My Rant on SODA!

***Bear with me, but my story shows my frustration.***

Aahhh, the sweet taste of refreshment. On a hot day, nothing hit's the spot like an ice cold pop. I'm sorry; you don't know what a "pop" is? Am I not speaking English? Do I have to say an ice cold Pepsi or Coke? Or wait; let me guess, I should have said SODA! Seriously, am I not speaking English?

Being a lifelong Chicagoan, I've always been accustomed to walking into my favorite hot dog stand, ordering a dog and a pop. Summer afternoons at Wrigley meant eating nachos and drinking pop. Long days of playing ball with friends meant going to 7/11 and getting a Big Gulp of pop. Sounds like English to me.Then one day, my family and I take a trip to Florida. Sun, beaches, and Disney World make this an ideal vacation destination. Last I checked, they're supposed to speak English in Florida. My brother and I decide to eat at a local restaurant, we order our meals, get a couple of Pepsi's, and enjoy a nice conversation. Half way through my meal I ask for another "pop".

"Another what?" our waitress asked. Pointing to my glass, I asked for another Pepsi. "I'll bring that soda for you in a minute." Isn't that what I asked for?

Next day we're at Disney World and I have a thirst for some grape pop. "I'm sorry, a grape what?" the confused yet smiling clerk asked me. "Do you mean a grape soda?" Isn't that what I asked for?

Am I not speaking English? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it called "soda pop"? If I can understand when someone asks me for a soda, why does no one outside of Chicagoland understand me when I ask for a pop? It's the same thing! Did the rest of the country learn from a different dictionary than we did? Is it honestly just listed as soda in the dictionary outside of Chicago?

A few years back my family from Ontario came to visit. I invited them over for lunch and some good conversation. When I asked if anyone wanted a pop, my cousin answered "I'll just have a soda, eh." Apparently they don't speak English in Canada either.

It's been studied.

If you click through, you'll find that "Pop" has its strongest hold from Erie PA to Seattle, and "Soda" has the east coast, southwest and a couple strange islands around St. Louis and Milwaukee, and those in the southeast call everything "Coke" (as in "I'll have a Pepsi coke" or "I'll have a grape coke"). I thought I'd previously seen an explanation for the StL and Milwaukee "Soda" spots, but I can't recall where.

For me, it was always "Pop" but "Soda Pop" would be heard in places (especially Bozo's "Sodie Pop").

This Site has a little more analysis.

i'm from the south, and we always just said "coke."

me: "i'll have a coke." waiter: "what kind?" me: "pepsi."

i felt very cosmopolitan when i moved further up the coast and starting saying "soda."

I agree whole heartedly.

Every year we (friends and I of a smaller car site) hold an annual car show in Chicago. Members from around the country drive/fly in each year to attend bringing with them their little quirks and what not. What I found out last year was exactly what you're talking about....they're crazy!

My friend from South Carolina calls it Coke, friends from the west called it Soda, and the local members called it Pop. Crazy....but everyone was able to understand each other and no one went dehydrated that weekend.

*Lucky for me I stopped drinking pop in H.S.

I've always call it by the brand name (ie: I'll have a diet Dr. Pepper), so I've never had that problem... although I think we did call it soda down South. I've never referenced it as "a can of pop."

HungryZ wrote:When I asked if anyone wanted a pop, my cousin answered "I'll just have a soda, eh." Apparently they don't speak English in Canada either.

I have a friend for whom "I want a pop" is shorthand for "Make me another martini." For everyone else, pop = soda.

I grew up near Starved Rock and everyone I knew called it soda. The one exception was my father who called it sody or sody-pop; then again he also said warsh. Curiously, he was born and raised in the same area.

My sister went to college in Iowa and started calling it pop. When she moved to North Carolina and would ask for a pop, she'd get weird looks. Now, we both tend use them interchangeably; especially if it will cause confusion.

Whatever you do, just don't budge in line at the bubbler.

What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage? @ the Dialect Survey.

I remember the first time I noticed that my mother called a "soda" what I would call a "coke," and I thought, you're not from around here, are you? (She grew up near St. Louis.)

Growing up in Indianapolis, I always called it "soda," and most of those around me did, but I heard "pop" (or even "soda pop") regularly enough that I would say the terms were interchangeable. Now, here's the more interesting part of my story. Although no one I knew used "Coke" generically to refer to soda/pop, we all did refer to soda vending machines generically as "Coke machines." There is no satisfactory explanation for this.

Having grown up drinking pop, I was bewildered by the 8 year old in New Hampshire who asked his mom for a "tonic". I was thinking Schweppes quinine water and the kid wanted grape pop.

In Central Illinois (Southern IL to you Chicagoan's) the kids ask for a sodee!

Tim

my grandparents, who are long gone, grew up in the city and referred to it as soda. so did my parents. I can't say "pop." Never did, never will. It sounds like some kind of Minnesota thing to me.

teatpuller wrote:my grandparents, who are long gone, grew up in the city and referred to it as soda. so did my parents. I can't say "pop." Never did, never will. It sounds like some kind of Minnesota thing to me.

I grew up in the city (Back of the Yards and Brighton Park/Archer Heights), and I grew up saying "soda," as well. Now, plenty of people around me said pop, but it wasn't the universal generic term. My explanation is that my parents were both Polish-born, and Polish contains the word "soda" (which means "soda" as in "soda water" or "caustic soda" or "bicarbonate of soda,") but not "pop." All my Polish-speaking relatives and their kids used "soda" as the generic, while the one cousin who didn't learn Polish and didn't hear Polish spoken much in his household grew up saying "pop."

I remember the pop vs. soda controversy led to rather spirited argument with a date during a homecoming dance. I was (years later I realized incorrectly) arguing that "soda" was the term of choice around these parts, and she was arguing "pop" was. One of my neighborhood friends agreed with me. She was having none of it. Finally, we decided to go up to the Chicago history teacher, who had the strongest most stereotypical Chicago accent of any faculty in my high school, and asked him to settle the question once and for all. He said he was born and raised in Chicago, and always called it "soda." Looks like I got lucky, but even in Chicago there is some divide in "soda" vs "pop."

Tim wrote:In Central Illinois (Southern IL to you Chicagoan's) the kids ask for a sodee!

Tim

My Peoria in laws say sodee as does most of their extended family there.

If I remember correctly as a kid we referred to soft drinks as "pop". As an adult I refer to the brand I want to drink(Pepsi, Coke, Mt. Dew), when ordering. However nowdays I prefer a cold beer.

i say soda when i have to otherwise its the brand name

I grew up in central Illinois, and I always said "pop". What's hilarious for me, though, is that my grandfather always called Kool-Ade "pop-ade".

I always said "sack", too, until I moved to NYC and had to learn to ask for a "bag".

I say pop, but find myself going back and forth in proposals for clients who use both. figjustin says soda which I insist means soda water, but apparently most of the country disagrees. When we were little (and got very little pop), my sister used coke for everything (even though we have no southern roots and grew up in Michigan).

One memorable exchange occurred in Los Angeles while we were visiting my grandparents. We were at their favorite Mexican restaurant and the waitress asked what she'd like to drink. She replied "Coke," expecting the waitress to then ask what kind and request a Sprite which is what she wanted. Later when asked what she'd like to drink she replied "The same as Molly," which meant a burritio like I had ordered and instead got a tamale.

Tim wrote:Having grown up drinking pop, I was bewildered by the 8 year old in New Hampshire who asked his mom for a "tonic". I was thinking Schweppes quinine water and the kid wanted grape pop.

In Central Illinois (Southern IL to you Chicagoan's) the kids ask for a sodee!

Tim

I grew up just north of Peoria and never heard it called sodee or even soda. We all called it pop. We did generally go for a 'coke' though because that was what most of us drank.

Love this rant but I don't think our regional slangs are in the dictionary, maybe the enyclopedia?

It's definitely a Midwest/Chicago thing to say pop which is why both you and I are so used to it. I would have probably run into the same situation in Florida in my pop drinking days - I wouldn't think twice in saying pop.

It's definitely a Midwest/Chicago thing to say pop

Actually, according the map and stats posted by JoelF pop is used predominantly in the Midwest, Northwest and Great Plains. Only the highly populated areas in the Northeast and California area seem to lean toward soda. And the south is all about coke.

I was born in Louisiana but raised in Michigan and always said "coke," as my Louisiana native mother thought the term "pop" was absolutely barbaric, said only by the Hun-like "Yankees."* I'm pretty sure the term "pop" was banned in our house.

* One of her worst nightmares, no joke, was that one of her children would marry a Yankee. I married a St. Louisan, which ended up being okay as St. Louis was eventually (grudgingly) accepted as an "in between" place.

Just moved out to Chicago after years on the East Coast and discovered this "pop" you speak of. They have this same conversation in reverse back there. I never like to ruffle any feathers, but I do have to get myself a carbonated drink from time to time. Now I just drink beer.

chewonthat wrote:Love this rant but I don't think our regional slangs are in the dictionary, maybe the enyclopedia?

It's definitely a Midwest/Chicago thing to say pop

There is indeed a whole crew of researchers studying regional accents and expressions, and encyclopedias of regional slang and dialect written to document the differences, down to the fine grain of how people who grew up in Chicago talk a little bit differently from the suburbanites, who talk a little bit differently from the east central Illinoisans (Champaign), who talk a little bit differently from those from St. Louis, who talk a little bit differently from those who grew up farther south ...

I have relatives all over Illinois, grew up in the suburbs, went to college and grad school in Champaign, had parents from around St. Louis, and I cannot explain how I know which ones to say "coke" to and which ones to say "pop" to and which ones to say "soda" to.

There is no right and wrong. Viva la difference!

JoelF wrote:...those in the southeast call everything "Coke" (as in "I'll have a Pepsi coke" or "I'll have a grape coke").

What do you do when you just want a Coca-Cola? Is it Coke coke? I always called it by the brand name, or if I was thinking in generic terms it would be pop, as in, Gee, I sure could go for some pop! Though often I call it sodie. For some reason, me calling it soda is like Moe using the word 'garage'.

"I'll have a coke"

"what kind?"

"sprite"

hope this helps

gleam wrote:"I'll have a coke"

"what kind?"

"sprite"

hope this helps

Well that makes perfect sense, but would it also go thusly:

"I'll have a coke"
"What Kind?"
"Coke"? or is it "Regular"?

My dad also used to throw peanuts in the can and a former coworker M&M peanuts - or maybe the other way around. I think that's a southern thing to, am I right?

In Alton they call them "sodee's"..

Between that travesty of a commercial with "MacGruber" during the Super Bowl, and the SODYPOP billboards with Pepsi symbols in place of Os, I think my personal boycott of Pepsi begins now!

Just wanted to pipe up and 'represent' for Canadians - we do indeed speak English I grew up in Western Canada (Calgary and Vancouver) and pop was our word of choice for soft drinks. In fact, I hate saying 'soda.' When I moved to California I got a lot of weird looks when I asked for pop, so it's been nice to go back to it since moving here. I guess this is another East-West difference across Canada (much like the great "monkey-in-the-middle" vs. "pig-in-the-middle" debate).