Here it’s coffee with 2 sugars and milk. I was surprised to find this is not the case every where.
Also, to make this entry less short, what do they call soda around your way? My cousins from Boston went into the corner bodega and asked for tonic. The guy told them to go to a drug store for that.
Oh, my way is NYC.
Everybody from NYC is surprised to find everything is not their way everywhere.
NJ checking in. Regular coffee is cream and two sugars.
We call soda soda.
Coffee is black.
Anything else is cocoa
Well, around these parts it’s coffee with 2 sugars and milk. But then, I’m a local.
Beware of Doug is right. However, that isn’t unique to NYC, or even just big cities. The less people travel and encounter different regionalisms, the more likely they are to believe that the idiosyncracies of their region are universal.
Well, I’m a couple of hours north of NYC, but I order my coffee “light and sweet” (cream and sugar). So I guess regular coffee would be black.
When I was visiting Chicago a couple of years ago, I went to a Dunkin Donuts and ordered a medium coffee, light and sweet. The clerk looked at me like I had 5 heads.
Before living near Albany, I lived 4 hours north and I had never heard of coffee “light and sweet”. It was always “cream and sugar”.
That shows you three different regions in the same state that refer to it differently. I’m curious to see what Western NYers would say about it.
At home, in Los Angeles, “coffee” gets you black coffee. It’s the same in Providence.
Edinburgh coffee shops, with a few exceptions, don’t seem to just have plain coffee. You can get an Americano, which usually comes black with a sugar packet on the side and you add the milk yourself from the counter. Also, it costs you a ridiculous amount of money.
For the second part,
I call soda “soda.” My mom, from Iowa, calls it “pop.” I don’t know what it is in Edinburgh, but sprite/7-up type stuff is called “lemonade.”
There is no such thing as a “regular” coffee in Colorado. The term doesn’t exist. If you asked for one you’d probably get it black, no sugar.
Yep. The server would probably think you mean you don’t want decaf. It would be like asking for regular water.
I love the mountain west more and more every day.
Around my way (near Nashville), regular coffee is black. For me, regular coffee is a triple tall iced mocha non-fat with whipped cream, but well…that’s just me.
Of course, soda is all “coke” here, but being as how I have lived all over (including, but not limited to Michigan, Indiana, the Pacific NW and the South), I tend to refer to it as soda, pop, coke or sodapop with no rhyme or reason, just whatever pops out of my mouth when I mention it. My kids have the same habit.
If I recall, Massachusetts’ regular is with cream & sugar (not sure on the quantities)
Here (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), I think regular coffee would probably be interpreted as just black coffee (i.e. regular vs. decaf).
Is “double double” just a Canadian-ism? (2 cream and 2 sugars)
Also, my area generally uses the term “pop”.
For American regional usage, check out http://popvssoda.com:2998/ Detailed US map here
I’ve never heard anyone ask for a regular coffee however, ordering a coffee here gives you a black coffee, no sugar.
In Montreal, a “regular coffee” would probably get you a medium non-decaf. I think regular would be applied more to the size of the coffee here, than the contents. Ask for a “regular” and the person behind the counter will still ask what you want in it.
Unless of course you’re a regular at that coffee shop, in which case they’re likely to give you your regular!
Sydney:
Cafe: black
Private house: milk and maybe one sugar
Soda: Soft drink (or proprietary name like Coke, but that is never used generically).
Tim Hortons speaking. “Regular” coffee equals one cream, one sugar.
I would never expect my coffee to come with cream & sugar already added. I don’t trust them to know how much I take, and some place’s coffee is stronger than others, so the amount of additives varies every time.
I’ve never specified anything other than just “coffee”. The sugar is already on the table and the cream comes in a little cream server. If it’s carry out or fast food, the creams and sugars are in the condiment area and I grab what I need.
Regular coffee: coffee with one cream and one sugar. Common in Ontario, but less so in Alberta, I’m finding.
‘Double double’ is, I believe, a Tim Hortonism which is seeping to greater Canadian society. I said it to a US airline steward and got a real funny look 
“regular” here is black. Season it yourself!
The corner what? I’m guessing that’s a regional term for liquor store?
Of course, “liquor store” is a regionalism as well. When I grew up in Chicago, a liquor store was the place you bought liquor, wine and beer. Period. Out here, a liquor store sells booze at high markups, as well as snacks chips, candy, etc. at similarly high markups. Back in Chicago, that would be a “convenience” store, probably named for Convenient, the dominant player in that biz. (We didn’t have many 7-11 stores at the time)