Soda Pop by Any Other Name...
Delicious Soda Pop. I love the fizz that fills the air with moist aroma when you first pop open a can. I love how that first big drink burns as it cleans off the back of your throat. Dee-licious!
I grew up always calling it Pop. It wasn't until college that I noticed that some people call it Soda. Then I started getting a complex that it was supposed to be called Soda, and only redneck-hicks-from-the-hills ever called it Pop. I've tried switching to using the word "Soda", but it always felt foreign to me. Like saying "tomatoe" instead of "tomato".
I was thrilled to find this map showing that a large portion of the country uses the term Pop as a generic name for soft drinks. Only the southwest, northeast, and a strange cluster around St. Louis commonly use the term Soda.
Oddly enough, the south seems to use the term Coke. Doesn't that seem confusing? It seems to me that a lot of Abbott-and-Costello-style "who's on first" conversations go on at restaurants in the South.
Southern Waitress: Howdy, y'all. Wouldja like summat to drink?
Yankee Customer: How about a Coke?
Waitress: Sure, hun. Whatja like?
Yankee: Uhh, a Coke please.
Waitress: Well, dumplin', of course we have Coke here. Wouldja like a sprite?
Confused Yankee: No, no, a Coke!
Waitress: Now puddin', don't get all riled up. How about a nice Grape Nehi?
Disconcerted Yankee: Never mind, just get me some ice water.
Is this really true? Can anyone out there confirm it?
3 comments:
I never have understood that "coke" phrase. I had a room mate from Texas and she would say coke.
Oh yeah, it confused me to no end when I moved to Louisiana and people would ask what kind of Coke I wanted (now it would be easy - Mmm, Diet Coke). It took me a while to stop saying, "I don't want a coke, can I have a root beer instead?" and just say,"root beer."
I think I grew up with Soda Pop - both words together. However, we knew that either Soda or Pop meant the same thing. I remember as a kid, maybe age 8 or 9, asking my dad why it was called a "soft drink" and he said it's because they are not "hard drinks" as in alcoholic drinks. I had never thought about it that way before. Such a sheltered childhood. In college, my roommate from Miami, FL always called soda pop a "cold drink" which made no sense to me. There are lots of cold drinks which are NOT soda pop. I see on your map that Southern Florida has alot of yellow for "other."
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