I am firmly in the soda category, as are some of my friends. And the ones who are not in the soda category are quite insistent that the "correct" word is pop. I would have to disagree. And they disagree with me.
There is no consensus on this, and there appears to be no rational argument. How do you argue this?
"It's pop."
"Why?"
"Because it is."
"No, it's soda."
"Now you're just being silly."
I did some digging on the subject, which didn't help me much. History seems to advocate that both words are perfectly valid. Soda works because soft drinks are made with soda-water, which create the fizz. Pop was introduced by Robert Southey in 1812 "because ‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn."
One person has apparently become so obsessed with it that they have created a Pop vs. Soda Controversy website intended to plot the regional variations in the use of the terms "Pop" and "Soda" to describe carbonated soft drinks.
"I'd like a coke."
"What flavor?"
"Mountain Dew."
Now who is being silly?
The map does seem to show that soda is typical on the east and west coasts, pop is popular in the north, while coke is the word to use in the south. The raw statistics show what other names people use to refer to soft drinks, such as fizzy drinks or lolly water. Though I may feel a little outnumbered here in the Midwest, I will continue to say soda, not pop and certainly not coke.
Soda or pop: Which do you prefer?
POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP :P
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the lands where Coke and Soda were both used, generally defining where someone's family was originally from. It's not as confusing as it sounds if you grew up with it. In that way, it's like much of language. A very fascinating topic all around.
ReplyDeleteI said pop until I moved to Cali, where I was given so much crap by friends, I said soda.. now I use both interchangeably.
ReplyDeleteA new weird thing I discovered about the east coast though, is no one says "freeway" out here. It's all interstate, turnpikes, routes, etc. Weirder than the west coast putting a "the" before every road ('the 505', 'the 80').
-mo
"Might as well go for a soda..." - Kim Mitchell
ReplyDeleteNobody in the South would ever call Mountain Dew a "coke". We call Coke Coke, Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, Pepsi Pepsi, and so on. What the map means is that when you're at a restaurant, and you want a carbonated cola beverage, you ask for a "coke" instead of "soda" or "pop".
ReplyDelete