I Love Crazy Stuff Like This

[furrbear]

When on a hot summer’s day you buy a carbonated beverage to quench your thirst, how do you order it? Do you ask for a soda, a pop or something else? That question lay at the basis of an article in the Journal of English Linguistics (Soda or Pop?, #24, 1996) and of a map, showing the regional variation in American English of the names given to that type of drink.

The article was written by Luanne von Schneidemesser, PhD in German linguistics and philology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and senior editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. And although there might be weightier issues in life (or even in linguistics) than the preferred terminology for a can of soft drink, there’s nothing trivial about this part of the beverage industry.

“According to an article last year in the Isthmus, Madison’s weekly newspaper, Americans drink so much of the carbonated beverages sold under such brand names as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, and 7-Up that consumption averages 43 gallons per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States,” Von Schneidemesser begins her article. “The Statistical Abstract of the United States (1994) confirms this: 44.1 gallons per person in 1992, compared to the next most consumed beverages: beer (32.7 gallons), coffee (27.8 gallons), and milk (25.3 gallons).”

It must be that ubiquity of soft drinks that has made this pop vs soda map the single-most submitted map to this blog, sent in by over 100 contributors. The map details the areas where certain usages predominate.

• coke: this generic term for soft drinks predominates throughout the South, New Mexico, central Indiana and in a few other single counties in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. ‘Coke’ obviously derives from Coca-Cola, the brand-name of the soft drink originally manufactured in Atlanta (which explains its use as a generic term for all soft drinks in the South).
• pop: dominates the Northwest, Great Plains and Midwest. The world ‘pop’ was introduced by Robert Southey, the British Poet Laureate (1774-1843), to whom we also owe the word ‘autobiography’, among others. In 1812, he wrote: A new manufactory of a nectar, between soda-water and ginger-beer, and called pop, because ‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn. Even though it was introduced by a Poet Laureate, the term ‘pop’ is considered unsophisticated by some, because it is onomatopaeic.
• soda: prevalent in the Northeast, greater Miami, the area in Missouri and Illinois surrounding St Louis and parts of northern California. ‘Soda’ derives from ‘soda-water’ (also called club soda, carbonated or sparkling water or seltzer). It’s produced by dissolving carbon dioxide gas in plain water, a procedure developed by Joseph Priestly in the latter half of the 18th century. The fizziness of soda-water caused the term ‘soda’ to be associated with later, similarly carbonated soft drinks.
• Other, lesser-used terms include ‘dope’ in the Carolinas and ‘tonic’ in and around Boston, both fading in popularity. Other generic terms for soft drinks outside the US include ‘pop’ (Canada), ‘mineral’ (Ireland), ‘soft drink’ (New Zealand and Australia). The term ‘soft drink’, finally, arose to contrast said beverages with hard (i.e. alcoholic) drinks.

This map was found here at the popvssoda website, dedicated to gathering info on the usage of pop, soda, coke and other variant terms throughout the US.

Comments

[mellowtigger]

That's amazing! Though I wonder what the "Other" names are?

*originally from 100% Coke country but now living in Pop country*

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Hm. Given I grew up in Oregon and have lived in California for years - perhaps that's why I call the stuff "soda pop". Generally only in the aggregate - "I'm going to Smart & Final to stock up on soda pop." If I want one, I'll be specific about it.

I've heard of this before - and I'm sure to offend someone by saying this - but using "coke" as a generic term for "carbonated soft drink" is idiotic to the point of brain-death. I mean, there's not much difference between facial tissues so calling them all "Kleenex" is understandable.

But calling Mountain Dew, or Vernor's, or Fresca, or any variety of root beer "coke"?

And there are people in the South who wonder why they're perceived as stupid.

[mellowtigger]

Yeah, and they're not QTips. They're cotton swabs, eh?

And no more "aspirin". It's acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Like anyone takes aspirin (or "Bayer", as my grandma used to call it) any more, how quaint.

[Brand name x] should be so lucky as to become the generic name of a product. ;)

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Cotton swabs are largely similar; the "Kleenex" argument works on them.

As aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen are all distinct drugs with distinct characteristics, it makes sense to distinguish between them. That said - referring to acetaminophen as Tylenol or ibuprofen as Motrin or Advil is understandable. (And in some parts of the world, Aspirin is still a trademarked brand name, though not in the USA.) And as an aside - *I* still take aspirin; ibuprofen does nothing for me, acetaminophen generally isn't appropriate for anyone with HIV and ketoprofen (Orudis KT) failed in the OTC marketplace.

Although my taste buds cringe at the idea, I could understand someone using "coke" as a generic term for a cola - whether that's Coca-, Pepsi-, RC, Shasta, or whatever actual brand it might be.

However - anyone who thinks a Coca-Cola, a diet 7-Up and an Orange Crush are indistinguishable enough to call them all "coke" is vacuous dorkage. Hey, why not just call diesel, gasoline, LPG and motor oil all "Exxon" - doesn't matter which one you use, they're all interchangeable, right?

[hickbear.livejournal.com]

But calling Mountain Dew, or Vernor's, or Fresca, or any variety of root beer "coke"?

It's all too common in this section of the country that twice overwhelmingly voted for Smirky Chimp. After I got back to Nashville Sunday night, I went down the street to the bar-b-que place nearest our house. My server came to the table and asked me if I wanted something from the bar, to which I replied "No". I was then asked if I wanted sweet tea, or "coke". Mind you, they do carry nothing but Coca-Cola products, but still - no, I wanted a Sprite, thankyouverymuch.

And there are people in the South who wonder why they're perceived as stupid.

The last 48 hours have re-confirmed for me that most folks down here are too fucking stupid to realize just how fucking stupid they really are.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

hey hey HEY! Back OFF on the stupid comments!

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... I call it a duck.

I can assure you ya'll sound JUST as retarded saying soda or pop.

No... no, we don't.

As I understand it, the term "pop" was coined from the sound made when opening a bottle; "soda" comes from "soda water," an essential ingredient in any such carbonated beverage. In both cases, they apply equally and reasonably to all carbonated soft drinks. People may prefer one or the other - or like me, use both as the phrase "soda pop" - but they're quite reasonable generic terms for the stuff.

It's a generic term, that's all.

Right. For Coca-Cola products - Coke Classic, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, et. al. One could stretch it to cover all forms of cola, perhaps, but that's as far as one can reasonably, logically and sensibly take it. Or are we to start using the term "Kleenex" for stationery and cardboard as well as tissues - after all, they're all paper, right? *eyeroll*

Perhaps the generalizing went too far - but this idiotically odious usage is highly concentrated... where? Nor did I make any claim to anywhere else not having weird and/or foolish customs. I would be curious to know what you think those might be, since you were distinctly off-base on the soda/pop thing. :)

Whether you like it or not, calling Moxie, Bubble-Up and Dr. Pepper all "coke" makes whoever's saying that sound stupid, wherever they're from.

[dewittar.livejournal.com]

I love shit like this.

No matter where we've lived in the land of the enemy (New England, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic) we always ask our guests if they'd like a "coke" and then ask "what kind?"

"Soda" is used as a mixer with hard liquor. And "pop" was an ethnic term that white people would not use or else be guilty by association.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

Here it wasn't 'pop,' but 'soda water.'

[robearal.livejournal.com]

Ah, memories of my life as a linguist.

[stockykub1973.livejournal.com]

In Scotland people will say "Ginger" when refering to a soft drink. Such as "Get us a bottle of ginger from the shops."

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

Commonly heard in W. TX:

"Hey.. What kinda a coke yew want?"

"Dr. Pepper."

[magebear.livejournal.com]

Places I've lived and what it was called.

Collingswood NJ: Soda
Charlotte NC: Cold Drink
Baton Rouge LA: Coke

Here we ask...

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

¿Quieres algo para beber?

Chuck

Re: Here we ask...

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

How genteel. They also do that in parts of The South:

"In Atlanta, the first question is 'What's your business?' In Macon, it is 'Where do you go to church?' In Augusta they want your grandmother's maiden name. But in Savannah, the first question is 'What would you like to drink?'

— Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil. Berendt, John.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

As a Bostonian, it is, and always will be, tonic.

Of course, we also call drinking fountains "bubblers," which is pronounced, "bubblah."

[theevilnub.livejournal.com]

Inspired by [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]... places I've lived & what it was called:

Ft. Lauderdale, FL- soda
St. Louis, MO- soda
Phoenix, AZ- soda
Boston, MA- soda
Seattle, WA- pop

'pop' will take some getting used-to.

[cuyahogarvr.livejournal.com]

Having grown up and lived 99% of my life in the "midwest", it's always been "pop". Now that I've become a Marylander, I'm struggling with the concept of "soda" - that was always something I added hard liquor to.

Then there's the Brits who step out to smoke a "fag".

[seanymike.livejournal.com]

Love the map... so thats the kind of stuff I will be able to do with my degree when i am done. woohoo.

[cubziz.livejournal.com]

In St. Louis, it was Soda. When I went to school in Des Moines, Iowa, it was pop. But I hated that name, so I referred to it as "Sodie." which confused everyone.