Generic Names For Soft Drinks
One might argue this is more important than an electoral map… and oddly similar.
As a former Southerner (Tennessee) living amongst Yankees (New York), I’ve had to encounter the revelation that people in New York don’t call their soft drinks, “Coke”. They call it “Soda”. What the hell? In the South you order a Coke, then you tell them which kind. Makes perfect sense, right? Right. I don’t want clear carbonated water if I did, I’d order soda.
Even more peculiar to me was the grating derivation soft drink nomenclature, “Pop”. What the hell is “Pop”? Many of you might disagree seeing that half this map is covered in blue, but I’ll still make the argument.
Well, the team at StrangeMaps posted a map derived from the Pop Vs. Soda website (yes, there’s a Pop Vs. Soda website) and it’s oddly intriguing. We thought we’d share. The map reflects what soft drinks are referred to by county using the information gathered from 120,464 respondents. Why Gear Patrol wasn’t included in that survey remains unknown.
That’s all I wanted to say.
[as seen on: StrangeMaps]
That’s honest to goodness one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. I’d take that map over a 4-year sociology degree any day of the week.
My life has been influenced by all three main terms for the beverage genre, being born in the Northeast and raised by Northeastern parents while living most of my life in the South and then marrying a Midwestern girl.
However, I generally call them “soft drinks” as to clearly distinguish them from the preferred hard variety.
[...] Generic names for soft drinks by US region. [...]
That's some funny stuff! However, notice that the NorthEast and California call it soda? Two opposite ends of the country, and completely separate from the North and South distinction. Well, they do call us the "elite". Ha, ha.
As far as I see it, "Soda water" is seltzer; "Cola" is Coke or Pepsi (or RC…); "Pop" is short for "soda-pop", which I think is cute, if you're a girl or age 12 or under.
Then again, I don't drink soda, I drink water.