Pop vs soda

Everything's a Coke outside of the Southern cities,

"What kinda Coke you want?"

"Rootbeer!"

I'm from Ohio and grew up with "pop" but when I moved to New England I officially adopted "soda."

I love hanging out with my Ontarian friends -- a safe space to say "pop" again.

We were taught to ask Consuela for a carbonated beverage.

soft drink

“Pop” is an upper-Midwest term. I did a double take and had to stifle a laugh the first time I heard it used in an actual conversation.

We used to say “tonic” in Boston.

“Bottle o’ pop” is more fun to say than “can of soda.”

But it sounds stupid, R8

R9, it sounds even stupider in the midwestern accent: “Phaaap!”

Everybody apparently knows this except for you, OP:

"Soda" is East Coast.

"Pop" is Midwestern.

R3, I’ve the three opposite going on.

I grew up in New Mexico where we said Coke or Soda.

I went to college in Minnesota and live in Ohio...everyone is saying pop here! I confuse people when I slip and say Coke. They can usually handle soda though.

Funny, r12 -- we're like opposite people. (I got my MA in New Mexico.)

Soda is black too, both North and South

Person who says "pop" here. "Pop" means popular sodas - 7-Up, Crush, Fanta, Mountain Dew...

Cold Pop

R11 I'm from the midwest and everyone in my area says soda.

I usually hear people say "soda pop" rather than "pop" alone.

Three of the names discussed so far are stupid except "soft drink."

Soda?? -- soda what? Soda lime? Soda ash? Caustic soda? What pray tell?

Coke for every soft drink?? -- Puerile and confusing. Strong redneck sense to this idiom.

Pop?? -- What, calling it the sound a bottle of soft drink sometimes makes when uncapped? Bottled soft drinks a tiny fraction of soft drink sales these days.

"Soft drink" is the best, non-confusing term to use.

I say Pepsi-Cola.

I grew up saying pop, moved to Boston when tonic was still heard but disappearing rapidly, and now rarely say anything because I don't drink it. I would say pop occasionally and it was funny to see the faux-outrage (reproduced up-thread) that the word generates. Christ, it's just a word and I for one love any regionalism. I always thought "tags" for license plates sounded funny. I love that people call the subway the T in Boston. In Rhode Island you get directions by where things *used* to be -- not always helpful, but an amusing quirk.

It's like getting mad about pineapple on pizza, or for that matter there being only one way to eat a slice. It's fucking bread. To think that toppings can consist of a few ingredients shows not a sense of purity or tradition, but of parochialism.

Grew up in the Midwest and never heard anything but "pop" until I went away to college (a large university in the Midwest). There me and all my friends would laugh at the snotty New Yorker transplants who said "soda."

Soda pop

I was just going to post, I went to U Mich and the New Yorkers who paid four times as much for their education as I did used to think the "pop dispensers" in the cafeterias were hilarious. "I'm afraid my father is going to ooze out of one!"

R7 I remember that.

I grew up with pop (North-East England). Pop was delivered weekly by the pop man on his pop wagon... Soda was a wierd laundry product that grannies used.

Nowadays, I teach Europeans so I say soda as not to confuse them. Plus, pop is also slang for fucking in Germany.

Another vote for soft drink. I'd never say "pop," but I might use soda. Lifelong Californian here.

How 'bout "soda pop"?

As a child, I noticed the difference between what it was typically called at home in Texas and what relatives just north of us in Oklahoma called it. "Pop" was novel to me; it tickled my ears to hear it called that. I frequently wound up combining the two. Hence, "soda pop."

But more often I was brand-specific in what I requested: 'RC'; 'Dr Pepper;' 'Orange Crush;' 'Frosty Root Beer;' '7Up.' Not just any 'soda pop' would do.

I would never say soda or pop separately. I say “soda pop”. Obviously other people here say that too. I don’t know why that is never listed as an option.

Soda pop reminds me of the movie Shane.

Here you go, you fat whores.

A kid’s drink. Mine all have booze in them.

Neither soda nor pop. It's always soft drink for me.

It's soda, everything else belongs in steerage.

Drink

I think I only ever heard someone say "pop" once--and like others here, I laughed. I thought they were affecting 50s slang to be funny.

R7 Yup , OFD here and called it tonic but had to stop when I moved away because no one knew what I was talking about! I guess I say soda but I only drink it once in a while these days so I done use the word much anymore unless I see they have Pepsi fountain drinks 🥤

I'm Canadian and we say pop here. Soft drink is something you only see on a restaurant menu and soda is something you only say when talking about club soda. If someone says "soda" in Canada then to us it sounds like an ancient geriatric person is speaking.

It's like sofa and couch. Always couch, NEVER sofa.

If somebody ever asked me what kind of coke I wanted, I'd have to answer, Colombian.

Fizzy drink please.

When I was much younger I heard the word pop used but now it seems people, at least my friends, name the actual drink (Pepsi, Coke, Sprite, etc.) rather than the generic name.

On a semi-interesting (?) note, my dad's side of the family drank Coke while my mom's side were Pepsi drinkers.

"Pop" was one of the earliest terms, used in the early 19th century.

I grew up in the West and we said “coke” for all soft drinks. As an adult I say soda.

R44, is that like how people say Xerox for all photocopiers?

But what if it was ginger ale or grape soda. Would you still call it "coke" even if it was not a cola?

[quote] I'm Canadian and we say pop here.

Not everywhere in Canada

Pop isn’t only an upper-Midwest thing. I’ve heard it from native Arizonans.

N. CA here and it’s soda, a ‘coke’ can also mean any soda- gets the point across anyway.

Growing up in NY State, it was soda.

When I moved to Colorado, it was pop.

It wouldn't get the point across to me.

Eldergay Texan here. Growing up, everything was a "coke". But it seems like that has faded away over time. I'm more likely to hear (and say) soft drink now.

When I was a child, back in the 70's I remember a Howard Johnson's waitress being chastised by her manager for asking if we wanted cokes, and which kind of coke. The manager, unpleasantly, reminded her that Howard Johnson's DID NOT SERVE COKE! They had HOJO cola, HOJO ginger ale, HOJO orange, etc.

Where I grew up, "soft drink" refers to a drink without alcohol in it. It includes iced tea or juice, neither of which is soda, pop, soda pop, or coke.

When someone said "soda pop" upthread, I thought of the character Rob Lowe played in The Outsiders.

This topic is so old. Who gives a fuck? Any bartender knows what you're asking for.

[quote]If someone says "soda" in Canada then to us it sounds like an ancient geriatric person is speaking.

And your people say Abooot. Please

In my house growing up it was "pop". "Soda" meant "club soda" and usually accompanied scotch. It's only when I left the midwest that I began referring to soft drinks as "soda".

"Soft drink" sounds more affected to my ears than either "pop" or "soda" does.

I associate "soda" with club soda or ice cream soda. I say "soft drink".

soda

I grew up saying "soda." But if I were living somewhere where they said "pop," I'd switch to saying "pop."

I say coke or soft drink-- I had no idea 'soft drink' was regional.

SODA SODA SODA SODA SODA SODA SODA!!!!!

Calling all soft drinks Coke is fucking retarded

Give me a ginger ale. By ginger ale I mean root beer.

I grew up in a solidly yellow part of the map above, and pop was the term. I don't drink them, but if I have (adult) guests over, at this point in my life I'll ask them if they'd like a soft drink. Both pop and soda sound juvenile to me now.

Canadian here and it is pop, not soda (which refers to fizzy water). I don' t understand how you can order a "Coke" and not be given a Coke. I guess it's regional, like, "Can I have a Coke?" and then you're met with, "What kind?"

...which totally seems ridiculous, because then the answer would be "Diet" or "Coke Zero" or "Cherry Coke." But only if there were those options. So clarify, please: how do you ask for a Coke if what you want is an Orange Fanta?

Soft drink if at a restaurant: "Which soft drinks do you serve?"

Soda when at home. "Mom did you get the soda I like?"

Pop was the nickname for my neighbor friend's dad. He called me Can Opener. But that's a story for another thread.

Pop in Western NY. soda drink (usually by name) in Cali.

For Heaven's sake People, It's Soda, Coke is a Coca Cola only . A soft drink is anything non-alcohol, Corn goes pop as well as a weasel. Were you raised in barns?

Growing up in the midwest, coke (small C) was used generically to refer to Coca Cola, Pepsi, RC Cola, etc. Just as "Xerox" and "Kleenex" came to be used generically. The word soda was used as in "ice cream soda" (and the person who made those was a "soda jerk") or "soda water" meaning a mixer.

When I was growing up in California, "coke" was a generic term for any soft drink. Yes, I know it doesn't make to sense to call something a "coke" when you really want an Orange Crush, but what can I tell you? Typical conversation: "I want a coke." "What kind?" "A Mountain Dew."

Similarly, when I was a kid any convenience store was called a "liquor store." "Mom, can you stop at the liquor store? I want a coke."

I've never heard a child (or anyone else) ask for a "soft drink."

I grew up in Oregon and we said pop, maybe sometimes soda pop.

[quote] (and the person who made those was a "soda jerk")

And sometimes a REAL jerk.

Who cares what you say, r71? You probably hung out with Sigmund.

This thread led me down a rabbit hole to examine Mormon attitudes toward POP, especially caffeinated Coke, and I was surprised to find there is no blanket prohibition. But when it comes to “hot drinks” (coffee and tea), they’re a big No.

R75, that's nuts. I just had to Google it, never knew that about Mormons. They can't even drink something like this?

[quote]Not everywhere in Canada

Pretty much everywhere. No one casually says "soft drink". When someone asks you to bring something like coke or sprite to some kid's birthday party they don't say bring "soft drinks" they say brink "pop". You don't say "can of soft drink" you say "can of pop" or "pop can". You don't say "bottle of soft drink" either. I have family on the east and west coasts of Canada and everyone we know or hear in public says "pop". "Soft drink" only appears on menus, generally those created by restaurants that are American in origin.

Canadians say "pop".

[quote]And your people say Abooot. Please

We don't. Tina Fey in 30 rock is what a typical Canadian sounds like.

Well that or like the guys in Trailer Park Boys.

[quote] Pretty much everywhere. No one casually says "soft drink". When someone asks you to bring something like coke or sprite to some kid's birthday party they don't say bring "soft drinks"

I’m Canadian and I do. And if it’s “bring a bottle of....” I’ll mention the specific drink e.g Coke, ginger ale, Irn Bru (well maybe not that last one).

Mormons can now drink Coke since the church bought stock in Coca Cola.

Odd, R80.

R80 Soft drinks is the generic term in the UK the same as you say. I grew up in Northern England and "Fizzy Pop" was common generic term, as was "Corporation Pop" for tap water...

In a pub I used to go to often for lunch, when I asked for a Coke would always say "Is Pepsi okay?", so I started asking for a cola, and they would still say it.

[quote]"Fizzy Pop" was common generic term, as was "Corporation Pop" for tap water...

Oh for Christ's sake.

r78 - that's BS. i lived in the Buffalo area for 10 years and even had a Canadian boyfriend for 3 years so spent a LOT of time in Canada. I will tell you that you all sound like this: oot and aboot in a boot you may not think you have an accent but you do and i can pinpoint it in anyone who is Canadian on any tv show/movie without doing an IMDB. it's distinctive. i should mention i moved back to CA in 2003 and still can peg it from the first few sentences someone speaks.

Actually R84, I think it was a general term rather than for the sake of just visiting messiahs.

Anyone who says soda pop is a mincing prisspot.

People that refer to it as "pop" invariably pronounce it as "paaap"