Always been pop up here
We call it pop where I live. I had a friend in college who grew up in Missouri and called it soda.
There used to be a local place in Twin Falls, ID, that bottled their own. They were called The Popp Shopp. They had orange, grape, cola, lemon-lime and root beer. The drinks came in 12 ounce glass bottles, and you would take the empties back for a credit on the next case of 12. They closed in the mid 80's, when I wasn in high school.
We had Mehler's Bottling here in Erie and it was pop.
Soda here, although soda pop would pass without comment. In the south it's called "coke" no matter what brand or flavor. But there are actually maps you can find online that show the regional variation in what it's commonly called, although the many maps dont agree.
Last edited by Stan Calow; 03-11-2024 at 5:16 PM.
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During my younger days, Coke was so prevalent, every soft drink was a coke, it just wasn't a cola.
Now, my soft drink of choice is usually flavored seltzer water.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
When I was at Penn State quite a few decades ago, we could easily tell whether someone was from the eastern or western ends of the state by what they called such beverages; soda to the east and pop to the west. To this day, I often refer to Pittsburgh as "the land of pop".
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
In the military (doens't matter which service) you meet folks from all over the country, and even from US territories.
I heard the different names for "carbonated beverages" (no hard and fast rules, of course) .
Midwest (where I'm from), SODA
Northern middle states (MI, MN WI) POP
East coast: POP
South: COKE... yep all soda was called Coke; how you actually differentiated between, say a Pepsi and a Dr Pepper, I have no idea. Also a "Soda" meant an ice cream soda.
SW (where I am now)... because there are so many transplants/snowbirds here from other states and also Canada I hear SODA and POP about equally.
Last edited by Patty Hann; 03-11-2024 at 7:13 PM.
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
I had this experience when I moved to rural Oklahoma when I was in high school. If I said something, people did not hear it or did not understand it, they would say, "Do what?".
I was baffled by this and thought, "I wasn't suggesting you do anything".
Eventually, I figured out, "Do what?" was a local way of saying, "Sorry, I didn't get that".
When I enlisted in the Navy, oh yeah, major cultural differences!
Growing up in western NY state it was POP. In eastern New England it is SODA or in eastern Massachusetts sometimes TONIC.
Dave Anderson
Chester, NH
"Tonic" is technically tonic water which is soda water with quinine. The British military started drinking it with gin when they were deployed to tropical areas because the quinine keeps malaria at bay. After a while, they started drinking Gin and Tonic even when they weren't in the tropics. And rest is history...
Saw. a superbowl add for a new carbonated beverage company. Healthly good taste etc. They used the word Soda over and over. never pop.
Looked like cool and trendy people use "Soda."
BilLD
I grew up a 'Coke" and married into a pop.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon