As a kid growing up in California, we always called it a coke (note small ‘c’). Never and I mean never heard the word pop or soda pop until I went in the Air Force at 17 and met people from other states. 
Western New York here, and it’s pop. People from other places make fun of me when I call it that. It is definitely the minority word among the people at college, who are from all over the U.S. I have always thought of “soda” as being a more formal word for some reason.
Soft drink. Never soda or pop.
Born in the Midwest, I admit that “pop” would probably be my native tag for that lovely, lovely drink genre. My family tended to use the term “soft drink” a lot too, which most people find a bit odd (they had to differentiate between the Barq’s and the bourbon, people). I’d always thought of the term “soda” as being associated with simpleton '50s goodie boys going to a diner for a wholesome refreshment, though it seems that Northeasterners think of “pop” as a hick term. I’d always assumed that both just came from the same root, “soda pop”, which appears mainly in really old comic strips and movies, but I couldn’t find anything conclusive on the web about the etymology of the terms. Really, I guess I am fine with any of the three (pop, soda or soft drink).
But when I was first exposed to Texans calling everything “Coke” I just couldn’t take it. Forget the implications of letting the monstrous Coca-Cola company earn the title of generic term in the way that those lucky bastards at Kleenex did, but just think about how confusing it is. I mean, I already have a hard enough time at parties asking for cocaine without –
Dr Pepper is the favorite coke of a lot of people around here, as Wracket said below. The Dr Peppers bottled in Dublin, Texas are probably the only major-label cokes made with sugar instead of corn syrup.
Big Red is a bubble gum-like beverage; that’s all I can say about it…
From Warwickshire, UK. My family call it “fizzy” but, judging from what is written here, we are the only family on earth to do so.
Well, in the Midwest at least Big Red was/is(?) marketed along the lines of red creme sodas, and Big Red, Inc. is reportedly one of the ten biggest soft drink companies, just between Royal Crown and Seagram in market share (http://www.beverage-digest.com/editorial/010215s.php)*. But evidently it does taste like bubble gum to some. I would never consider it a substitute for Dr. Pepper, though, which is one of the finest soft poppy sodie tonics ever that ever there was. Oddly enough, the first Texas I ever heard call all soft drinks “coke” was my doubles partner from Waco, which is, I believe, the birthplace of Dr. Pepper. Talk about no hometown spirit!
*Is there something about the “php” ending that prevents me from embedding or whatever this URL into the text, the way I did with the second URL? Hrmm, wrong forum for this question, but it just came up for the first time.
Montrealer here,
My friends and I say “cokersumtin”. Yes, it always sounds like one word.
“Do you want a cokersumtin?”
I’m not sure though if anyone else around here say it that way.
d
BTW I’m french and say napkin even in french.
Pop was what they said 50 years ago. Even my grandfather learned to not say pop. Its soda now, get a clue!!
Grew up in Texas always calling it coke. Here in Japan the preferred Japanese English is Juice for general soft drinks (including tea and coffee) or “kora” (cola) for cola drinks in particular.
Here in Ohio, most people call it Pop.
Pop. When I was at Camp, the entire camp argued about it the whole week. Soda won but I still call it pop.
Think about it, so-da, 2 sylables; pop, 1 sylables. It’s easier to say and faster.
My entire group of friends all call it pop too so…
Whatever.
I was born in Michigan and lived there for the first 9 years of my life. I called it “pop” of course.
Then I moved to New Jersey where I’ve lived now for the last 30 years. They call it “soda” here in NJ.
Both sound right to me. Most of the time I call it “sodapop.” 
Another Albertan here…
We call it pop if we aren’t talking about a specific brand. Colas are usually called coke no matter the brand just like we use kleenex to describe tissue.
I travel about & heard people in the deep south & west say “soft drink.” Northeast: soda. But people move about, so they may have used the phrase they heard in other areas.
I see by that map that there’s a little red (coke speakers) speck down where I was born (LA area). That must be me.
I live in maine at the moment…I went into KFC and asked for a large pop and was very surprised when she handed me a large popcorn chicken…It took 2 minutes before she figured out i meant soda and then she acted like i was a total freaking weirdo for saying pop
Los Angeles. Both are kinda corny around here, but “pop” is much more so.
I don’t really use either, and I can’t think of anyone who does. I think everyone I know just refers to beverages as “drinks”. “We’ve got some drinks in the fridge” “Would you like something to drink? We’ve got all kinds of drinks”
stoid
Wow, that web page with the interactive map was so cool!
As I am from Michigan, I say “pop.” In fact, Michigan appears to be the geographic center of the pop-saying world. I never encountered a problem with this until I moved to Washington DC in February on an internship. The other interns in my group, my roommate (Wisconsin) and girlfriend (Texas) especailly, would laugh when I said pop. My roommate would even sarcastically ask “What’s pop?” whenever I said the word.
What confuses me most is that all the Texan’s who have weighed in here say “Coke” though I’m pretty sure my Texan ex says soda. I might be wrong though.
My question now is, do I fight the good fight and put up with the confused looks of restaurant staff by saying pop? Or do I cave in, considering I have no plans on returning the Great Lakes region any time soon?
I call it soda and I’m from North Carolina. Whee!
Actually, I have rarely encountered the “all sodas are called coke” thing the other NC Dopers have mentioned.
Novus