# Pop vs. Soda: The Map **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683 "2009-04-10T20:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/41 "2009-04-11T03:41:16Z")
up here in Saskatchewan, I’ve grown up with “pop” - “soda” means club soda to me, and Coke is a brand name, not a generic. That seems to match the pattern in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. except for that one lime-green “other” county, in Minnesota, that picks up the North-west angle. what’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/42 "2009-04-11T03:41:51Z")
The Indianapolis area does _not_ say “soda”…EVER As a Cheesehead from Mil. this irks me to no end ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/43 "2009-04-11T03:55:01Z")
I grew up in Coke territory but I’ve always mostly said Soda. Pop and Cold Drink kinda gross me out a little bit for some reason I don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/44 "2009-04-11T03:58:14Z")
Glad to see New Jersey having all counties at 80+% soda. If they did a more recent poll, I bet Virginia and North Carolina would be even more “soda” do to all of the people who have moved there from the northeast in the past few years. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/45 "2009-04-11T04:14:58Z")
Hmmm. The whole state is varying degrees of pop except for this county, which is soda. As is California. And we have a hell of a lot of Californians up here. I’m not a native but always called it soda. Dunno where my parents picked it up, my dad was from Ohio and my mom grew up all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/46 "2009-04-11T05:25:08Z")
I never knew that so much of the US referred to soft drinks as “Pop.” I don’t think I really believe it. I’m tempted to drive out to Chicago and see if this is true. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/47 "2009-04-11T08:04:42Z")
I’ve lived in Portland for four years now, and worked in the restaurant business most of that time. I do not recall ever hearing anyone here refer to soda as “pop”. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/48 "2009-04-11T20:29:35Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > What’s up with New Mexico, there? They seem to be almost as confused as Alaska. Eh, New Mexico never knows what the hell they’re doing on any issue. Though I’m in Santa Fe county and apparently everyone here calls it ‘coke’, but I almost never hear that, so I’m not sure how much I’m trusting this map. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/49 "2009-04-11T21:01:26Z")
Where I live, (around Buffalo), most people call it “pop”. I call it “pop” because it’s less syllables. On top of that I work at Wegmans, where their brand of soda is W-Pop. Actually now I think it’s “W-Cola” or “Dr. W” these days. ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/50 "2009-04-11T21:02:21Z")
I’m from Chicago, and the correct term is “pop”. I don’t even know what’s going on with this “coke” thing. That’s just completely and utterly wrong. “Coke” is a subcategory of a subcategory of pop. There’s “colas”, a specific flavor of pop, and then there’s “Coke”, a specific brand of cola. This misnaming must be the root of all problems in the South. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/51 "2009-04-11T22:28:51Z")
Pop, in Omaha during the '50s and '60s. Then, I joined the Navy to avoid the Army and was exposed to Easterners who always called it soda and got in the habit of calling it soda. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/52 "2009-04-11T22:54:07Z")
I like the correspondence between the pop vs. soda map and maps of the [Confederacy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Confederate_States_of_America.svg) and Civil War [battlefields](http://www.wisegorilla.com/images/civilwar/0-battles.png) . It appears that the linguistic forces of the Union are again making significant inroads into Virginia and Nawth C’alina. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/53 "2009-04-11T22:59:03Z")
I usually go with “soft drink”. Probably because I lived in Albuquerque as a kid, which happens to be one of a handful of “80% - 100% other” counties. Then I moved to Detroit, where I’ve spent most of my life, and went to college in Ohio. For some reason, I never use pop, but now I do say soda occasionally. Don’t have a clue why. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683/54 "2009-04-12T00:42:12Z")
Huh. I’ve always called it a _carbonated high-fructose thirst control fluid._ You’re all weird. Okay, fine. I call it pop. Everyone in Michigan does. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-vs-soda-the-map/492683.md?page=2)