstances.

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Majestic-Citron7578@reddit

Yeah. When I was a kid everything was called a coke where I lived but it seems less so now when I visit. Where I live now its mostly soda but I hear some pop.

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MrsMitchBitch@reddit

These are hard boundaries. If you asked for pop or Coke and expected anything other than Coca Cola, you would be very disappointed here.

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MegaRadCoolDad@reddit

Growing up in the South we always said Coke for everything. I mostly call things by name now or say soda.

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PermenantRest@reddit

I call 'Barq's Root Beer' Coke. Made by Coke so...

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asistolee@reddit

Some people say coke and they mean any soda or pop. Some people say coke and they mean brand name Coca Cola (I’m one of those people) some people say soda and/or pop interchangeably, some people say only one is right, we’re very split on this

[-]

Aspen9999@reddit

It’s regional.

[-]

Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

It’s true. I’m a “pop” guy

[-]

Philcoman@reddit

My wife grew up in Detroit and says pop. I grew up in New England and call it soda.

[-]

Nomad-Sam@reddit

In the south, everything is called "coke" so when you say "Do you want a coke?" if the answer comes back "yes" then the next question is "What kind of coke do you want?" It confuses people who are not southerners.

Also, in Texas we drink tea without sugar. In the deep south, they sweeten it until you choke on it. Yes, it's true that we don't have an universal understanding of soft drinks. 😃

[-]

LeatherDescription26@reddit

In every area of America you’ll be understood if you use any of the other phrases but they’re not as commonly used in the areas they aren’t popular in.

I live in a “soda” state and I hate it and have to intentionally go out of my way to say pop. I do this despite the trend because I know WHY it’s called pop but to me soda just sounds like a nonsense word. What is a soda? It pops so pop. Like I know what people mean when they say soda but nothing sodas as a verb

[-]

thecuriosityofAlice@reddit

From the south and its “Coke”. People referring a cooler of an assortment of soda, they say there’s “waters and cokes” in the cooler. But I am from GA and it is especially true here. And everyone understands a “coke” is a catch all phrase for all different kinds of soft drinks but unless you are ordering a specific drink out, it’s a Coke. Sprite=coke Dr. Pepper = coke, etc. if someone asks if “you want a coke or something” and you say yes, you may get a ginger ale. Or a glass of water. Or an actual Coca-cola.

Not an exaggeration

[-]

Zoegirlmom@reddit

Ohioan here-it’s pop all day long

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leah357@reddit

Michigander: pop is the OG sweet stuff, if I say “soda” I am referring to La Croix or similar

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515chiefspride@reddit

It depends on the location and the family. I’m from the smack dab middle of the Midwest but all I say is soda. Pop doesn’t sound right to me

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Dog-Chick@reddit

I use all three words. It depends on who I'm with and the situation.

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ramcoro@reddit

I grew up saying pop but most people say soda now. "Pop" is dying out, unfortunately (imo). I also lived in the south and never heard someone call it coke. I think soda is becoming the mainstream.

[-]

pbmadman@reddit

I grew up smack dab in the middle of supposed coke country. I literally never once heard anyone use coke for the category of drink. They meant “I’d like a Coca Cola but will consider another soda if you don’t have Coke.” Coca Cola was just the de facto soda unless you were poor enough to be a check, tab or rc family. But nobody ever said things like “what kind of coke do you have?” Unless they meant “is your cola Coca Cola or Pepsi cola?” Because Pepsi was gay and/or a northerners drink. If anything Coke was being used instead of cola, not instead of soda.

Now, I’ve met midwesterners who do indeed say pop unironically. Usually it’s “you want a pop?” Shortened to “ya wanna pop?” Even further shortened to something I can’t intelligibly type.

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Remote_Pick_1952@reddit

It's geographical. I'm from the South where everything is a Coke.

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Accomplished-Sun1983@reddit

Grew up in Erie Pennsylvania, call it pop.

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Bkwyrme@reddit

My mom is from the south and called it all Coke. My dad was from the east coast and called it pop until I was in junior high. I grew up in California and called it soda, which my dad eventually switched to.
I’m in the Pacific Northwest and mostly hear soda.

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ladyphoenix62@reddit

I grew up in Chicago so it was “pop”. It’s became Coke when I moved to Texas but now I just say soda.

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sittingonmyarse@reddit

We still say “pop” in SW Pennsylvania

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Fantastic_Fly7301@reddit

I've also come upon plenty of people who use pop or soda depending on the container. Ie. Grab a can or pop, or bottle of soda. Got a fountain soda.

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UntLick@reddit

https://laughingsquid.com/soda-pop-or-coke-maps/

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Choice-Marsupial-127@reddit

It is very regional. Grew up drinking pop in the Midwest. Moved to the west in college and was converted to calling it soda within a year.

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Serious_Coffee_8066@reddit

When I was a kid we called it tonic.

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GambonGambon@reddit

I love in a Coke area, but I say soda because it's more fun to say.

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Competitive_Ear2223@reddit

For f* sake, either call it soda or call it pop. Please do not call it soda pop.

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OnionFingers98@reddit

I usually just say soda but sometimes I’ll mix it up and say sodie, or sodie pop.

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Doldrum0@reddit

I live in Michigan and it's illegal to call it anything other than "pop" 🧐

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Ocstar11@reddit

Soda is the general term in the NY/NJ/CT area.

Coke is a specific ask. As in I want Coke , Sprite,Pepsi, Dr Pepper

Don’t drink soda anyway.

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Alycion@reddit

Some people will use the name of preferred brand. Where I’m from and lived (multiple states) I mostly hear soda if not a brand name. I use brand name bc I can’t stand Pepsi. It doesn’t exist to me.

[-]

BluebirdJolly7970@reddit

I hear soft drink sometimes too. But usually soda in Florida.

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beanomly@reddit

I’m in the midwest and it’s all Coke.

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FearlessPride6588@reddit

I’m in the Pacific Northwest and my family and friends say, “soda”. My ex husband grew up in Florida and calls everything “Coke” and then follows that with what he really asking for. We visited some of his friends and went out to dinner. People would say they wanted a Coke and the waitress then asked them, “what kind?” and they’d respond with, “Sprite” or “Diet Coke” or whatever. It was weird.

[-]

helloitsmejenkem@reddit

Its just all coke around here. "What kind of coke do you want?" When someone goes to the store, etc.

[-]

Winter-Warlock8954@reddit

I don't I freestanding why we would exaggerate that.

[-]

Happy-Jackfruit-9010@reddit

Yes. My husband and I are from different areas. We do not call it the same thing.

[-]

CrazyXSharkXLady@reddit

It’s mostly true, yeah.

[-]

judijo621@reddit

It's a thing. My Wisconsin sister-in-law gives me (southern California) crap every time for me saying "soda" and not "pop". I just make fun of her accent.

[-]

Gold_Dig2200@reddit

I think people take pride in the little ways their region says things. When I lived in Atlanta, everything was called Coke.

[-]

brendanepic@reddit

It just kinda depends on where you go. It's a big country and people in different areas talk differently. Keep in mind thatbif it was europe or something we'd be speaking like 60 different languages, so our slight regional differences really aren't a big deal.

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inredditorbit@reddit

I just say “soft drink”, the majority of which are carbonated. But if I had to pick, even though I grew up in the upper South, I’d say soda. Occasionally soda pop, as a kid. But I’ve lived in “pop” land and “Coke” land, as well.

In Spain it’s generally just “gaseosa”, nowadays a generic term for carbonated soft drink. When I was a kid there, we actually had a beverage called “gaseosa” and it was a lightly sweet carbonated water — a bit lighter than 7UP.

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Otto_Kermitten@reddit

I say soda and my grandparents used to say soda pop

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OperationDapper3565@reddit

Western Pennsylvania is a pop area.

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The_Bababillionaire@reddit

I've been all over and they all make sense except calling a Sprite a Coke.

[-]

helikophis@reddit

It’s real. I grew up in popland but the next city says soda and it has gained ground here in recent years.

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DJPaige01@reddit

I'll have a Coke.

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YNABDisciple@reddit

Older New Englanders say tonic

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clutchthepearls@reddit

Ope, it's pop buddy.

[-]

chardeemacdennisbird@reddit

*slaps knees*

Well I should probably be heading out

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Gertrude_D@reddit

*stands and talks for another half hour*

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garbageman2112@reddit

Definitely

[-]

Gangster-Girl@reddit

Coke

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garbageman2112@reddit

Thats a brand, for sure

[-]

prole6@reddit

Started out as a brand but became a generic catch all, like Kleenex. Always been “coke” here.

[-]

justina081503@reddit

Southern Indiana? In northern Indiana everyone I know either says pop or coke.

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prole6@reddit

Coke is the dominant phrase here in Indy.

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HavBoWilTrvl@reddit

No. Coke is any brown carbonated soft drink. Co-cola is actual coke.

[-]

leeloocal@reddit

Exactly. “I’d like a Coke.” “What kind?”

[-]

FelixSven17@reddit

No, yah, definitely pop

[-]

Illustrious-Jump-398@reddit

Ope, nope. Soda

[-]

Additional-Spot-749@reddit

Ope, soda and pop may be a horse a piece, but I’m a poo drinker.

[-]

Ficsit-Incorporated@reddit

I must be five years old because I found that typo way funnier than it should have been. Soda supremacy!

[-]

DoctorFrungus@reddit

Didn't know poo was a choice here

[-]

McFlyyouBojo@reddit

Nope, Chuck Testa!

[-]

mindgame_26@reddit

I call it Cola.

[-]

Gertrude_D@reddit

It's POP. It's always been POP and it will always be POP!

[-]

FlyByPC@reddit

East Coaster here. It's "soda" or "soft drinks."

"Coke" is a product of Coca-Cola.

"Pop" is an old-fashioned way to say "dad" or "father."

[-]

Mr-Kamikaze112@reddit

I dated a girl for ohio when I was 17 and I'm from texas she called everything pop and I called it coke, I understand that coke is a brand just like linoleum is another name for vinyl flooring. Where I was raised soda = coke. I used to be embarrassed when I would say I wanted a coke and then get like a sprite and people would correct me. Now I use the word soda because pop sounds funny and coke is just strange. Either way we all understand what we are saying in the US and people are just being pentantic for the most part.

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Infinite-Penalty-495@reddit

Idk. I'm from Western US, and I (and everyone I know) says soda, and coke only for coca cola.

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MaccyBoiLaren@reddit

I was exposed to "pop" a lot working at a grocery store in a "pop/soda" split area. After moving to a different state, I accidentally said "the pop aisle" while shopping with my mom. She was not amused.

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Wicket2024@reddit

Yes, I grew up near Chicago and always called in pop. In my eyes as a kid, soda meant it had ice cream in it. The first time someone offered me a soda and I got a pop I was sorely disappointed. I now live near Houston when I say pop some people have no clue what I mean.

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funsk8mom@reddit

I say soda, my mom still calls it tonic

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Conscious-Mulberry17@reddit

I’m a native of the Deep South. We called sodas “Cokes” growing up, but there was a subtle distinction. If you and I were out for a ride around town, I might ask if you wanted to stop at a gas station and grab a Coke. The implicit assumption was that you’d understand that I meant “a Coca-Cola or other soda.” If you came in my home and I told you to help yourself to the Cokes in my refrigerator, then I’d likely have actual Coca-Cola in there, but possibly other things as well. In short, if we’re talking about sodas, generally, I might say “a Coke or Cokes.” If we’re talking about a specific brand, then I’d say “Sprite” or “Mountain Dew” or whatever.

These are general rules, though, and can vary from one person to person and household to household. Some people can be more general in the word’s application.

No one I knew growing up said “pop,” ever. You could hear “soft drink” or “soda” sometimes. More often, I’d hear Coke or just “a drink,” as in, “Y’all want something to drink? What kind?”

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amazonsprime@reddit

I think they all sound weird and I say “soft drinks” after growing up in an everything is a coke household in the south.

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lanfear2020@reddit

It’s soda

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dogtroep@reddit

I drink Faygo. Which is ONLY pop.

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Long-Document-61@reddit

Coke is Coke and the rest is soda … CT

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Repulsive_Repeat3653@reddit

Correct, mostly by region of the Country.

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PansyOHara@reddit

We said Coke or soft drink.

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bananapanqueques@reddit

Here to throw in “Soft drink.”

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pdt666@reddit

i’m from chicago and we only say “pop.” lots of transplants don’t obviously. wouldn’t find it that weird for someone to say soda, but calling sprite and dr. pepper and fanta “coke” is extremely confusing to me lol.

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kimchipowerup@reddit

Soda, but usually I drink a seltzer

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small-gestures@reddit

I grew up in Boston, when I was a kid we called it “tonic”, now it’s soda. If you call it “coke” it’s a Coke and if you call it “pop” we know what it is but that you are from away

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siestarrific@reddit

If you say 'pop' where I'm from you'll definitely stand out lol

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LastConference@reddit

Grew up in Texas, this was a typical conversation:

Me: I’d like a coke

Server: What kind of coke

Me: Dr Pepper

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HappyOctober2015@reddit

I grew up in a pop area and moved to a soda area as an adult. I just forced myself to switch words because soda people think “pop” sounds crazy (now that I am a soda person myself, I agree)

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Embarrassed_Fig1801@reddit

Yeah we do. It’s weird. And those maps are pretty accurate.

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NIN10DOXD@reddit

We say “drink” I’m from and soda in the major cities.

[-]

cuentalternativa@reddit

In the NE, I usually refer to them by name but soda in general, my mom always called anything carbonated pop, heard both plenty around here also moved around a lot mostly up and down the east coast, bartended a bit and worked restaurants and heard it called by both in many places, I think maybe it’s not as universally region specific as people think it is but maybe in certain areas certain terms are more concentrated

[-]

El-Viking@reddit

It's a thing but it's regional. Just like calling a long sandwich a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, etc.

But, keep in mind, Germany also has regional dialects. Grüß Gott and Semmel would tip anyone off that you're from southern Germany. And Germany is roughly the size of a larger American state.

[-]

indifferentunicorn@reddit

Soda here.

Pop is what you get in the nose if you don’t call it soda.

Coke is what you get when you ask for a coke.

[-]

OrganizationSouth481@reddit

Yes. It’s definitely a regional thing. I’ll always primarily call it soda. “Coke” isn’t acceptable to me cause coke is a brand name not a generic. So I legit don’t get that one. But I catch myself using “pop” on occasion.

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PadiddleHopper@reddit

I spent the majority of my childhood in the South and I've if the few things that stuck with me way calling sodas 'coke'. I moved to Oregon when I was older where everyone said pop but it sounded weird to me lol If you say "I'd like a coke" at a restaurant, they'd ask what kind and you can clarify.

[-]

Queer_Advocate@reddit

Also funny story. Moved to WA stated from Southeast and cashier said you want a sack? I said huh? A sack? Hmm, are yoy flirting with me? A b.a.g. for your groceries, and I'm like Jesus fucking Christ.

[-]

AshDenver@reddit

It’s split by region, for sure. Random Americans however do not alternate between the three versions.

[-]

Lulusgirl@reddit

I traveled from Michigan to Louisiana and asked for a Coke and my server asked me "what kind" because a Coke could mean Sprite or Root Beer. My brain broke.

[-]

Public_Range_3718@reddit

I've always called it soda. However, growing up in New England, I remember seeing it on signs in sub shops referring to it as "tonic". I even had one friend refer to it that way, but most simply called it soda. The "tonic" name probably was a holdover from the days when these sodas were promoted as tonics for health and vigor, e.g. "Coca-Cola" and "Moxie" (which is still made). Never cared for Moxie, still have a Coke now and then.

[-]

Snoo78959@reddit

Yes. Everyone seems to forget that we are not homogenized. We are 50 United States with very different cultural realities.

[-]

CommercialPound1615@reddit

Where I grew up It was a huge Coca-Cola bottling plant.

"Give me a Coke" for cola.

"Give me a Sprite" for lemon lime soda.

Anything else is the name of the product like "give me a Dr pepper", others was more generic "give me a root", "give me a ginger ale" etc.

[-]

MaleficentCoconut594@reddit

It’s soda. I will die on this hill.

Pop is a regional thing from the west. Coke is just wrong as coke is a singular brand

[-]

PaulyRocket68@reddit

I grew up in Arizona with a family from New York and New Jersey so we all said soda. I moved to Atlanta for about 5 years and had to acclimate to everything being Coke.

[-]

Queer_Advocate@reddit

I don't, but I studder sometimes when I'm nervous. I think it's certain letters. But I just say soda. But, there's some regional vibe to it sometimes. I'm out West and most say pop. I still say soda. I'm from the Southeast US originally.

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UnderdogDreams@reddit

I grew up in western NY and it was definitely pop. Now in Arizona and it’s soda.

[-]

languagelover17@reddit

The USA is huge. I think people not from here don’t realize that.

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GreatestState@reddit

Pop in the North and Soda in the South

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lilchanoo@reddit

in louisiana people literally call any soda a "cold drink"! so thats another one

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miseeker@reddit

Pop here. I’ve met people that mistakenly call it soda.

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AcceptableLoquat@reddit

Where I come from (though thankfully not in my family), "You want a pop?" was a threat to a small child, not an offer of a soft drink/soda/Coke.

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wifespissed@reddit

It's soda.

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Potential_One1@reddit

Very exaggerated. I’ve lived in multiple different parts of the country and 95% of people call it “soda”

[-]

FormalConcern4862@reddit

It's true. America is huge we totally have regional dialects

[-]

PlanMagnet38@reddit

I’ve lived in soda, pop, and coke regions, so now I just ask for a “fountain drink” and piss everyone off equally

[-]

kalelopaka@reddit

All soft drinks were called “Coke” where I grew up, but the “kind” of coke was brand. Like, “You want a Coke?” “What kind do you want?” “We have Pepsi, Dr Pepper, and 7-Up.”

[-]

SecretRecipe@reddit

I 100% look down upon anyone who says pop as if theyre automatically lower class

[-]

WonPika@reddit

Pop I can understand because it's short for 'Soda pop". It like how some places call pizza "pie". But "Coke"???? Why would anyone use the brand name for a single soda to refer to all sodas? Like, you're telling me out there someone is calling a Sprite "coke"???

[-]

Jealous_Decision5725@reddit

I havent called it pop since I was a kid. I usually just opt for the name of the beverage instead. but if I were to refer to it generally now I might say soda. coke as a catch-all is insane tho imo

[-]

WeReadAllTheTime@reddit

It’s true. I grew up in the Midwest and called it “pop” then I moved to the Southwest then East Coast where they say “soda” . Once I was in Arkansas and saw “sody pop” on a wall menu in a restaurant. I’ve heard that “coke” is used for all kinds of soda in the South but I haven’t been down there much

[-]

Sewpuggy@reddit

Texas here, it’s Coke all the way.

[-]

Phamton1@reddit

I’m in Texas and through most of my life everything was called Coke. The last 20 years are so I mostly hear “soft drink.”

[-]

Realistic_Point_9906@reddit

I grew up in eastern MA and we called it all tonic. With the frequency of migration due to the many high quality higher education opportunities as well as plenty of industry (tech, biomedical and others) soda started becoming popular around the Y2K era, and has nearly replaced tonic altogether, except for the holdouts, myself included.

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alittlefaith530@reddit

Grew up in the soda area and it’d still soda

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Mountain_Air1544@reddit

I grew up hearing both pop and soda frequently and I use both

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fattycatty6@reddit

Quite a few things are known by regional name, like grinders, subs and hogies.... all footlomg sandwiches, so to speak. 😆 I live in a soda area myself.

[-]

Chromatic_Trek@reddit

It's soda. Coke is a brand, pop is...a Midwest thing and dumb. If you go purely by population size that uses each, soda outnumbers all others.

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permalink_child@reddit

Why would that map lie?

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Bay_de_Noc@reddit

Former Michigander who still calls it pop.

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Neb-Nose@reddit

Where I live, it’s used almost interchangeably, but pop is definitely the dominant term.

[-]

No_Aardvark4795@reddit

It's a really big country, so, yeah people say things different ways in different places.

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_riskycake@reddit

It is a thing yeah

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KTeacherWhat@reddit

I'm in the midwest and pop was fairly rare, even when I was growing up, it was always soda.

[-]

Original_Ant7013@reddit

There are a lot of things that have a different name for the same thing. Wherever I am I just use what they use to avoid confusion.

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budgie-Love@reddit

We say pop where I’m from, lol. Love in Washington state

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MrBillinVT@reddit

I grew up in Maine where it was called "tonic."

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Rosenate22@reddit

I call it a fountain drink…..

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BobithanBobbyBob@reddit

Pop is tasty

[-]

ShowdownValue@reddit

If you order a soda in California vs the Midwest you get two very different things

[-]

tiggipi@reddit

I alternate between pop and soda, usually using the latter. No one around here says coke unless they're talking specifically about coca cola.

[-]

nonstopflux@reddit

Seattle has changed from a pop town to a soda town in the last 30 year a

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SnowblindAlbino@reddit

It's real. I've been to all 50 states and have run into this variation in every region. There are pockets of outliers, but if you order a "coke" in Washington State you will get a Coca-Cola; if you order a "soda" in Minnesota you'll get unflavored sparking water. And so on.

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Ajstross@reddit

But is anyone actually just ordering “a soda”? They’re going to specify what kind of soda they want—Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, etc. Nobody is going to be at a restaurant and say “I’ll have a soda.”

[-]

FreydisEir@reddit

This is kind of similar in the South where we use “coke.” If I order a coke at a restaurant, the server assumes I’m specifically ordering a Coca Cola. Nobody would order “just a generic carbonated beverage.” However, I might also ask “what kinds of coke do you have?” to ask what all their carbonated beverages are. It’s about context.

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PotusChrist@reddit

I have before. Most bars have it and should be able to figure out what you're talking about. Soda water or sparkling water is probably a clearer way to order it, though.

[-]

Ajstross@reddit

But in that case, they ARE ordering a club soda, so that is what they would ask for. We are talking about differentiating between different kinds of cola, orange, root beer, etc., and in that instance, nobody would just order “a soda” off the menu. They would specify what kind of drink they wanted.

[-]

PotusChrist@reddit

The whole point of this thread is that it's regional. I have order a soda before and the bartender knew what I've meant. I've never heard anyone order it as club soda, I hear soda water from most people and just soda from bartenders and cocktail types.

[-]

Foamcorner69@reddit

You’re still missing the point of what this person is saying. The thread isn’t about regional ways of referring to plain club soda. There’s no scenario where someone would order “soda” in a restaurant when they wanted a specific soft-drink - they would say the specific drink they want.

[-]

sunfish99@reddit

But they could ask, "What kind of soda do you have?" I've been in a few places where the drink menu was extremely short and just listed "soft drinks," no type.

[-]

Foamcorner69@reddit

I agree with that. Said in that context, I think it would be clear that they are asking what varieties of soft drinks are available.

[-]

Ajstross@reddit

Right, but again, that isn’t what the comment said. They wrote “If you order a ‘soda’ in Minnesota, you’ll get unflavored sparkling water.”

The point I was making in my response is that nobody who wants a Coke, Pepsi, Fanta, or whatever is telling the waitress, “I’ll have a soda.” They may ask what kind of soda they have, but nobody is going to just order a soda without specifying what kind they want.

[-]

supermuncher60@reddit

I lived in the Midwest for a while for college and I don't think I ever heard it called pop. It was always soda.

[-]

AtlasHands_@reddit

I grew up in Florida. It was soda. I live in Ohio now and I do hear a lot of people say pop. I've never heard anyone say Coke if they didn't actually want a Coke.

[-]

royalsforward@reddit

I use "soft drink" for all sodas

[-]

DetroitsGoingToWin@reddit

Pop where I’m from. Soda stops the fridge from stinking, Coke is for parties. 🎉

[-]

USAF_Retired2017@reddit

I call it what it is. Dr. Pepper, Coke, Sprite, etc. I grew up in NC and it was soda. My parents grew up in Ohio and it was Pop. I have friends from Florida that call it all Coke. Ha ha.

[-]

GRIFTY_P@reddit

What i wanna know, if you ask for a coke in the South, do they then have to clarify, "we have coke, sprite, dr pepper,..." Etc? So if you want a real coke you gotta go "I'll have a coke. I'll have a coke "????

[-]

PaulaAna@reddit

Grew up in California. Moved to Michigan at 24.

I still have it pointed out that I say Soda instead of Pop it makes it obvious I grew up somewhere else

[-]

g0atdaddy@reddit

In the south all carbonated non alcoholic beverages are called Coke. All alcoholic beverages are calked bud

[-]

queensekhmet@reddit

Wondering where all the Texans in here are from that call everything coke. I'm from the Dallas area and have never heard anyone call all sodas coke. I've also traveled around most of Texas and haven't heard it said elsewhere, though maybe it just didn't come up. But yeah, I just say soda. Definitely not pop though. I certainly understand what people mean when they say pop, but something about it just sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me.

[-]

TheGermanHillbilly@reddit

I live on the East Coast formerly from Cincinnati, Ohio. Everyone says "pop" in the Midwest for Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, etc. I learned real quick that "soda" is said on the East Coast for carbonated drinks like Coke. First time I said "pop" on the East Coast, I got looked like I had two heads. If you say "soda" in the Midwest, people think you want soda water. Soda water is used in a lot of mixed drinks in the Midwest. I get shit from my sister who makes it a point to ask if I want to drink an East Coast "soda" .

[-]

Wolfygirl97@reddit

I’ve grown up in NC and we say “soda.” My mom was born in Oregon where they say “pop” but had to start saying soda in NC because people didn’t know what she was talking about.

[-]

Wolf482@reddit

It's pop and anyone who says different is wrong.

[-]

Dry_Albatross5298@reddit

grew up in the midwest. it's pop. the first midwesterner who i ever heard say soda had also adopted needless britishisms into his speech and the upside down fork eating style into his forking. those are the people we're dealing with here.

[-]

sprout92@reddit

I have never once called it pop, and coke is Coca Cola. Not generic.

I guess it depends on the person but for me, no

[-]

binarycow@reddit

There's a map

[-]

ivorella@reddit

I live in Arizona, I say Soda. My family from the Midwest says Pop (sometimes sodapop). My boss from Texas says Coke.

It's a real thing lol

[-]

MollyWeasleyknits@reddit

Very real but people move. I live in a “pop” state but call it soda because my mom grew up in a soda state.

[-]

harpejjist@reddit

Completely accurate. Not exaggerated at all

[-]

andmewithoutmytowel@reddit

Yes, I grew up north of Chicago and it was pop, then moved to Texas and it was cooked or soda. I’m in Kentucky now and soda is the default here.

[-]

MegaMeepers@reddit

My dad’s parents were born in a pop area, so was my dad but he/they moved to a soda area before he was 5. I was born in a soda area, as was my mom. My parents and I moved to a high travel area, where most people who were born here have left so most people who live here currently have moved here from somewhere else, but it’s also a soda area. But we get everything- soda, pop, and coke on a daily basis depending on who we are talking to.

My grandma still occasionally says pop even tho she’s lived in a soda area since the 70’s

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Manatee369@reddit

What kind of Coke do you want?

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MackinawDreams@reddit

Always will be pop.

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KixStar@reddit

I grew up on the east coast. It's soda to me. My extended family comes from the Midwest so they say pop. ¯\(ツ)/¯

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ms-meow-@reddit

I've lived in Wisconsin my whole life and people say soda and pop here/it seems to depend which area of the state. I call it soda

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ToeJamFootballer@reddit

Soda is such a mouth full. I’m team pop. Altho coke every once in a blue moon.

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P00PooKitty@reddit

Some names are gone, in new england people used to say tonic

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Several_Ad_1197@reddit

And cola.

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mkl_dvd@reddit

It's real. Most of the time you forget about it and just use your preferred word. But then once in a while you'll run into someone who uses one of the other words and it'll take your brain a moment to process. But everyone knows that people use different terms so it's not a big deal.

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DreamieKitty@reddit

I grew up in California calling every type of soda a Coke. And then you would say which flavor. Now, as an adult, I call them all soda. I hate the word pop.

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No_Cup_6229@reddit

I use all three depending on how I feel that day.

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Away-Otter@reddit

I just said “pop” the other day and had to explain it to my cousins from California. I’m from Chicago.

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StreetMolasses6093@reddit

It was coke where I grew up in Texas. I live in Arizona now and say soda.

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patty202@reddit

Absolutely regional.

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GreatRecipeCollctr29@reddit

Yes, it's different depending on which state you reside. At the West Coast, it is called soda, softdrinks or cola. In the South, it's called cola or Coke because the Coca Cola hq is at Atlanta, Georgia. Utah is called pop. People are addicted to that drink, and they don't drink alcohol or caffeine. But they have a chain drink and sip shop called Sip that sells mocktails of sodas, and dirty sodas.

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Semi-Pros-and-Cons@reddit

Yes. Behold: https://popvssoda.com/

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Squidgie1@reddit

I grew up in WI saying pop, then visited Boston during high school. They made fun of "pop," so I've said soda ever since.

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ididreadittoo@reddit

I call it soda, always have but when I was young I've had people tell me that "soda" was an "ice cream soda (float) and the plain beverage was "pop" or "soda pop"

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CultofEight27@reddit

Older New Englanders call all soda Tonic to really mess with your head..

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SamtenLhari3@reddit

In Boston, it’s tawnic.

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LockedAndLoadfilled@reddit

Soda is really the big winner since the regions that say pop are typically lower density populations anyway.

The exception being Atlanta, Georgia, where they call it "Pepsi".

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holymacaroley@reddit

North Carolina, soda

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yeetskeetleet@reddit

I live in a very strange corridor of the Midwest that calls it soda. I’ve met people outside that corridor that call it pop. It’s always jarring

What’s even more strange are the “sodie” people. Where the hell did that come from

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Bluemonogi@reddit

I grew up in Iowa and we mostly said pop back then but I use soda or pop or soda pop pretty interchangeably these days.

I never call anything Coke that isn’t actually Coke though. No one I know does that.

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itsgr8@reddit

I’ve only ever called it Coke. It makes me giggle to hear it referred to as ‘soda’ or ‘pop’ or even ‘soda pop’ 🤣🤣🤣

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WerwolfSlayr@reddit

Western New York calls it pop and upstate calls it soda. Not sure what the city calls it though

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Redjeepkev@reddit

It's a regional thing. But yes

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MarkNutt25@reddit

Yeah, but I feel like "Pop" and "Coke" are dying out.

50 years from now, I think "Soda" will be the default nationwide, and the few remaining holdouts using one of the other two will have basically become the old people who still call their refrigerator an "icebox."

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Book_Slut_90@reddit

Yes. I grew up in a pop area and still say “pop” despite now living in a soda area.

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crochetawayhpff@reddit

I use pop and soda somewhat interchangeably. I grew up with pop, but where I am now, soda is slightly more common

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Lotus-child89@reddit

I’m from the Midwest and still often say pop. But I live in the south where most people say coke. I guess it depends on who I’m talking to. I never say soda and don’t know many who do.

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SummitJunkie7@reddit

Yes - https://www.businessinsider.com/soda-pop-coke-map-2018-10

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Wide-Difference-8292@reddit

I grew up in New England and it was called tonic. I don’t hear that anymore.

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YoshiandAims@reddit

Yeah. In my region you'll get them all pretty interchangeably... but everyone understands and it is less confusing than you'd imagine. (Except COKE. Of you ask the waitress for a coke, you get a coke, or a "we sell Pepsi products, is Pepsi okay?")

And tea! You have to specify carefully. Sweet tea, Sweetened tea, Tea with honey, iced tea, Hot tea, etc are all very different things that can be easily confused. If you aren't clear, or their menu isn't clear, you probably are not going to get what you wanted.)

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Healthy_Blueberry_59@reddit

That is real.

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bcuket@reddit

my dead grandma is the only person i knew that called every soda "coke". people in the south TODAY only say soda. when i moved to detroit, people there said pop and soda interchangable.

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StickLady81@reddit

Grew up saying soda in central PA. I've lived in Western PA over half my life and pop still feels awkward to say and I refuse to say it

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MissBandersnatch2U@reddit

Boston area calls it “tonic” but the accent is fading

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Euphoric_Ice_6647@reddit

I'm from MN and I say pop, have all my life. But there are people around me (my bf lol) who says soda.

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Lefaid@reddit

Yes, especially amongst coke and pop people. It is one of those things that helps you identify with your region.

Now, we aren't going to war over this or anything. It is just a silly quirky thing we call out.

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Careless-Internet-63@reddit

I mostly hear older people say pop though I think it's more common in the Midwest, soda is definitely the most common. Coke refers specifically to cola in most places, I've never understood how it could be used to refer to all soda

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ujibana@reddit

Yes. I switch between soda and coke. Pop sounds so dumb.

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the_owl_syndicate@reddit

I grew up in a coke area, where the follow up is "what kind?"

And if you ask for tea, you better say if you don't want it sweet and icy.

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Outrageous-Wafer2444@reddit

I'm from the NYC area - it's soda. I now live in the Pittsburgh area - it's pop (although more people are saying soda now). Both places if you want a Coke you say Coke (or Pepsi, etc.)

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tetrasodium@reddit

People generally say whatever was the default where they grew up even if they move around. There's no rivalry with it though and all of them are understood as generally interchangeable. Coke/Pepsi is the exception since usually only one is available so the waitress or whatever will usually say something like "we don't have Coke/Pepsi, is Pepsi/Coke okoe do you want something else?"

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SixSpawns@reddit

I live in the south. It's all Coke. Like what kind of Coke do you want? Dr. Pepper.

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Healthy-Theme8261@reddit

In Boston we call it tonic

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mlachick@reddit

Grew up in Portland calling it pop, then went to college in the South where the natives called it Coke and people from around the country called it all sorts of things. I started calling it soda because that seemed to be the most universally understood, and I continue to this day.

I loved teasing my suitemate in college because she'd say she was going to get a Coke and every time come back with a Dr. Pepper.

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Bigal095@reddit

Soda here, but I’ve visited places that can it pop and coke. Both are bizarre to me.

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jdsgram72@reddit

I grew up in ny and its a soda, moved to PNW and It's a pop, I now live in the south and its a coke.

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Heidiwearsglasses@reddit

I’m in the north east and I say soda. My aunties grew up in Philly and they called everything Coke lol

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Old-guy64@reddit

I’ve lived on both coasts, the Deep South and the Midwest.

Pretty much every where if you say “Coke” you’re getting Coca-cola.

But mostly it’s between “Pop” and “soda”.

The hardest one for me to adjust to was living in Tennessee, people older than me called lunch “dinner” and dinner “supper”.

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aquay@reddit

yep, it's widely varied by region.

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TooMuchShantae@reddit

It really is like that. I’m in Michigan and say pop, my friends in Texas say soda, and my friend in Tennessee says coke for all types of pop.

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3X_Cat@reddit

Soda pop

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ReadyDirector9@reddit

My mom was from Appalachia and she called it dope.

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UnseenGoblin@reddit

Sodapop!

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Current_Poster@reddit

When I was a kid growing up in New Hampshire, there were still people calling it "tonic".

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theonlydangle@reddit

Pop up north, soda or coke in the south. Coke can mean any type of soda. Pepsi only means Pepsi.

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B_Williams_4010@reddit

Kansas City is in the center of the country, and I hear people using all those terms. 'Pop' is what I use.

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im_dancing_barefoot@reddit

I grew up saying soft drink

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ReadyDirector9@reddit

Colorado residents call their carbonated beverages pop

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zentravan@reddit

I grew up with pop but I've changed how I see it as an adult since moving to a new state. Pop comes from a can or a bottle and soda comes from a fountain. Coke is a brand and I don't use that unless I specifically want a Coke, which is next to never.

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Excellent_Squirrel86@reddit

I grew up saying pop. The word is mostly limited to Chicagoland, but not exclusively.

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scipio79@reddit

Yes. We have regional accents, dialects, and even patois in some parts, which can determine which term a given American might use to describe soda pop.

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Turbulent_Table3917@reddit

Don’t forget about “tonic” in Southern New England.

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Ob1wonshinobi@reddit

It’s definitely a regional thing but I’m from New England and I use the blanket term “soda” for the style of drink, “I’m gonna grab a soda at the corner store”. If I want a specific type of soda, I will call it by the brand. If I want a cola I’ll ask for a Coke, if I want Root Beer I’d ask for a Barq’s, ginger ale I’d ask for a Canada Dry ect.

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DancingFlamingo11@reddit

And then there’s my dad who always called it soda pop.

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freddbare@reddit

The region stays the same word. I have moved and yes it changes. Accents are more dramatic TBH

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Quirky_Commission_56@reddit

The only soda that I drink is Dr Pepper.

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Bla_Bla_Blanket@reddit

It’s true but I’m sure that every country has regional words for the same thing

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Millkstake@reddit

I think soda is taking over

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wrapscallionnn@reddit

Still going stong here. Son went to the store yesterday and asked what kind of coke did I want. I said a Sprite.

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_sealy_@reddit

Soda.

It’s soda.

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ideletedyourfacebook@reddit

Soda and Pop are interchangeable. There are regional preferences, but no one would look at askance if you said one or the other.

My sense is that Pop is kinda saying away. I hear it a lot less often than I used to.

Coke, as a generic term, is very regional to parts the the south east US. Outside of that area, Coke just means Coca Cola.

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LadyGreyIcedTea@reddit

Yes that is accurate. Midwesterners love to say pop. We call it soda in New England.

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SnooCupcakes9068@reddit

I call it what it is , Mountain Dew, Coke, Dr Pepper etc....To generalize id say soft drinks or soda

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MdnghtShadow118@reddit

Yup. In my area people predominantly use Soda. Two counties west, still in the same state, it switches pretty abruptly to Pop or, slightly less often, Soda-Pop.

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Ok-Race-1677@reddit

Europeans not understanding the US is bigger than Europe, let alone their little village will never not be funny

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SmokeyFrank@reddit

There is a line somewhere between Oswego and Rochester (along Lake Ontario) where the use of “pop” takes over. I studied at the former where soda was the term, and eventually visited a friend near the latter, whose father offered me a pop.

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gusto_g73@reddit

Yes

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WildwoodShadow@reddit

I grew up in East Texas. Coke and soda were interchangeable, but it was mostly "coke".

"You want a coke?"

"Sure."

"What kind?"

"Dr. Pepper."

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Heykurat@reddit

It's not an exaggeration. It's a real phenomenon.

"Coke" is common in the South because there is a huge Coca-Cola bottling facility in Atlanta, so most restaurants are "Coke" businesses (restaurants typically have an exclusive contract with Coke or Pepsi for drink products).

Washington DC is a Pepsi town, I've noticed.

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gleaming-the-cubicle@reddit

I'm solidly Team Pop, I even converted my wife

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alaskawolfjoe@reddit

I always thought pop went out in the 1950s. I’ve never heard anyone use that in real life. I usually hear people call it soda.

Coke is a specific brand of cola. Some people prefer Coke. Others prefer Pepsi.

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Crafty-Owl8555@reddit

Western PA versus Eastern PA. West says pop. East calls it soda.

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SnooCupcakes9068@reddit

What country is the person asking this question from?

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Prestigious-Dog-2150@reddit

Why do you find it so hard to believe? You must be one of the billions of people of Planet Earth who thinks that all Americans are identical.

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thisislyncanthropy@reddit

Yeah… I am from California and I grew up saying soda but I’ve had friends from other parts of the country that call everything coke or call it pop

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thesturdygerman@reddit

NY/NJ here, it’s always called soda.

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hike_me@reddit

Yes, but over time it’s consolidating on soda.

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IAmBaconsaur@reddit

It’s real. I grew up saying soda and moved to a place where it’s “pop” but my husband has been around me so long he calls it “soda” now too lol

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lht79@reddit

Down in the South, it’s Coke and hearing pop made me giggle when I met a friend from Ohio, 9th grade, maybe? We’re still friends at 46. 😀

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beyondthewhale@reddit

Very real! I’m from a pop place. Have lived in soda places for years now, and people call me out for it. I will never change it 😤

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Constellation-88@reddit

I say soda or pop or sodapop when I want a carbonated drink. Coke is only a specific soda… Coca Cola. I don’t know anybody who says Coke for any soda. Like the old joke “Do you want a Coke?” and someone says “yeah I would like a Sprite.”

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red_vette@reddit

I moved from a pop region to a Coke region and yes it’s a thing.

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Klonopina_Colada@reddit

I'm in MA and I call carbonated drinks "soda". My grandma grew up calling it "tonic".

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SnooPineapples280@reddit

It’s always been soda (or “soft drinks”) where I live. If you ask for “coke” you’re getting specifically a Coca-Cola, unless they use Pepsi products only, in which they’d then ask “is Pepsi okay?”. I’ve never ever heard anyone say “pop”

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OwslaPrimeDirective@reddit

I am from Texas. In my home, it was always called a soft drink. We'd get seriously annoyed if we were visiting someone, they'd ask if we wanted a Coke, and when we said yes, they'd bring us a Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, RC Cola, etc. Basically anything BUT an actual Coke.

Don't offer me a Coke if you're not going to give me a Coke.

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Original-Peanut-4727@reddit

In some parts of Massachusetts it’s called “Tonic”, but I grew up with soda

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420wafflehouse69@reddit

In New Orleans it’s called a “cold drink”

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houdini31@reddit

I think soda is more and more starting to prevail

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wismke83@reddit

I grew up in Michigan where most people call it pop. I went to college in Wisconsin, where soda is the preferred term. I’ve now lived in Wisconsin for almost 20 years, and now call it soda.

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lunacydress@reddit

TEAM POP

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auntmarybbt@reddit

I say pop, soda, soda pop interchangeably. Occasionally I’ll say soda water…

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LuxInTenebrisLove@reddit

In my Northern New England town, they used "tonic" to refer to sodas in general. But "tonic" is dying out, and being replaced by "soda." In my early years we lived in a "coke" region, my parents grew up in a "pop" region. This is a very real phenomenon.

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balthisar@reddit

Born and raised in the "pop" region, but I'm a "soda" sayer. I despise "pop" and the only two compromises I'll make are "soda-pop" when I'm speaking, or "pop" with my daughter so that people won't think she's a freak, even if they think I'm one.

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mcculloughpatr@reddit

I live in a Soda region. Pop is just wrong (pls don’t hurt me). Coke is Coca Cola.

Although, I’m much more likely to say “can I have a insert soda name here” rather than generalizing, unless I’m literally asking if the establishment has soda at all. But soda is the category of drink.

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glowybutterfly@reddit

I grew up saying pop. I moved to a soda state and had to switch, because in soda states, people often don't even catch on to what you're talking about if you say pop. Now I'm in a pop state again, and it feels weird to refer to it that way.

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mrcub1@reddit

Pop growing up, soda now as an adult.

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Loisgrand6@reddit

Virginian here. Soda. And most of us specifically ask for what we want. Pepsi is Pepsi. Coke is Coke. Whatever flavor we want we ask for

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Due_Alternative_6539@reddit

We either said soft drink or Coke for all drinks!

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HiddenNobody20216@reddit

I grew up in the VA/MD/DC area and I say soda, my extended family from Ohio and Michigan say pop, and my buddy who grew up in Atlanta(where a major Coke bottling plant is) calls everything Coke.

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melvadeen@reddit

Drank. As in "You wanna a drank?" That means a carbonated beverage, usually Coke or Pepsi.

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ConstantCampaign2984@reddit

Ask for coke, receive coke. Ask for soda or pop and get asked which kind.

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Duplica123@reddit

Pop growing up in Illinois. Soda now that I've lived north in Wisconsin for 20 years. 2 hours difference.

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jackofspades49@reddit

Its regional. And it's soda here in the bay area.

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Jorgedig@reddit

Native Seattleite. Grew up saying pop, but inexplicably somewhere along the way, started saying soda.

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thebeatsandreptaur@reddit

I live in a coke/soda area. Coke is usually only used as a catchall when you're asking someone for a drink at their house or something or being offered one. It'll be like "Do you want something to drink?" and you'd maybe just default to "coke" since it's so ubiquitous in households and they might be like "yeah, I think I might have a sprite".

Or they might be like "want a coke?" and you'd be like "sure" and then they'd be like "I have sprite and fanta" or something.

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pissed-off-mom@reddit

Yes. I live in the south and its coke or soda.

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Mary-U@reddit

The soda / pop divide is a little vague to me because I grew in a Coke area.

I went to college and the soda v pop discussion confused me.

My area is drifting soda now.

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ChiRose60657@reddit

I live in Chicago and don’t like the word pop so I always say soda. I’ve also had many stupid on line arguments with my fellow Midwesterners over that 😆😜

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Ok_Jackfruit2612@reddit

In the 80s and 90s in Texas, if someone asked you what you wanted to drink, and you said, "Coke," they would ask what kind. Coke meant soda in general, then you would clarify which soda you wanted.

That somewhat fell out of practice over time and now people just say the name of whichever soda they want. If we are talking about soda in general, we'll call it soda.

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macrocosm93@reddit

In my experience, most people just say tye name of the drink they actually want. If they want a coke they say coke, if they want a pepsi they say pepsi, if they want a sprite they say sprite.

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spacedman_spiff@reddit

What do you call it in Ohio?

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

I grew up in Ohio and always called it pop. After moving around though I slowly switched to Soda without really thinking about it

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TK1129@reddit

Deep in soda territory. I went to a state college that had a mix of New York area kids like myself and kids from the upstate cities like Buffalo. Those kids said pop with a Midwest like accent and it gives me douche chills just thinking about it 20 years later

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FormerlyDK@reddit

New York. It’s soda here.

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CordreShkar@reddit

Never heard Pop irl in my life. I don't see it on cans or in ads either. I've never heard anyone call non cola Coke either. I've visited almost half the country and lived in 4 states (CA, WA, PA, NY). Supposedly PA says it in some areas since I was told to listen for it but never did hear it.

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freyaBubba@reddit

I grew up in Seattle so used "pop" and after a couple years of moving to California I started using "soda" instead. It wasn't a conscious decision, just natural based on those around me.

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MamaG34@reddit

Wisconsin- soda.

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wanttostayhidden@reddit

I'm WI too. I call it pop and so does almost everyone I know. Grew up in south central area and now line in the NW part of the state.

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Which_Set6331@reddit

I grew up saying pop and was teased when I moved out of state so I started saying soda. Now my sister teased me for not saying pop 🙄

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NoFleas@reddit

Some even say soda pop

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ProfessionalHotdog@reddit

We call it sodie

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FeelingPlayfulNow@reddit

I grew up near the edge of the coke/soda divide so I have lived under both of those, plus I have family in a pop state across the country. They are all common in their respective dialects, so as we grow up we eventually learn people in other regions use a funny word for the beverage and learn the alternatives.

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devilscabinet@reddit

"Soft drinks" is the phrase I grew up with. I hear "soda" a lot in this area these days, but never "pop." Most people I know mean Coca-Cola when they say "Coke," but some use it as a generic term.

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TakingItPeasy@reddit

Yes, it's regional. Im in the SE and everything is a coke. My cousins are in the Midwest and they say pop.

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Theodora1976@reddit

I’ve lived in the South my whole life and it’s always “what kind of coke do you want, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite or Dr. Pepper?”

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sneezhousing@reddit

I grew up saying soda live in Midwest now where I only hear pop. My kids say soda because of me and stick out amongst their friends

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Helena_Handbasket__@reddit

I grew up saying pop, then moved away. Then I moved back. Now I say soda because... pop feels like a weird regional word I don't love, even though people around here do say pop.

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GoVols8604@reddit

I’m from the South so it was always coke.

You want something to drink? Yeah get me a coke. What kind?

When I meet someone who says pop or soda I immediately know they’re not from around here.

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garbageman2112@reddit

It's pop. Everyone else is wrong.

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rnoyfb@reddit

It’s soda. Calling it pop makes it sound like you just got out of a time machine from the 1950s

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ArminTamzarian10@reddit

If you're a Washingtonian, it's pop.

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rnoyfb@reddit

I’ve never heard someone under 60 years old call it that unless they were from somewhere between Appalachia and the Rockies

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ArminTamzarian10@reddit

Are you a transplant? Growing up in the 90s, that's almost all I heard. And everyone I know actually from Washington call it pop, except for a few kids growing up who had transplant parents.

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garbageman2112@reddit

Soda is catching up but Pop is still Pop.

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Funicularly@reddit

Soda and pop are both short for soda pop. Given that, soda is the adjective and pop is the noun, so calling it pop for short makes a lot more sense.

Calling soda pop “soda” is like calling facial tissue “facial”.

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rnoyfb@reddit

No, they are not short for soda pop. Those are both independent words that predated the combination. Soda originally meant calcium carbonate and the sense of it as a beverage comes from an 1832 shortening of “soda water” (that combination first recorded in 1802) but the first recorded use of “soda pop” wasn’t until 1863. “Pop” comes from onomatopoeia of a uncorking a bottle in 1812

And in “soda pop,” soda is not an adjective. It is a noun modifier or nou adjunct, i.e. a noun modifying another noun. You wouldn’t say “that’s a very soda pop” or “this pop is more soda than that one.”

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garbageman2112@reddit

Wrong

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bh0@reddit

It’s pop here. All those NYC people are wrong.

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Itchy-Grapefruit2756@reddit

I say both and always have.

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AilanthusHydra@reddit

Grew up with pop, still say pop, most people around me say pop.

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thanatos0320@reddit

It's true. I only say coke...

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BAMspek@reddit

I live in Colorado but live in rural Colorado. I say soda, most people here call it soda, but the old folks all call it pop. I have no idea what year it changed but the old people call it pop around here. A lot of the time, since I work in a customer service job, I’ll just call it soda pop. If you call Sprite a coke then you probably have a confederate flag on your truck and your opinion doesn’t matter.

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No_Statistician9289@reddit

Coke is coke. Coke = a soda. Coke ≠ Soda

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AliveFirefighter5923@reddit

SODA in Philly

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BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy@reddit

In Louisiana we say cold drink. Or coldrank.

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Zombie-MountedArcher@reddit

My grandparents called it Tonic (New England.) I kind of miss it.

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GoldInTheSummertime@reddit

I grew up in a soda area but have family in pop and Coke areas. It is very real.

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Kitterlee@reddit

Yeah. It depends on where you live

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Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

Yes, those are very long-standing differences that exist to this day.

I, personally, have never ever called a drink like that soda. It would never occur to me.

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ErstwhileHobo@reddit

My grandma always said “sodey pop” I used to make fun of her, but I now say it because I think it’s fun.

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sorryimgay@reddit

I still don't understand the whole "Coke" thing. I've lived in the South my whole life, including five years of working in a restaurant. We just ask for a drink, not a coke. If anything, I hear people ask for Diet Coke more than Coke.

I call it a soda, and nobody calls it pop unless we're poking fun at northerners.

If you show me a bottle of Coke, I'm going to call it Coke. If you show me a variety of carbonated beverages with incredibly high amounts of sugar or sugar alternitaves, I'm calling it a soda. I'm never going to organically call something a soda-pop or a pop.

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ladytal@reddit

Soda where I grew up, pop where my grandparents lived.

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AuggieNorth@reddit

I grew up in Western MA but all our cousins from the Boston area in the 70's called regular soda tonic. These days though only old timers use the term for soda.

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Khpatton@reddit

The Coke part is absolutely exaggerated. I’m not saying NO ONE uses it generically, but I am saying I’ve lived in the South my whole life and Georgia (home of Coke) for nearly all of it, and I have never once had anyone ask for clarification when I’ve ordered Coke, beyond “regular or Diet?” I don’t know a single person who uses “Coke” generically to refer to any flavor of soda.

I use “soda,” “soft drink,” or “fountain drink” depending on context. I only say “Coke” if I mean Coke.

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juan_humano@reddit

These days its pretty much only soda. At least where I have lived. I did here people call any soda 'Coke' a handful of times in Texas when I would visit as a kid (in the 80-90's), but when I lived there for a few years in the 2010's it was just soda.

Ive never heard anyone call it pop. That might be a north eastern/mid west thing. Im mostly familiar with the south and the west. And the southwest, if thats not implied.

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deterioratingflesh@reddit

Language here can be extremely regional. My southern family says Coke, where I’m from in California we say soda, where I live now in the Midwest they say pop. It’s not a culture clash or that big of a deal, just has to do with the region/how soft drinks were introduced to different areas I guess

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QuailDifficult8470@reddit

I’m old enough to have had friends as a kid who called it “tonic.” They were from Maine so, you know.

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Icy-Whale-2253@reddit

You’ll never hear me say “pop” nor call something clearly branded Pepsi “Coke”…

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ToneBeneficial4969@reddit

Regional accents are rapidly disappearing do to mass media but among older people yes

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SonUnforseenByFrodo@reddit

The gap is closing now that people are aware of it

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thats-gold-jerry@reddit

That’s basically true, yes.

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LQNova@reddit

"Pop" is a dead giveaway. And we scorn the wimps who say "soda."

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FeeFiFooFunyon@reddit

I have to consciously remind myself there is nothing wrong with this person when someone calls it pop.

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eclectic_hamster@reddit

We do! I grew up in the Midwest and "pop" was my term of choice. Now that I moved to the Pacific Northwest side of the country, I've switched to soda to avoid confusion.

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BlowFish-w-o-Hootie@reddit

In Texas, It’s Coke. All carbonated soft drinks are cokes, then specify which flavor you want. Soda and pop are what other people say.

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tovlaila@reddit

Yeah, I live in Texas and growing up it was common to ask what kind of cokes they had, meaning list all the sodas. Especially when Dr Pepper wasn't associated with major brands as Coke and Pepsi.

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stranqe1@reddit

I always use soft drink myself.

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ranch_commercial@reddit

Its just soda where i live. But my pappy grew up in arkansas and him and his siblings call it sodiepop

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buildingacozymystery@reddit

Granted it was about 10 years ago, but I was a waitress for a while in a southern state and people definitely would order a “Coke”, I’d say “Coca-Cola?”, they would clarify “Dr. Pepper, please.”

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Newtimelinepls@reddit

All the time. I say different things depending on where I am in the country. (I travel a lot)

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dechets-de-mariage@reddit

I grew up in the Midwest. For me, “pop” is specifically used for the canned version of a carbonated beverage as well as the machine you get it from (“can of pop” and “pop machine.”)

When it’s in a glass, it’s soda.

I don’t get it either!

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sjedinjenoStanje@reddit

I've only lived in regions that call it soda

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ry-yo@reddit

same, lived in California my whole life

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lifeofGuacmole@reddit

Moved from LA to pop land. Drove me nuts 30 yrs ago. Then I moved down east.
“I’d like a coke”. They’d ask “what kind?” Co-cola is the right response.

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DeathandHemingway@reddit

What's funny is I'm a native Angeleno, but I say 'coke', and so does my family. Everyone knows what I mean, though.

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imthe5thking@reddit

Pop where I grew up in eastern Montana. Some people not from here call it soda, though. My Texan fiancée being one of them, a friend from Minneapolis being another.

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Available-Stage-1146@reddit

Im Team Soda. Most of my family calls it Pop.

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PsychologyGuilty1460@reddit

I grew up saying pop or Coke in the Midwest and Mountain West, although you did hear people saying both soda and sodapop.

When we were old enough to argue about it, We realized a lot of us didn't say Coke per se. We tended to say "Coke or something" as if it were all one word "Anybody want a cokersumpn?"

So tldr it's even worse than you thought

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ms_sinn@reddit

People really don’t realize how big the US is do they? Each state is around the size of a European country and we have 50 of them.

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Entiox@reddit

I'm from Pittsburgh which is basically on the border between the East Coast and the Midwest and there or largely depends on your generation. If someone is around my age, Gen X, or younger, they likely call it soda, if they're older than it's more likely pop. Where I've lived most of my life, Washington DC, it's almost always soda.

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tay2266@reddit

not all soda is coke lol

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indipit@reddit

I live in Texas. For all my life, everyone orders a coke. It's typically: "I'd like a coke, Sprite please" If you really want Coke, you order it by it's full name: "Coca Cola please", or "I'll take a Coke Zero."

The first time I ever heard someone use the term "pop" I thought they wanted a lollypop.

"Soda" is the term you use for sparkling water. Like Club Soda.

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Michael-Balchaitis@reddit

I’ve only heard it called soda. I’ve never heard it called “pop”.

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WerewolvesAreReal@reddit

As a kid I remember people getting mocked for saying soda, yes.

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Got_Bent@reddit

Now its soda, but every now and then I use tonic. Im in the North East US and when I was a kid in Boston, it was tonic in my area.

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No-News-2655@reddit

I'm from California where we say soda, I travelled to Detroit, Michigan and many people said Pop

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WoodpeckerForward188@reddit

Yes we do.

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lizardreaming@reddit

I said Coke growing up but I say soft drink now. It’s more accurate

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FluffyFry4000@reddit

yes, I had a family friend that used to say "Pop" all the time whereas I said "Soda" we both grew up in WA state, so it's definitely from wherever his family's from.

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BippidiBoppetyBoob@reddit

Yes. Here in Pittsburgh, we say "Pop" while in Philadelphia, they say "Soda" so it even can go across state lines.

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LoganLikesYourMom@reddit

I’m in Edmonton Alberta and these people say Pop. I’m from upstate NY, and that’s soda country. They also say “eh” a whole bunch, but that’s another story.

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Outrageous-Pin-4664@reddit

I grew up saying "coke." I had friends from Ohio who said "pop." I thought that was the weirdest thing. It wasn't weirder than using the name of one soda to mean all of them, though, so now I say "soda."

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bdrwr@reddit

The first time I heard my cousins on the east coast say "pop" my brain short-circuited

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MsMaryMack11@reddit

I was born and raised in the sticks of central FL and my family and I always said, “coke”, but now, after living in NC for about 25 years, I realized that I now say “soda” most of the time. Growing up, we always thought that “pop” was a “yankee” thing and just something that all the snowbirds said.

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Drunken_Sailor_70@reddit

I grew up saying pop. I had relatives who would call it soda (in fact, once my uncle was out at a restaurant back in the 70s and asked for a soda. The poor girl was going to bring him water with baking soda in it). Now I live in the south and call it coke.

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Scorp8876@reddit

Usually pop but when I was a kid I was so confused which one to use so I used to always call it soda pop

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BooksNCatsNWineNSnax@reddit

It’s not exaggerated. This is a big place with a lot of regional variation in language and customs.

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Brave_Speaker_8336@reddit

Pop is understandable here, but you would sound out of place saying it and definitely not from around here. Coke only means Coke, I would think of cocaine before I thought of sprite or something, though if I asked for Coke and you gave me generic branded cola, I’m okay with that. Soda covers everything else

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BUBBAH-BAYUTH@reddit

Pop always sounds like I’m watching a family friendly series from the 50s

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travelinmatt76@reddit

I grew up in a coke area, it drove me nuts as a kid. I called everything by it's proper name. I hated it when I asked for a Coke and somebody brought me a Pepsi or Dr. Pepper

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duderdaisy98@reddit

Anyone else from Wisconsin say soda? When I started hearing the midwest calls it 'pop' I was confused. I don't think I've ever heard anyone here say pop for soda.

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lecheesewhiz@reddit

At a restaurant I once asked for a “red hot and a pop” and they had no clue what I was asking for 😆 IYKYK

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jackfaire@reddit

Technically soda and pop are two halves of the same word. I use all three interchangeably and I grew up in the PNW.

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gravitycheckfailed@reddit

I say Coke 90% of the time, cold drink or soda maybe 5% of the time each, and never say pop.

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LastBug7894@reddit

[ Removed by Reddit ]

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Content-Car6395@reddit

Soda is common in my area. I’ve always said soft drinks.

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Far-Lecture-4905@reddit

I grew up in an area where nobody ever said pop, so it blew my mind to still hear people use it in Midwest. Down South "Coke" for all soft drinks is really fading away now though.

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------------------@reddit

I’ll live and die by pop

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3rd-Time-Charm-207@reddit

Certain rubes in New England (I’ve been here all my life) even say “tonics” when they mean fizzy, sugary beverages.

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BackLopsided2500@reddit

I don't know what the area calls it but we switched from pop to soda

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rootxploit@reddit

I moved from pop to soda. After a few years i adapted. Then I moved back to pop. Life involving carbonated beverages is hard now.

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JThereseD@reddit

New Orleans always has to be different and calls it a cold drink.

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Ok-Advantage-1383@reddit

Born and raised and still in the same home in Georgia. Only ever heard it called soda

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nessthing@reddit

It's regional and also age based. Every year more and more young people call it soda, people in Southern California and therefore Hollywood movies all call it soda, but pockets of "pop" in the midwest and around Pittsburgh are still notable as well as "Coke" for every soft drink, e.g. "what kind of Coke you want? we got Sprite." in the American South.

I'm a 1990 baby and I say soda because of media even though I'm in a half soda half pop area.

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Prestigious-Name-323@reddit

It’s pop. I don’t care what anyone else says. It’s pop.

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PersonalBadger7448@reddit

i grew up in a pop region and if someone said soda i’d think they meant unflavored soda water.

then i moved to a soda region and i called my drink pop and nobody knew what i meant, so now i call it soda.

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Logical-Cap461@reddit

It's true. We're also split over "steerple" and "spyre".

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KW5625@reddit

It's 100% true.

I live in a transitional area and sometimes say soda pop, but Coke is Coke and nothing else... No, Pepsi is not ok.

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TheLurkingMenace@reddit

Yep. I've lived in each of these regions. I refuse to call it anything but soda. If I order a Coke at a restaurant and you ask me what kind, I'm getting water instead.

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fierce_turtle_duck@reddit

It used to be much more pronounced but soda has come to dominate. My grandmother would say pop but I've always known it as soda and never met anyone who uses pop as anything but a joke. It feels like a small rural (probably southern) town thing to say.

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nellywaters@reddit

I'm from the South. Everything to my family is Coke. Then we ask what kind of Coke do you want?

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mothwhimsy@reddit

Why would it not be true?

I say pop and if you travel an hour in any direction everyone says soda and makes fun of you

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Staff_Genie@reddit

Oh I'm going to be pretentious and call it soft drinks, LOL

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GenXer76@reddit

I grew up in Washington State; we always said “pop.”

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xx-rapunzel-xx@reddit

i default to “coke” when i want soda. i think “pop” is heard more in upstate ny.

“soda” is not specific enough.

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kritter4life@reddit

Yes in different regions.

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B-Train_ATL@reddit

It’s real. Put me in charge and I’ll tell everyone to just call it soda. There is nothing pop about it, and Coke is wrong if it isn’t Coca-Cola.

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Narrow_Lake_9651@reddit

From Chicago, north to the border, it is " pop ". In Wisconsin, it is " soda ".

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Viener-Schnitzel@reddit

I’ve personally never heard anyone call soda that isn’t cola “coke.” I also feel like pop is mostly something older generations say, I really just hear “soda.” But also maybe I have confirmation bias lol

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Staff_Genie@reddit

One of my first fast food jobs in San Antonio I learned that if someone asked for Coca-Cola he'd better ask what kind of Coca-Cola they meant. And frequently it was Sprite or root beer

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Detonation@reddit

It is true. I'm from the Midwest and still live here, it's called pop by most. I lived in the south for a few years as a teenager and many people there called it all Coke. It drove me nuts lol.

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Educational_Meet1885@reddit

I'm in Wisconsin and we just call it by brand name, Miller, Coors, Bud etc. Got the drunkest counties in the US. Soda for the rest.

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venus_arises@reddit

I am a midwesterner and was taught to say pop. I moved to the south, and it's soda everywhere, and it always gives me a start.

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DeathofRats42@reddit

I was raised with "soda pop." Guess we're so formal in my family, that we use it's full name.

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notsosecretshipper@reddit

I live in a pop area.

It's not an exaggeration that there are maps of the country the show who says it, but it's not like no one ever says the other term within a certain area. I can understand when people say soda, soda pop, or soft drinks, and hear those alternate terms often, but the people who just say Coke are objectively wrong.

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Capable-Pressure1047@reddit

Grew up with " soda" , moved to a "Coke" state, married a " Pop" guy.
Somehow it all worked out. LOL

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GothWitchOfBrooklyn@reddit

Soda where I'm from, pop where I live now, and yes I find pop very weird.

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windfogwaves@reddit

If you’ve seen the maps showing the geographic differences, why do you doubt this?

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LowerMusic@reddit (OP)

The maps that I've seen didn't have the county granularity or as nice of an interface to explore. Just curious about it 😄 And I'm building my own site to ask other questions like this as well

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Virtual_Job9303@reddit

Yep.

I’m from the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Everything is “coke”, including Pepsi or Dr Pepper. Only Mountain Dew or Sprite get to retain their brand name.

When traveling, “soda” was easily understood, but “pop” is something I very briefly have to think about in order to understand. “Soda-pop” wasn’t unusual growing up, but I haven’t heard that from anyone in many years, and those who said it would now be over 100 if alive.

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imadeafunnysqueak@reddit

And I am also from the NC mountains, and I grew up saying "soft drink." One deceased relative of mine said "sody pop." It drove me crazy.

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somecow@reddit

“Uhh, sweet tea”. They give me unsweetened teas. I just sat my ass down, I’m tired, don’t assault me with these rapid fire questions.

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Mediocre-Delay2872@reddit

It's pop. Coke is a word that invariably excludes Pepsi, etc., and soda is a blasting media

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snapsfortiffany@reddit

It's usually soda in the South, but I've heard older folks call it Coke, not necessarily meaning a coke specifically.

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NekoMao92@reddit

It is regional on what people to call soda drink. I spent most of my younger years in Kansas/Missouri/Nebraska, I tend call it soda or soda pop, unless I'm referring to a specific soda drink.

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SpicySandTroll@reddit

Coke is not interchangeable with soda and/or pop. Coke is for the brand Coca-Cola or possibly for another brand of cola. I'm from Hawaii and live in California and have always called it soda, short for soda pop. I suppose there must be some places where they still call it pop.

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daHavi@reddit

It's a BIG country

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No_Entertainment1931@reddit

Real.

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SheShelley@reddit

I grew up in Texas where everything was Coke. Friend: “Would you like a Coke?” Me: “Sure, what kind do you have?”

Now I’ve been in Arizona 30+ years and don’t remember the last time I didn’t say soda. But all my Ohio relatives have always said pop.

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february_third@reddit

I’m going to start saying sodie pop.

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knifeyspoonysporky@reddit

It’s Soda. Coke is a brand of soda, pop is a sound.

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Glad-Intern2655@reddit

Montana - always Pop. I live in the Pacific NW now and have to say soda, but I cringe every time.

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panmetronariston@reddit

South Boston: Tonic, pronounced tawnik.

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Capable-Society-2043@reddit

I grew up in the same area of the Midwest where it was referred to as Pop. But the use of soda has crept in. Visit any supermarket and it's going to be the "Soda" isle signage. Soda pop, used together was also often used. When I see a glass bottle, as it was once was distributed in before plastic bottles, my first instinct is to call it a pop bottle or even with a can, I'll refer to it as a pop can.

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Fish_Fighter8518@reddit

Anyone that calls all soda "coke" is an idiot, and anyone that calls all soda "pop" is from old family with tradition.

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50ShadesOfKrillin@reddit

I'm from a "soda" territory. When I go down south, I like to switch it up and start calling all sodas Coke just to see if it's still a thing. Always makes me chuckle a bit

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andr_wr@reddit

Grew up on a place where "pop" was the only word used to describe the drink. We only heard "soda" from nationally syndicated programs.

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anyavailible@reddit

It’s all coke

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AtsaNoif@reddit

I grew up saying “pop” and at some point due to moving around the country I started saying “soda.” Now “pop” sounds weird to me. But I’ve picked up some other regionalisms that are weird in my current context. What are ya gonna do.

I went to visited a fast food place in Oakland. When I told the young lady behind the counter that I wanted to Coke, she asked me “what kind?” I had a hard time answering this question. I assumed it was regular versus diet or something? But she was fresh off the boat from Louisiana and to her I just said “I want a soft drink,” which was not informative. It took some doing for the two of us to figure this out.

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BSB8728@reddit

We said "tonic" in Braintree, Massachusetts ('60s).

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OldBlueKat@reddit

There are distinct regional differences.

IDK where you are, but a lot of folks not in the US just don’t get how big this place is.

People who grew up in, say, Atlanta, may have never been within 700 miles of Chicago. Or 2000+ miles to LA.

Of course there’s different styles, dialects, local slang, etc!

And even if they have traveled on vacation, you don’t lose your own colloquialisms and pick up the others overnight.

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PrincessSnarkicorn@reddit

I was eight and growing up in Texas when we went to a restaurant and I said I wanted a coke, then I was annoyed when they brought me a coke and not the root beer I had wanted

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rainbwbrightisntpunk@reddit

I've lived I'm CA my whole life and it's soda or coke. I have a friend that recently moved here from Ohio and I giggle every time she says pop because it's unusual here.

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Adventurous-Exam-719@reddit

Then you have the Cult of Mountain Dew. I don’t have to explain them further. They just felt this comment in their souls and will be here shortly to respond. You’ll see.

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msabeln@reddit

When I was little, sometimes people called it “soda pop”, but usually just “soda” and never “pop”.

I propose calling it “fizzle juice”.

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MaterialPace8831@reddit

I am from the Chicagoland area where we mostly say "pop," but you can also say "soda" without raising eyebrows. When I moved out to Washington, D.C., a decade ago, I remember asking for a pop during some outdoor fest, and the guy behind the table said, "A pop?! What's a pop? [takes a beat] Oh you mean a SODA???" So yeah, it is a thing.

I also think "soda" is probably more prominent because screenwriters typically live in New York and Los Angeles, and just assume their nomenclature is how it's said everywhere. I've lost track of how many times I've watched a show about Chicago and they reference the "DA," which is not a thing here because Chicago does not have a district attorney, the county has a state's attorney.

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Limping_Stud@reddit

There's definitely a geographic division. Everyone calls it soda or coke where I live (South Texas), NOBODY calls it pop. When I visited relatives in Ohio, everyone called it pop.

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Aggravating_Peach_94@reddit

Grew up in Texas. Everything was Coke.

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sacredxsecret@reddit

I grew up in the south saying coke for everything. My grandparents, who were from the northeast, said pop. I have now lived in ‘soda’ country for so long that it’s what I say now.

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Brandonjoe@reddit

It’s Coke here in Texas

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Saekki10@reddit

Yes. I’m from the northeast and I grew up hearing and saying soda. On the other hand, my step dad was from the south and he always said pop.

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Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit

Yes. In fact, when I was a high school teacher on the West Coast, I had my students exchange writing with the students of a friend that I knew who taught in the Midwest. A student came up to me at one point and asked what pop was. This was probably 25 years ago.

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WangoTangoFlamingo@reddit

Definitely Regional. I live on the East coast (32F), have lived in ME, NH, NJ, PA, VA, FL. I have never heard a single person use the word "pop" in natural conversation where I've lived. No one I've ever met says Coke unless they are specifically referring to a Coca Cola.

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seifd@reddit

Yes, we are.

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oops-potato@reddit

It’s very real- I grew up in “pop” territory but my parents had moved there from “soda” regions, I grew up saying soda like my family and would get double-takes from peers.

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AWTNM1112@reddit

I say Coke when I want a Coke. But in some regions Coke is neutral for soda pop. I also tend to go between Soda and Pop. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, so always assumed the regional preferences all just trickled up to us with no real preference.

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Adventurous-Exam-719@reddit

We southerners will call it soda in mixed company but we never call it pop

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Weaselpuss@reddit

Only call it pop here in the Midwest I live in

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zanylanie@reddit

I grew up in the Midwest and everyone I know calls it soda.

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Weaselpuss@reddit

Tell me you’re from Wisconsin without telling me you’re from there

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zanylanie@reddit

I am not from Wisconsin.

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Weaselpuss@reddit

Second guess is forgottonia Illinois

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Weaselpuss@reddit

Even worse, I’m from Indiana and it’s been pop my whole life. I was just guessing from the maps ive seen

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Charming-Sea8571@reddit

We call all sodas “coke” and then ask what kind 😂. I get it’s silly, but it is what we do

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Illustrious-Sea-7518@reddit

In Boston soda used to be called tonic. Most people say soda now.

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floydmulder@reddit

I’ve lived in central Ohio all my life. I personally have always used pop and soda interchangeably. Never used Coke as a catch-all, and don’t know anyone here who does. But I feel like most around here call it pop, so I feel like calling it soda is probably a little unusual.

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Zealousideal_Gift844@reddit

Western NY ventures into pop territory. Ingrates.

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thewrongbanana69@reddit

If u ask for coke then ur getting a coke. If someone says pop where it’s not regionally the norm people will ask where you’re from bc it must be a weird small town. Most people say soda and those who say pop know they’re being extra

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Ok-Concert-6475@reddit

I'm from WA State. Soda and pop are used interchangeably, although I personally use soda. Here, if someone asks for a Coke, they typically get Coca Cola.

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OpeningGolf7972@reddit

I call it pop and my girlfriend, who calls it soda, HATES it

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Maybeitsmeraving@reddit

Coke used to be more of a thing in the south. It's more older people and people hanging onto it on purpose even though it's sort of an anachronism. Pop has shrunk in range and consistency some but it still gets heavy use in the Midwest. Soda is dominant, and will probably overtake entirely in the long haul.

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TeensyKook@reddit

A core memory of mine is being 13 in California for the first time and a waitress asking me if I wanted pop. I had no idea what pop was.

It’s soda or coke here.

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DisraeliEers@reddit

There's a large, tribal divide in my small state on whether you call the got dog topping "sauce" or "chili".

There are things like that all over the country. It's fascinating.

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Anachronism--@reddit

The continental US is about the size of the European Union. There are regional variations…

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MedusaGotMeStoned007@reddit

Yeah but in the 7-8 states I’ve lived in I hear soda 99% of the time, pop with a pronounced p in the beginning (like they really love asserting the use of the word 🤣), and coke as an umbrella term is rare

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seguefarer@reddit

My area switched from Coke (What kind? We've got Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and orange.) to soda when the immigration rate reached a critical mass.

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RaltarArianrhod@reddit

I grew up in a soda area. I've moved to what is supposed to be a pop area, but i have honestly never heard a single person call it pop here.

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Adventurous-Exam-719@reddit

It’s a thing. If someone from up north comes to the south and calls a coke (little c) a pop, someone is going to comment on how they Aint from round des parts.

[-]

tacobellgittcard@reddit

Yes.

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Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit

I grew up saying Coke - which referred to a carbonated beverage.

Typical convo 'Can you get me a coke?" "What kind?" 'Root beer".

[-]

smcgrg@reddit

I grew up in Soda-ville. I lived in Cokeland for 5 years, and now I'm in Pop Country, which also doubles as a sub-genre for music these days. I now use the three interchangeably.

[-]

ObjectiveOk2072@reddit

Soda: good

Pop: also good

Coke: eh, okay

Soda-pop: gtfo

[-]

AlexandriasBirdwing@reddit

I grew up in a Coke area and moved to a Pop area. People think I’m weird when I call everything Coke, and I can’t stomach saying Pop, so I changed to saying Soda.

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MsMeseeksTellsTime@reddit

I’m from Western Kentucky, and here, everyone says “Coke” when describing soft drinks, unless they’re specifically ordering a drink or they’re transplants from another part of the country.

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Least_Bat1259@reddit

It’s pop.

[-]

Rare_Slice420@reddit

As a kid (California)we said pop because our parents (Utah) did. But once old enough to be out with friends it was Coke no matter the type of soda. It transitioned to soda in High School because I got tired of people bringing me a Coke when I clearly wanted a root beer. lol

[-]

Superb-Team-7984@reddit

I grew up in southern california. Everyone said pop till around 1990 and then all the sudden everyone started saying soda

[-]

must-stash-mustard@reddit

I grew up in Pop, moved to Soda, but never stopped calling it pop. Almost everyone knows what I mean.

POP FOREVER.

[-]

BRT349@reddit

You forgot tonic in New England

[-]

Beaglelikethedog@reddit

It was pop when I grew up in Buffalo, NY, but it's been soda everywhere else I've lived, both in NY and California.

[-]

Dave_A480@reddit

Regional thing.

Coke is from Georgia so a good bit of the South calls all carbonated soft drinks Coke

[-]

Accomplished_Mix7827@reddit

Yes. Soda and pop are a bit more interchangeable, but everyone not from the South think they're weird for calling all soda Coke.

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ham1917@reddit

Grew up in Utah saying "soda pop" or "pop",

Unconsciously switched to "soda" after living in the midwest for a few years

"Coke" is Coca-Cola ONLY

[-]

MsMeseeksTellsTime@reddit

Kentucky resident here. Western Kentucky, to be a little more specific. I always drink water and rarely drink a thing else except the occasional coffee or tea.

However, when I drank soda, I preferred Coke to Pepsi UNLESS I was eating pizza, and then I wanted Pepsi. I blame Pizza Hut for that, as it was a huge reward we got to earn by reading when I was in elementary school, and that chain always served Pepsi.

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Pitiable-Crescendo@reddit

It's a regional thing.

[-]

Loose-Set4266@reddit

I’ve only used brand specific names like Do you want a coke/dr pepper/sprite etc….

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SaltyEngineer45@reddit

Here in California I have only heard soda. Coke is when someone is actually referring to that specific brand. When I visit family in Virginia, everything is pop. /shrug

[-]

AcousticOnomatopoeia@reddit

Grew up in California, always soda, went with my dad and brother to visit Ohio where dad grew up, went to lots of bars, at one a waitress asked if wanted a pop.

I thought she was gonna hit me.

[-]

GoddessOfOddness@reddit

People who live in Pop country (PA west of Alleghenies, Michigan, northern Ohio, northern Indiana, Illinois) are particular and cringe at hearing soda.

Soda people can’t hand hearing pop.

Most people understand Coke to mean soda.

[-]

kryptokoinkrisp@reddit

No exaggeration. It really do be like that. I think “Coke” is starting to disappear as a regional thing though. I expect “pop” will start to disappear soon as well, but for now it’s very much alive in the Midwest.

[-]

Shinigamisama00@reddit

Yes, this is true. Pop for life in Michigan.

[-]

Maybe_Fine@reddit

I grew up with pop. I'm not sure if that was the norm in my area (Oregon) or if it was a holdover from my mom being from the midwest. At some point it switched to soda, and pretty much everyone here (Portland, OR) says soda. I definitely hear pop when I visit my midwest family though.

The funniest is being in the south and asking for a Coke and having them ask what kind.

[-]

makeherbeg4it@reddit

Yes

[-]

OJSimpsons@reddit

I moved around a bit on the east coast and soda was most common. Pop popped up too relatively frequently but it was typically from someone who was from somewhere else. I hear some coke referring to soda (not necessarily coca cola) in the south.

Basically, you'll hear them all everywhere. But most people in certain regions will usually stick to "the main one."

[-]

Adh1434@reddit

I’m from Detroit we say pop

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FelixSven17@reddit

MN/ND, I’ve never heard anyone call it anything other than pop around here.

[-]

Downtown_Anteater_38@reddit

Soda pop!

[-]

biggcb@reddit

Soda before, soda now, soda always.

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butt3ryt0ast@reddit

Depends on where you live. I’ve only ever called it soda and grew up in Massachusetts , but when I visited relatives in Idaho they called it pop. Since I’ve lived in New Mexico and Arizona where it’s still just soda

[-]

Fun_Push7168@reddit

It's real

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Ok-Entertainment5045@reddit

It’s still pop in Michigan

[-]

Illustrious-Set-7907@reddit

Grew up in Texas, people said Coke. Lived in Montana, Michigan, and Connecticut and people said Soda.

Some older folks in Michigan said pop

[-]

michelle427@reddit

It’s the area you live in. I live in the ‘Soda’ area. But my friend lives in the ‘Pop’ area.

[-]

TokyoDrifblim@reddit

I have only ever lived in soda areas but I've definitely heard pop when traveling pretty frequently

[-]

biggins9227@reddit

Midwest. We call all pop, pop. Sometimes we'll use Coke as a catch all.

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Cogent_warrior@reddit

'Might as well'

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Ambitious-Ad2217@reddit

You’re missing folks who say soda-pop and soft drink

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Reduak@reddit

Someone asks me for a "pop" and I think they want a smack in the head. What they really want is a Coke... meaning any brown carbonated drink or a soda which is any carbonated drink that isn't brown.

[-]

RedLegGI@reddit

It’s pop. Anyone that answers differently is wrong.

[-]

Say_Hennething@reddit

Where I live now one would blink if you called it pop or soda. If you said you wanted a "coke" you would get Coca-Cola.

[-]

RandyArgonianButler@reddit

It’s regional mostly. Southerners often call everything coke. Midwesterners are more likely to say pop.

Normal people say soda.

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Snoo_16677@reddit

In western Pennsylvania, we said pop. It's been changing to soda over the past 30 years or so.

[-]

Odd-Bullfrog7763@reddit

Its not exaggerated. Though it's blended in alot of areas because people moving around. I grew up saying soda, then we moved to a state that said pop. I currently live in Texas were its kinda a blend of all 3.

[-]

Similar_Corner8081@reddit

I'm from Virginia so it's always soda to me. My bf is from Tennessee where it's coke. Depends on where you live.

[-]

Kinetic_Silverwolf@reddit

Yes

When I lived in Alabama as my youth, the wait staff would ask "what kinda Coke you want?" ad the way to ask what you'd like to drink with your meal.

When I moved to Florida, and later Texas, is was soda there. When I visited Chicago for the first time was the first time I heard "pop" said aloud in reference to soda.

[-]

Cock--Robin@reddit

Even weirder. I grew up in the Coke region, but visited my maternal grandparents who lived in a place within that area that said “cold drink”.

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Hot-Fact-3250@reddit

If you were born in southeast Louisiana, you say Coke

If you are in southeast Louisiana and you say soda, I wouldn’t be weirded out

If you are in southeast Louisiana and say pop…

[-]

NinjaOk2887@reddit

I say soda. Pop is annoying. Coke is ridiculous.

[-]

lizwiththedreads@reddit

We say cold drink where I'm from but that’s VERY regional.

[-]

Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit

My grandparents and dad all say pop but I grew up saying soda

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cghipp@reddit

I grew up and live in what's supposed to be the Coke area but most people around me say Soda.

[-]

Dear_Milk_4323@reddit

The coke thing is kinda exaggerated. I grew up in Georgia my whole like, the land of Coke. I’ve never gone into a restaurant asking “what kind of cokes do yall have?” If I do that, they’ll say “Diet, Zero, regular” I say “soda” in those contexts and so do most of the people I know. I say “coke” generically in other contexts, like “Do you have any cokes in the fridge?” And I mean sodas in general

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ivylily03@reddit

I say soda usually but I've been known to use all three. Texas

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CrazyJedi63@reddit

Grew up in Central California, a bastion of Coke in an ocean of Soda. My wife grew up two hours away and says Soda.

Now, with changing demographics, it's pretty much all Soda there.

We're in best Carolina now and it's back to Coke mostly around me.

[-]

Catrina_woman@reddit

I grew up and live in a soda area. I went to college in a pop area.

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Puzzled_Hamster58@reddit

Soda and tonic are what you hear in mass . Tonic is more old saying/ Boston thing . Don’t really hear pop as much. And coke is not really used as a catch all .

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Bubbly_Gap_9212@reddit

It's a regional thing. Coke in one state is Pop in another.

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ButtChowder666@reddit

I only say Coke if I'm talking about Coke, I'm not an animal, but I use soda and pop interchangeably. It depends on what comes out of my mouth.

[-]

Queen_MarMar@reddit

Grew up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, and we said pop. Moved to NYC and it was soda. Also soda in southeastern Pennsylvania.

[-]

pinksparkleberry@reddit

Its a country of 350 million people. Yes, different people say different things. 🤦‍♀️

[-]

mustbethedragon@reddit

I grew up calling everything Coke, moved to pop areas for several years, then on to soda areas. Six states, three terms.

[-]

GinX-@reddit

Coke here.

[-]

FixergirlAK@reddit

Lots of things about the US are exaggerated, but that's not one of them! When it comes to linguistics we're all over the place, though that seems to be true of English speakers in general. We develop dialects like it's going out of style. Signed, pop, living in a soda area.

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Royal-Honeydew-6312@reddit

When I was a kid I called it pop (in Seattle) but nobody calls it that any more. People say soda here now. That might have always been the case, and I just picked it up from my midwestern parent.

[-]

Olympia94@reddit

Ppl say soda here, we only say coke for coke products

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

I was a bartender and the new cocktail waitress ordered a scotch and coke from me. I asked her if she was sure since that is a really unusual drink where I live. She said she was sure and she brought it back. The man had ordered a scotch and soda. She said he didn't tell her what kind of soda so she assumed coke. I told her assume makes an ass of u and me.

[-]

xquigs@reddit

It’s very regional. In Pennsylvania (eastern, Philadelphia), south New Jersey, Delaware- have only ever heard soda being used to describe any of those drinks. You get more specific when saying the type/brand “hey grab me a Sprite”, “hey give me a cola”, “can I get a root beer”.

[-]

Scruffy42@reddit

It's coke here. Cola sometimes. Pop never, although we obviously know what it is.

[-]

strumthebuilding@reddit

Accurate

[-]

zone_of-danger@reddit

In my 30+ years of living in the South I’ve never really met anyone who uses coke as a catch all for soda. At a restaurant if you order a Coke they will give you Coca-Cola. The only question they might ask after that is “Is Pepsi okay?” Which then I immediately proceed to leave that establishment.

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SignificantApricot69@reddit

Yes, never heard pop until I moved to the Midwest and it’s mostly that here. Soda dominated where I grew up on the East Coast with a little bit of Coke.

I personally prefer “soft drink” and believe it is the obviously correct term

[-]

Agua_Frecuentemente@reddit

First time I was in the Midwest a convenience store cashier said to me "would ya like your pop in a sack?". This New Englander had no idea what was being asked.

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IvoryWoman@reddit

Soft drinks or Coke.

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SaltandLillacs@reddit

Soda but grandparents called call soda tonic

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ExpensiveOccasion542@reddit

It's a region area

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UGN_Kelly@reddit

I’ve been to or lived in places where all three were dominant. In my experience soda is by far the most common and ubiquitous. Even if the residents say coke or pop most places won’t look at you twice if you say soda. That said there are many smaller or more insulated areas where this is not the case. Overall though, yes there is certainly a large population for each.

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leiaflatt@reddit

I’m from Atlanta, the birth place of Coke. When I was little, a Coke meant any fizzy beverage, which was then usually followed by more specificity. A “Co-cola” was specifically a Coca-Cola, which could also be specified to be diet. Now I’ve lived all over the world and loathe both “pop” and “soda” but understand just Coke doesn’t work for everyone so I usually say I want a drink with bubbles. But let’s be real: it’s always going to be a Coke or a Diet Coke.

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Legitimate-Fee-3544@reddit

I’m from pop (bubbler) region and when I’m really not thinking about it, I’ll say pop. But normally i say soda since I worked in a bar.

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ItBeRyou@reddit

Yes, it's a regional thing here, soda (Northeast/West), pop (Midwest), and coke (South).

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zanylanie@reddit

Parts of the Midwest call it soda. The area where I grew up did.

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Kiki-Y@reddit

Probably a bit exaggerated in the more modern era. However, it may not be fully exaggerated either. I watch a streamer who's told a story a couple of times about pop vs soda and him legitimately not knowing pop was soda.

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Ninja0428@reddit

Mostly just split between soda and pop, everything else is dying out. I've gone my entire life in the south without ever hearing "coke" used generically.

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sparklestronaut@reddit

I grew up in Atlanta where Coke is headquartered. I always found it kind of funny to ask “what kind of cokes do you have?”. I think they kick you out of the state if you call it anything else.

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swampy998@reddit

Yes, it's regional. Hey, want a coke? What kind?

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Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess-@reddit

It was pop for me growing up in Eastern Appalachia. I now switch between saying soda and pop depending on who I’m talking to.

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katarh@reddit

Every fizzy drink is a coke where I live.

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catincombatboots@reddit

Growing up in the midwest, I heard a lot of people say pop but I felt like I was understood 100% of the time if I said soda, and soda made the most sense to me, so I've been saying soda since I was a teenager.

I moved to the west coast when I was 25 where people only say soda, I haven't heard anyone say pop in years.

I've always thought calling all of it coke to be an odd Southern quirk, because 1. it clearly not all soda is coke 2. there is already another substance that people call coke and I'm not trying to sound like I'm inviting people to go nose skiing when offering people a soft drink.

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macoafi@reddit

It was pop where I grew up. I now live in soda territory. When I visit home, I get asked "you're not from around here, are you?" if I say "soda."

But everything else about my accent is still like home, I could probably confuse someone by saying "gonna grab a soda and sit dahn by the crick."

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TSSAlex@reddit

Grew up in NYC, where it is soda. Went to college in Rochester NY, where it is pop. The whole of western NY is just confused.

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Frankennietzsche@reddit

Coke around here. I am looking at a vending machine that has "Dasani" written all over it, but it is still a coke machine. And the type of Coke that I usually buy from it is Diet Mountain Dew.

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Mediocre-Oil-5322@reddit

It's true. I grew up in soda territory, and I now live in pop country.

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EmotionalCattle5@reddit

I grew up in the Midwest, always called it pop. Always heard it called pop by other people.

I live in the south now and everyone calls it soda and I call it soda now lol

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InternationalMap1744@reddit

Deep South - everything is Coke. I never heard anyone say the word "pop" until I was an adult.

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AnAntsyHalfling@reddit

The US is huge

That's one of the things that changes depending on regional dialect

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dancingonmyown29@reddit

I've just always done my own thing lol. I'm from Mississippi and always called them the respective brand. It never made sense to me to say just coke or pop. Like if I ask you for a coke I expect a coke a cola lol nothing else. It just doesn't make sense to me.

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thejt10000@reddit

Tonic.

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HorrorAlarming1163@reddit

Adjusting to saying soda was one of the weirdest parts of moving to Texas for me

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BigNorseWolf@reddit

yeah this was a big fight when i went to school waaay up state. Everyone from buffalo on over said pop and i was like.. pop rocks.. what?

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leeloocal@reddit

I grew up in the “soda” region, but my parents are from the “Coke” or “cold drink” region, and my mother’s best friend is from the “pop” region. So…yes.

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Smeaglete@reddit

I always say soda, pop feels cringey and coke is just incorrect. Pnw.

[-]

Nawoitsol@reddit

It’s evolving. Soda is winning. See this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/EN6YXC323H

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CraftFamiliar5243@reddit

They do.

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Famous-Hunt-6461@reddit

The US is huge. I feel like most non-Americans don’t understand that fact. Europeans, in particular, like to scoff at Americans because we “don’t travel.” Thing is, some European countries can fit into some of our States and we travel within our own boarder. Americans are not a monolith. Each state has its own dialect, culture, and vernacular. All that to say, yes… depending on what region you’re in, it may be called pop, or soda, or coke.

[-]

ThingFuture9079@reddit

Exactly. It's always funny to see Europeans think LA is just a 1 hour drive from New York City and that both areas can be viewed the same day when even a direct flight takes just under 6 hours and that's without any delays.

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tinapanics@reddit

When I moved to Texas from California, I was used to saying soda, and then everyone here would say Coke, so I assumed they were talking about, you know, Coca Cola, but they were literally referring to every soda. For example, "Did you get the cokes from the trunk?" but there was literally only Dr. Pepper there. Still strange to me many years later. I don't come across people who call it pop, but I'm sure they exist and are most likely from the midwest.

[-]

olivefreak@reddit

“I’m heading out, want anything?”

“Yeah, I’ll take a coke.”

“What kind?”

“A Dr. Pepper, or an IBC root beer if they don’t have Dr. Pepper.”

[-]

CarpeDiem082420@reddit

I grew up in the South (but not the Deep South) and we always called those beverages ”soft drinks.” Never pop, soda or soda pop. I also worked in several restaurants as a teen and the customers would also refer to sweet, carbonated beverages as soft drinks.

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ZootOfCastleAnthrax@reddit

I was born/raised in Oregon and just yesterday someone asked me if I'd moved from out of state b/c I said, "soda" instead of "pop." I had to explain that my parents are from the east coast.

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YouDontLookSpiritual@reddit

Im on the pop/soda border and you hear both here. I say soda because pop sounds silly to me. Coke always means coca cola here

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cherrycokeicee@reddit

when I moved from the south (the "coke" south, to be specifica) to the Midwest, the first time I heard someone say "pop" I couldn't believe it was real. it's so cute and cartoon-y sounding.

but now I've lived in Wisconsin for 10 years, so I'm used to hearing it from time to time. I do think most people here say soda, tho.

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MechaWASP@reddit

To the point of being corrected or confused, yes.

Once we were on a trip, and the waitress asked what we wanted to drink. I said coke, she said what kind. I just looked around and said "uhhhhh.... coke?" And she was all "okay great!"

Super confusing, thought she was messing with me. Having grown up elsewhere, I still get corrected on the soda/pop divide sometimes.

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Total-Improvement535@reddit

It is a real thing. Where I am from, I could say “I’m going to the store to grab a coke” and could back home with a Dr Pepper and nobody would bat an eye. I could even ask “Do you want a coke?” and someone could say “Yeah, get me a Pepsi” and it wouldn’t be strange

[-]

Freefallen124@reddit

I live in the northeast. Soda here. Coke is a brand.

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veqsoh@reddit

the Midwest one is literally popoganda, no one unironically says pop in the Midwest, except for like 4 small pockets in northern Minnesota.

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mburucuja@reddit

I’ve heard plenty of Chicagoans and suburbanites say pop. Eastern Wisconsin is solidly soda though.

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NW_Forester@reddit

Washington state I watched it change real time. Growing up most people called it pop. Seattle transplants sometimes called it soda.

Late 90s through 2010 or so most people went from calling it pop to soda. Really fast linguistic change. It started in seattle but radiated out. People who had been calling it pop all their life now called it soda.

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InvestigatorJaded261@reddit

I rarely call it soda, probably just because I don’t talk about soft drinks much as a category—but I would never say “pop” nor would I call anything “Coke” except for Coke.

In my region, “tonic” used to be the preferred term, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone use it with a straight face since I was a child in the 70s.

[-]

Carrotcake1988@reddit

Yeah, it’s true. Where are you from??

Different words for the same thing within the same country is not unheard of. Bap, Roll, butty, sarnie, etc.

They all have a distinction that the region will defend.

[-]

Ozone220@reddit

Coke has shrunk a lot, my parents grew up saying it but now the region and them say soda.

I will say that I know one person from Iowa, and he only lived there until like partway through middle school, but he 100% says pop and it's weird

[-]

Martothir@reddit

I'm from Texas and I've always heard Cole or soda. Never heard pop in person in my life, only read about it in these sort of discussions. So that is to say, yes, very real regional linguistic quirk.

[-]

WiseQuarter3250@reddit

growing up in the south at McDonald's: I want an orange coke (ie. hi-c orange drink)

I moved elsewhere in the south but a more metropolitan area with folks from everywhere, that's when I switched to soda, orange coke confused them. they'd either pump orange syrup in my coke, or add orange slices to a coke.

[-]

QueenBBs@reddit

I was born in soda land and live in pop ville now. I never changed because pop sounds weird to me.

[-]

Haruspex12@reddit

I grew up in a pop area. In live in a soda area.

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birdiebirdnc@reddit

I personally use the term soft drink and feel like that’s what I grew up mostly saying/hearing. I wouldn’t blink twice if someone said pop or soda though, I’d just think they weren’t local. However if you ask me if I want a coke, I’m expecting an actual coke and if you expect something different I’m going to look at you like you have two heads. I’m in the south, and the only place I have ever encountered this is on the internet. Not saying I’d doesn’t happen but I’ve never experienced it.

[-]

NCSU_252@reddit

Same, also from NC

[-]

StormySands@reddit

I spent a good amount of my childhood in Minnesota where we called it pop. I remember it being really weird for me to have to adjust to calling it soda when we moved to New York when I was twelve.

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IcyBus1422@reddit

Wait till you hear about "fountain drink"

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mburucuja@reddit

Ime that’s only used at places that offer both bottles/cans and a fountain for customer use. Even then, you could order a fountain drink and fill your cup with lemonade or iced tea or Powerade or whatever even though it’s a “soda fountain” and I’m sure soda is the most popular option.

[-]

WhatABeautifulMess@reddit

Yup. Growing up in Jersey I've always said soda (as do my parents who grew up in Philly) but my cousins who grew up in Pittsburgh said pop and cousins on the same side side in Texas said Coke. The Texas confused at first me because they'd say Coke but they meant Dr. Pepper.

[-]

EffectiveSalamander@reddit

I live in Minnesota. Growing up it was pop. I hear more people saying soda than I used to.

[-]

MiketheTzar@reddit

Yes, but it is wayning.

Soda is becoming the dominant name for soft drinks as time goes on

Most native Southerns will still recognize Coke as "a name for all soda"

Most Native Midwesterner will throw you a pop at the lake when asked.

It's more that both of those places utilized Soda as "the secondary phrase" for those kinds of beverages.

As drink tastes change and smaller beverage companies come to market using Coke is less accurate (along with some weird litigation around restaurants and stores calling a product "Coke" when it's owned by Pepsi). As Seltzers and other carbonated drinks become popular Pop is moving to a more analogous concept of just "carbonated drinks" meaning that Soda now more specifically references drinks like Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, and Fanta.

TL;DR. We still know it, but bits use is falling.

[-]

Warmasterwinter@reddit

I grew up in a traditionally coke area. However it’s quickly losing ground to soda, only the older generations really call it coke anymore. Reason being is that if you call all soda a coke, everyone either assumes your talking specifically about the cola brand, or that your talking about Columbian nose candy. So soda is the more useful word, because everyone knows what you’re talking about without any possible confusion.

[-]

Zatzbatz@reddit

It is not an exaggeration. Remember, the United states is enormous. Regional differences are tremendous.

[-]

Plowchopz@reddit

It’s pop in Michigan.

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Low-Engineering-7374@reddit

I grew up in a soda state and moved across the country to another soda state. I hear pop occasionally from people passing through and exceptionally old people. I've only heard coke used to mean general soda (in person) from the Mexican population that frequented the fast food place I worked at

[-]

Combat__Crayon@reddit

I grew up with pop, moved to a soda area for a while, now am back to pop. Visited a coke area and thought they were insane.

I ordered a Coke, they asked what kind, I was like WTF, ok I'll bite, what kind of coke do you have? Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Mr. Pibb, Fanta. Like dammit, you've turned what should be a simple sentence into a conversation.

It's like moving to the south were they have the pin-pen merger when I joined the army and being told to fill everything out in ink pen. My brain is like what other kind of pen is there. Then I find out they need to do that because they say pin instead of pen and have to specify because if they didnt I'd try and embroider my paperwork? I dont know.

[-]

blueboxtravelagency@reddit

I grew up and still live in a pop area, but soda people are trying hard to make inroads in the area. Personally saying soda feels wrong.

[-]

DivaJanelle@reddit

I’m from pop country and went to college in soda land. I usually say soda now

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Historical_Low4458@reddit

I have also lived in soda areas after growing up in the Midwest. I will usually say soda, but every once in a while I will slip back to pop.

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Dangerous_Arachnid99@reddit

My parents were raised in a pop region. I was born there but we moved to a soda area when I was really young. I say "pop" because that's what my parents always said. No one out here has ever made a big deal of it. The only person who even mentioned it said, "You're from Michigan, aren't you?" She wasn't being mean about it. She was right, too.

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Aware_Negotiation605@reddit

It is always Coke.

Even if I want something else, it is still Coke.

I live in a soda area now and it is freaking weird.

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Glittering-Silver402@reddit

Exclusively only say soda unless I’m explicitly ordering a coke

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mburucuja@reddit

Parts of the Midwest say soda. Pop is of course understood, but sounds weird here.

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Vachic09@reddit

It's definitely regional.

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GrowlingAtTheWorld@reddit

I say coke(coke not capitalized unless you are talking about Coca-Cola Coke). But I live in Florida, land of the transplant and snowbird so you get a mix of terms with Soda being the most dominant. The Florida I grew up in was way more southern than Florida is now.

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kay_bryberry@reddit

It’s coke in the south. I’m going to go get a coke… you might come back with Dr. Pepper or any soda. 🤪

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Free_Four_Floyd@reddit

I grew up in Indiana. They were Cokes for me. “Wanna Coke?” “Yeah.” “What kind?”

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synexo@reddit

Yes, it's a big country.

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tcrhs@reddit

I’m a lifelong Southerner. All carbonated beverages are Coke.

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Fuzzy_Jaguar_1339@reddit

It's only Coke if it's from the Coca Cola region of Georgia. Otherwise it's sparkling syrup water.

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Unusual_Memory3133@reddit

It’s real. I am a West Coast native so I call it Soda. My mom was a wildcard: a Texan who called it Soda Pop.

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UrgentLiving@reddit

California- soda

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TheOnlyJimEver@reddit

I'm from the northeast. We say soda here. I went to college in Iowa and Nebraska, where most people called it pop. The distinction is real, but I can't say how even or uneven the split is.

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Darkrose50@reddit

Yes. America is big. We have different accents, and different cultures.

Where I live, Coke is only the flavor Coke. Pop is mostly used for traditional sugary carbonated beverages. We also use soda and soda pop.

If you order a Coke, they will bring you a Coke, and they would not ask you what non-Coke flavor you would like to drink.

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HankyPanky80@reddit

Grew up in pop area. Moved to a coke area, I never adjusted that. Have lived in mostly soda areas as an adult. I will probably always use soda. Soda is accepted everywhere. Pop and coke will confuse people outside of those areas.

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freakout1015@reddit

Connecticut - soda.

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Future-Cry5734@reddit

Coke from my experience is not a general term whereas pop or soda pop are generally. I usually say soda and refer to coke as coca-cola.

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Legitimate_Top_1425@reddit

I switch from Coke to soda.

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PlutoniumBoss@reddit

I grew up in a soda region, then moved to a pop region.

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Objective-Tailor-561@reddit

Nope. I grew up in Idaho and we called it all Pop. Moved to the South and it was called Coke. Moved around some more as an adult and we called it all Soda.

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Puzzleheaded-Maybe32@reddit

Lived in Michigan from age 4 to 31 and I've always said soda. I was an odd one out though; most people around me say pop.

Just had a thought: I'll call the thing you open the soda can with a pop tab, instead of soda tab, but that's as close as it'll get for me 😂

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FreeStateOfPortland@reddit

Not exaggerated at all. That said, if you ask for soda in the south, they’re going to know what you’re talking about.

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ScatterTheReeds@reddit

Yes, and add Tonic for New England, but that pretty much ended by the 1980s.

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Fae-SailorStupider@reddit

I grew up in a Pop area, moved to Soda areas, and now back in the Pop area I get looked at weird for saying Soda. Its definitely a thing.

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WritPositWrit@reddit

We all say soda in the NY/NJ region. Ive lived in California & North Carolina and it was always soda. Thats all i can tell you.

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Diligent_Squash_7521@reddit

Michigander here. We get pop from the local party store. Usually Faygo.

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Mirabeaux1789@reddit

I’ve never met anybody in any region of the country who says coke for anything else but Coca-Cola products. (Unless one is using it as the slang abbreviation for “cocaine”)

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chaachie12@reddit

I have lived in several of the different areas and I still have ZERO confidence in what I am supposed to say where I live now. I say soda, but my wife says pop. This is a real thing.

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sweet-billy-pilgrim@reddit

As a Minnesotan visiting New York, I said to my friend, “let’s go get a pop”. A cop nearby overheard and said, “Excuse me, Ma’am but around here we say ‘soda’”. He was adorable and clearly enjoyed giving us a hard time.

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invader000@reddit

it's real

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TsundereLoliDragon@reddit

Yes, there's a whole series of maps out there for regional names of things.

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Ok_Brick_793@reddit

Yes. There's even a website dedicated to this.

https://www.popvssoda.com/

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DOMSdeluise@reddit

I say coke, lived in the south my whole life

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KneecapTheEchidna@reddit

East Coast. We say Soda

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only_because_I_can@reddit

Soda in the south. Coke is Coca-Cola specifically. Pop is your dad or granddad.

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Louis-Rosny-jr@reddit

I’ve lived in Ohio, Georgia, and Virginia, and can confirm it’s a real regional difference.

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dan_blather@reddit

I’m from upstate/western New York.

The pop/soda isogloss is real. I grew up on the “pop” side of the line. When I say “pop” where I live now, on the “soda” side, I’ll sometimes see some strange facial reactions.

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DrBlankslate@reddit

Not exaggerated. It really is a regional term.

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afraidofthe-dark@reddit

No, I’ve traveled around. It’s either pop or soda, and most times people say both

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External-Algae-4694@reddit

Grew up in Pop country, Northwest Indiana. Moved to Soda land years ago, Florida then Arkansas. Never heard anyone ever use Coke to refer to anything other than actual CocaCola.

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EntertainmentReady48@reddit

I had a scout master call it sodie water.

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Helo227@reddit

Soda, pop, and cola are the ones i’ve heard.

Soda is the common one in my region (New England), pop is what i hear from southern folks, and cola is what the old folks call any dark soda.

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ShipComprehensive543@reddit

I changed it from pop to soda when I moved. I have since moved back and still say soda though, at least the majority of the time.

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Meowmeowmeow31@reddit

I say soda. My parents say pop. It’s a real regional difference but it’s not a big deal. Most people are familiar with both terms.

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Consistent_Post_2558@reddit

Most people say soda - you can travel into pop or coke country and say soda without getting an odd look.

If you say pop it sound always sound weird to basically everyone not from parts of the Midwest. If you say coke, people will assume you mean Coca Cola in most of the country.

I grew up in a part of Texas where coke was a generic term for soft drinks, I moved to the DC area and basically stopped using the word after I had been up here a year or two. 🤷‍♀️ not like I drink much soda personally, but people up here will generally be confused when you ask what kind of coke they want.

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sltydgx@reddit

Where I grew up we called it tonic. 😳 first time I went on a road trip with my uncle I was so confused …

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AggressiveCommand739@reddit

Its all regional. We are a continental coast to coast nation. We are many subcultures and regions under one country. We are not one homogeneous people.

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WokeUpIAmStillAlive@reddit

Pretty split

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thomsenite256@reddit

I mean saying coke is Very regional unless you want a coca cola

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bangbangracer@reddit

It's a real thing. And I'm definitely in pop country.

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JadedDreams23@reddit

We absolutely split. I’m in the deep south and everything is a coke, which I admit is kinda dumb. We ask if they want a coke and then list what we have lol

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shelwood46@reddit

I grew up in Eastern WI (Milwaukee, Green Bay) and have always said soda (and bubbler). My cousins in the Western part of the same state call it pop, as do my friends in Michigan. I then moved to NJ, and then NE PA, and still say soda as do most people around. It was one of the questions on the Harvard Dialect Survey 20+ years ago if you are curious, the map is out there.

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1996Tomb_Raider@reddit

Tonic

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ltsmash1200@reddit

It used to be more regionally split between pop and soda mostly with some places in the South using Coke to mean soda and not specifically Coca Cola. But I’d say over the last decade or two soda is becoming the more prominent term.

I’d say soda if I was referring generically to a carbonated drink but I generally am asking for something specific so I’d say Coke or Sprite or Dr. Pepper or whatever.

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thomsenite256@reddit

Yes but I think soda is the majority followed by pop and saying coke is very regional to parts of the south

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thingsbetw1xt@reddit

It's very true, there's a lot of regional variation. I say "soda".

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rando24183@reddit

It is split. I grew up and still live in soda-land. No one around me says "pop". It has no impact on my life though.

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Educational-Big-6609@reddit

This is a big country, so there are differing words and dialects.

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No-Lettuce-5783@reddit

It's funny, I would always call it "Coke" and I lived in the northeast US. Now I live near Atlanta. So, I still call it "Coke" because this is where Coke started. But yeah, this is mostly true, but there are exceptions to every rule.

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hitometootoo@reddit

Big country won't have the same slang across the entire country. This is true even for smaller countries.

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marty-mcfryguy@reddit

Why would you possibly dispute this?

Do people not have different regional slang wherever you come from?

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