# Which came first SODA or POP?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-soda-or-pop/113486
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 11, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-soda-or-pop/113486 "2002-06-11T17:41:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-soda-or-pop/113486/1 "2002-06-11T17:41:47Z")
There’ve been numerous threads about dialectal variations of what people call carbonated beverages. Some regions say “pop”, others “soda”, and then there’s “soda-pop”, “soda-water”, “tonic” and many others. _This thread is **not** about who says what or which way is better._
What I want to know is what was the original word? Did everyone say “soda-pop” at one time, and then different regions shortened it in different ways? Or, did the words evolve independent of each other, and in some cross-over area “soda-pop” become common?
I’ve tried the Oxford English Dictionary, but it gives (apparently) contradictory cites. Any other word-sleuths out there have other sources or ideas?
---
### Author:  [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-soda-or-pop/113486/2 "2002-06-11T18:51:44Z")
From the OED:
“Soda”, meaning (carbonated) soda water, dates from 1802.
Pop, meaning “any effervescing beverage, esp. ginger-beer or (later) champagne”, dates from 1812. That first documented usage was:
> [@](#):
>
> A new manufactory of a nectar, between soda-water and ginger-beer, and called pop, because ‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn.
So my guess is that they developed independently, with “pop” being an onomatopoeic result of “soda,” but were concatenated later on as the phrase “soda pop” to differentiate it from other forms of “pop” (such as champagne, etc.).
---
### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-soda-or-pop/113486/3 "2002-06-11T19:48:01Z")
In the case of “soda pop” there is little question as to which came/comes first. 😛
---
### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2002, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-soda-or-pop/113486/4 "2002-06-11T19:53:34Z")
In the case of “soda pop” there is little question as to which came/comes first. 😛
---
### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-came-first-soda-or-pop/113486/5 "2002-06-12T14:36:43Z")
Doh, I missed an entry in the OED. Let me answer mine own question.
The history of of the various words used for carbonated beverage:
“soda-water”–first cite 1802.
“pop”–first cite 1812.
“soda”–first cite 1834.
“soda-pop”–first cite 1863.
So, the evidence from the OED is that “soda-water” was the original term. “pop” came into use next. And then “soda” was used as a shortened form of “soda-water”. (“soda” has other earlier meanings not associated with carbonated beverages.) “soda-pop” was evidently formed much later than the others.
Basically, what **peepthis** said, correcting for the distinction between “soda” and “soda-water”.