How do you refer to soda / pop?

It's "Soda."

"Pop" people insert an "R" into the word "Washington."

Many in New England refer to it as tonic.

In Boston it's "tonic"

Jinx!

I call it soda, my dad calls it Pop (and no, he does not insert an R into the word Washington, he's just old and from North Dakota)

Fizzy Drinks

We call it pop where I live (Midwest) but I never insert those Rs into words where they don't belong.

"WaRshington"!

Other: soda water. I have trained myself to say soft drink because so few people recognize the term now. It seems to be an old-timey Texas thing. I live in Houston where so many people grew up elsewhere.

"Drinkie-poos"

What about SNEAKERS?

I grew up in the midwest and called in "pop"

When I moved to New England, I switched to "soda" to assimilate

R12-That must have been such a struggle for you to assimilate.

R11, I've never called them sneakers, just running shoes or gym shoes. It always puzzles me for a few seconds when the Brits refer to them as 'trainers'.

IT'S POP--just because they call it "soda" in New York and Philadelphia doesn't dictate that it should be so for the rest of the country. Soda is baking soda, pop is pop. And r1 it's WAHshington--I don't insert an R, so fuck you and your "soda".

People in the northeast generally say SNEAKERS not running shoes or tennis sneakers.

Soft drink

Yes it's pop. Yes it's soda. People who insist that calling carbonated beverages sodas and need to insult pop people are pathetic. Pop, soda, and soda pop are all acceptable and have been since before any of us were born.

Fizzy drink.

[quote]Soda is baking soda, pop is pop.

Pop is also a type of music, a synonym for father, a type of noise, and a synonym for the word burst.

Soft drink.

R2 R3 I'm also from MA and as a kid I recall calling it tonic but at a certain point, it morphed over to soda.

Plains here. Pop, tennis shoes, and no R in "wash."

COKE

It's better than those idiots who call hoagies "subs".

@R365 - More the reason for us to sing 'Let's All Chant': Lizzie Grubman, Lizzie Grubman, Lizzie Grubman!

SoCal native. It's either coke or soft drink.

Tennessee, here: Coe-cola

Michigan here .... it's "pop". We don't insert an R into Washington. either

Soda. Pop sounds so redneck and trailer park.

If that's what you think then that's your problem r30. And r25, I have never heard anyone call submarine sandwiches "hoagies" except people in eastern Pennsylvania, which is fine, but just don't label everyone else "idiots" because they don't use your extra special word for it.

Are you purchasing a lot of sandwiches at "Hoagieway" R25?

If you asked for a "sub" in my state, people would think you are nuts. It's a ridiculous term. Everyone knows it's a hoagie.

They also call po boys hoagies in New Jersey.

In Chicago, it's "pop"

Knock yourself out -->

soda. i cant drink the stuff anymore, makes me thirstier as i drink.

Pop in the Midwest. Only elderly people still say "Warshington" around here though.

Most of Canada calls it "pop" except the ones who prefer to sound American and call it soda. I winter in Tennessee and we are often asked what type of "Coke" do we want. We also refer to it as soft drink in Canada

I say soda pop, which is usually not an option in such comparisons, or doesn’t show in results. Maybe because few people use it. Thanks, OP, for including it.

The thing of it is r38 is that not all Americans do call it soda, hence this poll and thread, that's just the assumption and that assumption includes advertising since a lot of that proceeds from New York where it is called soda. What do people who speak French in Canada call it?

Interestingly, in Buffalo, it's called "pop," too--maybe Buffalo is the beginning of the Midwest.

I'm originally from Erie, Pennsylvania and we always called it pop, same with Pittsburgh area. If you called it soda you were immediately taken to be from eastern PA.

Subs=Hoagies=Grinders

I blocked r1.

Thanks for sharing, R44

R40 the “proper” term would be “boisson gazeuse” (carbonated drink) - you’ll sometimes hear “liqueur douce” which is a bastardized/bad translation of soft drink, or more often its shortened version “liqueur” (but we’re not talking creme de menthe here).

I think in German any carbonated beverage or soft drink is called "limo", but am not positive about that. Maybe the French in France have a term like that.

Los Angeles born and raised, always been soda. Coke is a general follow up.

When I went to visit my Uncle in southern California, he once asked me to "pick up some cokes while I was out." So, I bought a couple of 2-liters of Coke. I brought them back and he said, "all you got was Coke?" I was so confused - he had to explain that "cokes" meant all the various sodas.

Fizzy/soft drink or mixer.

[quote]So, I bought a couple of 2-liters of Coke. I brought them back and he said, "all you got was Coke?" I was so confused - he had to explain that "cokes" meant all the various sodas.

Nevertheless, he got what he deserved since he deliberately specified a brand name.

By the brand name

I spent the first 25 years of my life in Michigan calling it POP. Then when I lived in Florida and California I call it SODA to fit in.

same here r29

Grew up in the west, it was pop. Lived in the east, it was Soda. Lived in the south, it was CoeCola (no matter what the flavor). I survived - mostly because I rarely drink it, whatever it's called.

My alcoholic in-laws refer to beer as "pop" and wine as "juice." There's a lot of denial going on.

[quote]What about SNEAKERS?

I wear them. I do not drink them.

And a hoagie is a cooked sub.

Ohio here. It's referred to as pop. And yes, my parents inserted the R in Washington. I've unlearned that horribly offensive speech impediment over the years. Although, sometimes I still put the R in there for shits and giggles.

In the mid 1970's my father would buy me a hoagie at Woolworth's in Manhattan. They were the ground floor tenant in his office building. I think the sandwich was only a buck. It was good too.

"Pop." Impossibly Midwestern.

But it is possible r60, it is! Say it loud, Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up and whatever other fizzy soft drink is out there is POP! Soda is the leavening agent for a cake or something. Where the fuck do you get "soda" when there is no soda in it?! And even if there were it would taste like shit--like something you'd take for indigestion. Just because they call it soda in eastern New York, eastern Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, that means it must be the PROPER term for it. Don't back down Chicago and Minneapolis, keep calling it pop. We're gonna have a civil war over this yet! And the smell me types in New York are going down......

Soda is so relentlessly and prissily East Coast. I suppose R60 speaks with a "Mid-Atlantic" accent.

[quote]Soda is so relentlessly and prissily East Coast. I suppose [R60] speaks with a "Mid-Atlantic" accent.

no it's just correct.

Pop or Sodapop sounds so UNsophisticated.

People who say Pop don't wipe very well.

In California you used to ask people if they wanted a "coke or something." Maybe these days you'd say soft drink, but that's more in a restaurant or movie theater.

Are you referring to the UN-cola which is 7-Up r64, which is, of course, POP. Yeah, R65, I suppose all the "soda" types in New York and Philadelphia are all spotlessly clean "down there"--yeah, right.....(*eye-roll*).

Whine all you want, but if you say "pop" you sound like a flyover resident.

I'm from L.A. and say soda. While the term "soft drink" appears on menus, I've never heard a human say "I would like a soft drink." Sounds weird.

We called it pop in Western NY State. At least back in th 70's.

[quote]We called it pop in Western NY State. At least back in th 70's.

Most of upstate NY for all intents and purposes IS midwest/flyover. The Rochester accent sounds like suburban Chicago.

Well, I live in California r69 and I say pop. I don't drink it but that's what I call it. r68, the only one whining is you, mister I'm-so-much-better-than-flyover-residents.

R58 In speech pathology, it is referred to as "the intrusive R." It is a result of raising and tensing the tongue too quickLy in moving from the "ah" (a low vowel) to the fricative "Sh" shound

[quote]the only one whining is you, mister I'm-so-much-better-than-flyove - r-residents.

Doesn't understand the meaning of the word "whine" or how it differs from "condescend."

In this case r74 it's all one and the same, don't patronize me, bitch.

"Soda is baking soda"

Unless it's club soda, I guess.

[quote]In this case [R74] it's all one and the same, don't patronize me, bitch.

you really should just stop replying, because each subsequent one continues to show your lack of a grasp of English vocabulary.

You forgot to capitalize the y in you r77. Each "one" of yours shows your bitchy arrogance, so, stuff it up your ass.

This all goes to show you that the Easterners, and especially New Yorkers (excluding western New York), are like the French. They CAN'T STAND IT unless they thought of it, invented it, say it (such as the word "soda" for pop) or experienced it. It's a wonder New Yorkers ever accepted air travel considering Wilbur and Orville Wright were from that "flyover" state of Ohio where they call it POP.

Here in the Midwest, R68, we refer to the coasts (and especially the eastern one) as whoneedsit land.

[quote]Here in the Midwest, [R68], we refer to the coasts (and especially the eastern one) as whoneedsit land.

This speaks for itself.

Dick----meet wad!

C'mon, guys! This thread is about language differences. I hate that the whole 'flyover' pejorative was introduced so quickly, when identifying where we're from is important to the discussion. I've gotten accustomed to being referred to a 'flyover' here on DL, but I generally don't let it piss me off: instead, it makes me think less of the person who'd call me that based on the simple accident of my birth, in a different state than the commenter.

Ohio has several different accents: much of Northern Ohio was originally designated as 'The Firelands', as being designated for use by the people of Connecticut who lost their homes during the Revolutionary War. So Northern Ohio has an accent that tends to descend from New England and New York. Central Ohio was primary settled by settlers moving west from Pennsylvania, so the accent was similar, especially to Western Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Dutch. Southern Ohio had a lot of settlement from Kentucky and West Virginia, and many of the towns on the Ohio River were port cities, which collected people from all over the place.

I don't think the OP was intending to create this kind of board war. Why can't we try to respect the OP, and rise above? I don't have a chip on my shoulder: I don't like being called a flyover, but I've tried to learn not to react to broadly dismissive comments.

Tonic

I call it "Jack and Diet"

r83, it seems to me that the ones who are so sure they are right with their "soda" are fine with making condescending comments (don't wipe well, limited vocabulary, etc.) about those who are from parts of the country who would call it otherwise: pop, coe-cola, what have you. This oddly seems to go deeper than just some words that refer to a soft drink. And you're right, it could go way back to when easterners thought of those on the frontier as unsophisticated, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let broad hints that I'm less literate or sophisticated go unnoticed. A simple thing like this can bring out the true colors sometimes.

Most of my family is from west coast, and lots of them say the generic "Coke" when they really mean any kind of cola/soda/pop stuff.

[quote]Most of my family is from west coast, and lots of them say the generic "Coke" when they really mean any kind of cola/soda/pop stuff.

Well, they sound like classless boors.

R86, I see your point, honestly. I don't like the insults that are hurled at us, simply because we weren't born or raised in some apparently 'beknighted' part of the US. As I posted, I think those comments say more about the people posting those remarks: I normally don't respond to them. I'm a well-read person who works hard, and owns my own home, and has nice retirement savings put away. Hell, I've shared photos of my home here on DL: I'm not ashamed of my origins, and no one will ever make me feel ashamed of where I come from. I happily admit to having entire working class origins, but my family actually worked, and so have I, and I should have a nice retirement.

Even when I've shared my experiences with the local Ballet or Symphony, there's always someone who quickly mocks that, since apparently my city's cultural events are irrelevant. I never bother to ask them when was the last time they attended any cultural event: it's a moot point. For all I know, they're 'flyovers' themselves, just trolling for a reaction. So...punch and delete.

R83

[quote]but I'll be damned if I'm going to let broad hints that I'm less literate or sophisticated go unnoticed. A

They weren't "hints"

But yes this did get quite bitchy, quite fast. But if you're going to use words like "pop" in New York or LA, that's probably how people will react, so......

I think what's interesting is that if we didn't have so much easy travel +media (tv, internet, distributed print) - how much would our language have diverged by now? There are really not that many words that are different regionally. With the country being 240 years old + the language differences that settlers brought to different areas, things could be a lot more interesting if there weren't homogenizing forces.