Coke Vs. Pop Vs. Soda
Posted on September 11th, 2008 by admin
When you buy a carbonated soft drink or cola, how do you order it? Do you ask for a coke, a soda, a pop or something else? Ever wondered how other people refer to carbonated cola drinks? Well, fret no longer. A German linguist named Dr. Luanne Von Schneidemesser did a study mapping out the various usages throughout the USA. In Schneidemesser’s article in the Journal of English Linguistics (Soda or Pop?, #24, 1996), the usage is mapped, showing the regional variation by county of the name given to that type of drink. The map details the areas where certain usages predominate.
- coke: this generic term for soft drinks predominates throughout the South, New Mexico, central Indiana and in a few other single counties in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. ‘Coke’ obviously derives from Coca-Cola, the brand-name of the soft drink originally manufactured in Atlanta (which explains its use as a generic term for all soft drinks in the South).
- pop: dominates the Northwest, Great Plains and Midwest. The world ‘pop’ was introduced by Robert Southey, the British Poet Laureate (1774-1843), to whom we also owe the word ‘autobiography’, among others. In 1812, he wrote: A new manufactory of a nectar, between soda-water and ginger-beer, and called pop, because ‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn. Even though it was introduced by a Poet Laureate, the term ‘pop’ is considered unsophisticated by some, because it is onomatopaeic (I should look up this word as I took this section directly from the site with this original article).
- soda: prevalent in the Northeast, greater Miami, the area in Missouri and Illinois surrounding St Louis and parts of northern California. ‘Soda’ derives from ’soda-water’ (also called club soda, carbonated or sparkling water or seltzer). It’s produced by dissolving carbon dioxide gas in plain water, a procedure developed by Joseph Priestly in the latter half of the 18th century. The fizziness of soda-water caused the term ’soda’ to be associated with later, similarly carbonated soft drinks.
This map was found via digg.com at this site.