First, since we can have topics on y’all vs. you guys vs. y’uins, why not what you call those various carbonated beverages. Is it “pop”, “soda”, “soda pop”, or as here in the south, just “coke”.
Around here, some one asks “y’all want a coke?”
To that they answer, “sure, whatcha got?”
And the various carbonated beverages available are listed off.
OK, that’s the silly part of this, but here’s the more serious question:
There was a minor debate over in “pounder-land” about the genericizing of brand names and whether or not it was a dangerous thing. The argument by one was that it waters down the brand name so that it is no longer recognized as a brand name.
Look around you… Do you call all adhesive bandages “band-aids”, do you call carbonated beverages “cokes”. I do and there are many more we do the same with. Is this watering down the brand name?
One example given was Xerox. For years all photocopies were Xerox. Xerox barely exists these days as a front runner in the document handling business. My argument was that Xerox is where they are now because of lousy business practices and not keeping up with the competition and has nothing to do with the fact that we genericized their name. If anything that only gives more recognition to the name.
So, I’d like to hear opinions. Is it wrong or even dangerous to genericize brand names?
Only if it inhibits communication (e.g. the Coke-as-generic-name-for-soda confusion). On the other hand, you can have some fun with the confusion too. Try telling someone there’s no such thing as a styrofoam(sp?) cup. (though that may have recently changed)
Any beverage that’s dark and sweet and carbonated is a coke. Except Pepsi, but that’s rarely an issue because no one in their right mind would drink pepsi anyway.
I find the ads in writer’s magazines trying to pursuade writers not to use their trademarked names generically are amusing. Do you think any writers sit around thinking, “Geez, I guess I should just have my characters say he hit his head on the laminated plastic' instead of the Formica ™.’”
I mean, it’s gotten to where companies feel they can patent phrases that are in common currency. Who was it, Volkswagon? One car company trademarked the expression, “Let’s go.” Surely, any company that does that deserves to have its copyrights violated.
The people who call sodas “soft drinks” are the same people that call toilet paper “bathroom tissue.” They are the people who only exist in the realm of commercials.
I call overly sweetened carbonated drinks soft drinks. It beats the confusion involved in calling them “coke,” and the term “pop” just seems plain silly to me. Soda is acceptable I suppose(since the main ingredient is soda water) but that tends to make anyone who is used to calling it “pop” or “coke” look at you funny. All in all Soft Drink is a nice medium. It’s dignified, unconfusing, and non-area related.
Plus it helps to distinguish what you are going to drink from what you really would like to drink.
Kleenex takes out ads all the time trying to protect their brand name, as does Velcro and Day-Glo…sheesh, what else are ya gonna call the stuff.
Using a brand name in the generic doesn’t necessarily water it down forever. Years back, Simoniz used to be the brand-generic term for car wax…then for a while Turtle Wax took the helm. Now I think we’re back to generic “car wax.”
It just depends on where you live. I grew up in Kansas, where we called it pop. When I was 12, we moved to Chicago. In Chicago, you call it soda - and there is no guarantee that if you say pop they will know what you are talking about. I’ve since moved back to Kansas, and still call it soda, and pity those poor souls who call it pop. If you asked me if I wanted a coke, I would expect a Coke.
Well personally I say Soda (which makes more sense since, as someone already said, the main ingredient is/was soda water). Pop sounds quaintly midwestern, and i really hate using it to describe soda (to me it’s the sound, or the action of piercing an inflated sphere with a sharp implement). I’ll often say coke as well (and in some restaurants that carry pepsi only, I get met with “you mean pepsi, right?”).
I myself am an incorrigible conlang slut. I love oral lex.
The only sane term! I grew up in S. California, and we always called them “soft drinks”. Always. We had some friends from the Midwest, and I always (even as a child) felt irritation at their calling it “pop”. Even as a 10-year-old, I knew instinctively that “pop” sounded quite lame. I cannot speak for all Southern Californians, but “soft drink” is what I always remember being used predominantly. Possibly “soda” was also used by some.
“Soda” is a tolerable alternative, “soda-pop” is only bearable compared to the incomprehensible and horrid “pop”. “Coke” is totally unnacceptable (and I am a Pepsi drinker, by the way) because of the confusion is causes.
I’ve heard people here in Louisiana call it “soda water,” but that term seems to be reserved for the older people. Most people call it pop and that drives me crazy. I refuse to go along with it, despite the funny looks I get when I say “soda.”
In grocery stores, there will be a sign over each aisle that describes what is in that aisle. (“Pasta” Pet Food", etc.) I see Grocery store aisles in California, and in the Midwest - in both places, the aisle that has the Pepsi, 7-Up, Dr. Pepper, etc. has a sign over it that says…ta daaa!SOFT DRINKS!!
I’ve also seen this term used in menus in fast food places, restaurants, etc. I’ve never made a thorough study of it, of course, but “soft drink” seems to be the most universally accepted term. I cannot recall seeing “pop” on a menu, or in a grocery store. What is “pop”, anyway? Something that a champaigne (sp?) cork does? That a balloon does when you stick a pin in it? Yechh! What a horrid, lame term to describe a soft drink!!
Of course, many years ago Kool-Aid referred to itself in commercials as a “soft drink.” Yet, it has no carbonation and (at least back then) only had as much sugar as you added to it…
I don’t consider Coke and the vile substance known as Pepsi to be in the same category of beverage as Kool-Aid.
(And yes, I know that Kool-Aid cannot call itself anything but I assume you understand the point!)
I have a hobby. I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen some of it.
Did you read past the silly beginning to the real question?