A spinoff from the Coke, Pepsi, Pibb, Dr. Pepper thread. It seems like one of the biggest definers of regional speech is how you refer to sweet carbonated non-alchoholic beverages. Growing up in TX I always heard them called "coke" no matter what brand it was. In Minnesota and Wisconsin they always call it "pop" and I heard people in the NE call it "seltzer" and even "tonic." In CA it mainly was "soda" and now I almost always call it "soda" so I don't confuse waiters here in MN and because I can't stand calling it "pop". So what do you call it?
In Texas we said coke. Up here in Minnesota, we tend to refer to it by it's name (Coke, Pepsi, Blue Moon)
Actually, I find that it varies by region. Here in Houston, people call it all Coke. If I hear someone call it "pop" I immediately know that they're not from Houston and are almost definitely from the Midwest.
In Canada it's usually called "pop" or occasionally "soft drink." Isn't it sort of confusing referring to all types of pop as "Coke?" What if you want an Orange Crush or something?
Black folk be sayin' "soda wata" for coke. Us Mess'cans, we say, uh... "coke" for any flavor. "Why he said 'fountain drink'? Por qué no dijo COKE? "
Haha good thread! I usually refer to any carbonated non-alcoholic beverage as a "coke" but in my specific "VS." thread I was actually referring to Coca-Cola.
No. If you're ordering, you'll ask for the brand by name. The generic coke is usually when you are offering -- "do you want a coke?" If the recipient says "Yes," then you ask what kind. Or, you may use the generic coke in telling a story ("some dude threw a coke at Artest, and he went into the stands and kicked the crap out of some innocent bystander.") where the brand is irrelevant.
Here in Canada it's pop. I'm surprised to hear that Coke has gone the way of Kleenex where it's become synonymous for the category it is a part of.
Awesome. Not to derail as this is a somewhat related topic, but apparently there are words that are not only region specific, but CITY specific as well. From what I can tell, the only place you will hear anyone reference a "feeder" road is in Houston. Not the south, not Texas, just Houston. I lived in Dallas for 5 years and I found this to be true. Anyone who had not spent any significant time in Houston had no idea what I was talking about when I said feeder. I just find that oddly fascinating.
I call it pop, but I would easily recognize what somebody meant if they called it soda, cola, or soft drink (and coke, but I'd think the brand). It's annoying when people give me weird looks if I call it pop though...it's not like I give other people weird looks if they ask me for a soda.
I'm from Louisiana originally, and there everything was a coke. "You want a coke?" "Yeah." "What kind of coke do you want?" "A Sprite." Not til I moved to Houston did I hear anyone refer to them as sodas. I thought Texans were weird for that for a long time.
