[QUOTE=Plynck]
I just “popped” in to ask about “tonic”. It’s not the whole northeast; I use either “soda” or “soft drink”. But I’ve heard it used any number of times. I think that it is still used by some folks 40 years and older in Boston and surrounding cities (Cambridge, Somerville, etc.).
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Ditto… “tonic” is used mostly by older people – my mother-in-law, for example. Personally, I like the word. I still think of Coke as being a bit of a tonic, in the pick-me-up sense. Must have been even more of a tonic when it still had cocaine in it.
Someone should start a thread on disappearing New England regionalisms. When was the last time you heard anyone ask for a spuckie, for example?
[QUOTE=Mindfield]
Product genericide is not uncommon though. Got a cold? Get yourself some Kleenex. Headache? Take some Aspirin. And while you’re at it, why not xerox a copy of that report?
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It gets really strange in England, where any device that sucks dirt off the carpet is a hoover. Even the latest Dyson hoover.
As for the beverage, I grew up in Chicago, so it was pop. Out here, the norm is soda, but I randomly call the stuff soda or pop.
And yes, my sister in law living in South Carolina will ask for a Pepsi Coke at restaurants. Caused no end of confusion at restaurants when she was visiting here a few months ago.
1.) I’m pretty sure this, or one like it, has shown up on the SDMB before, but it’s been a while.
2.) I have heard “tonic” used colloquially in Boston, but even back then in the 1970s it was rare, and now it’s disappearing.
3.) The map gives the area around Rochester a preferred “pop” . My experience, having lived there many years, was that I heard “soda” much more often.
4.) Salt Lake city was indeed a “soda” place, but I wouldn’t have guessed it was a “soda island”, surrounded by “pop” sayers.
5.) You gotta ask – if “tonic” doesn’t give at least a blip in New England, what are the terms used in those green areas on the map? “Soft Drink”? “Belly wash”?
Oh, yeah – bsed on the map, clearly Oklahoma and Kentucky are the FRont Lines in the great “pop” vs. “Coke” wars, and NY, PA, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin for “pop” vs. “soda”.
[QUOTE=Bear_Nenno]
No. Do you ask for a “Coke Pop”?
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Of course not. It might be- “Do you want a pop?” “Sure” “What kind?” “Coke”
[QUOTE=Mahaloth]
Uh…I’m from Michigan but your post seems a bit angry to me. Have you not learned that language is never about making sense and is just developed by the people in certain areas?
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Oh, I wouldn’t say angry. More irritated at what seems silly. If I listened to the “want a coke?” “sure, what kind?” “coke” routine just once I’d be like Kramden watching Norton warm up to play piano.
It’s 50-80% “pop” in my area. I tend to say “soda” more myself, though. In fact, it’s “pop” for the entire region in which I live.
When I was a kid a friend of mine (who was also born and raised here in Idaho) always said “Coke”, which I thought was odd. One time he asked me, “I’m looking for my Coke, did you see where I left it?” I told him no, but would keep my eyes open for it. A few minutes later he said, “Here it is.” It was a can of 7-Up. Had I known this, I would have told him since I had seen the can, thinking it was someone else’s.
No, it’s like using “Bandaid” for all bandages. You don’t say, “Would you like a Curad Bandaid?” You say, “Would you like a bandaid?” “I’m allergic to some–what kind?” “Curad.”
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac]
…Someone should start a thread on disappearing New England regionalisms. When was the last time you heard anyone ask for a spuckie, for example?
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[QUOTE=Khadaji]
I call it soda. From both where I live (York) and where I grew up (Lehigh), the map was pretty much spot on. My cousins, who live much farther west in PA (Clearfield) called it pop and again, the map was spot on.
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My parents grew up in Reading and moved to upstate New York to have me and I’ve only ever used “soda”.
Chicago’s got plenty of “soda” speakers, too. And they’re not all transplanted from elsewhere. I was born and raised here, and I know several speakers with the thickest Chicago accents you can find who also call it “soda.” I will admit that the predominant word around here is “pop,” but “soda” is popular enough, too.
Growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore, it was always soda. Here in western Maryland, soda wins out on the survey, but pop gets a respectalbe standing, too; probably because we’re right on the line of parts of WV and PA that use pop commonly.
