I just read a post on one of my food news feeds musing on what to call Carbonated Beverages. I had known, prior to that, that not all people in all places call them ‘Pop’ or ‘Soft Drinks’, like I and any other civilized person would. But I didn’t know there was such diverse thought on the issue…
What do you have in your fridge? – Map courtesy PopvsSoda.com
I don’t think anybody really questions the fact that virtually all cultures in the western world have their own short-form name to describe the overall category of Carbonated Beverages. What does impress me is how, in the U.S. at least, a dialect specialist can tell exactly where in the country one is from based on your accent and what you call… well, Pop.
In Canada…
There is a clear preference for the term ‘Pop’, though I’ve heard fizzy drinks referred to alternatively, by ‘Pop’ drinkers, as ‘Soft Drinks’ all my life. In Quebec, ‘Soft Drinks’ is the preferred term – but only there. If you go into any Canadian restaurant and ask for a ‘Soda’, you’ll out yourself as an American on the spot.
‘Pop’ is king in the U.S.
Except in the extreme northeast and southwest, where ‘Soda’ reigns supreme, ‘Pop’ has the northern U.S. locked in coast to coast. In the southeast, all fizzy beverages are referred to as ‘Coke’, probably because that’s where folks first had retail Soft Drinks, as a consequence of the fact that Coca Cola was the first one, and it was invented in Atlanta, GA. Folks in the ‘Coke Belt’ are totally accustomed to, and happy asking for a ‘Coke’ with their Burger and Fries, and being counter-queried by the server as to ‘what kind’.
Pop v.s. Soda, by the numbers
The Pop v.s. Soda page keeps track – almost to the county-by-county level of detail – of preference for the various terms used to classify soft drinks across the U.S. Visit and find out what’s current in your part of the U.S. and update their data by registering your preference. The site is home to a larger version of the map, above, that clearly shows the overarching geographical distribution patterns of the three most-used terms.
An international phenomenon
Wikipedia maintains what may be the ultimate registry of what they call Pop locally in 95 different countries around the globe. Some of the beverages, and their occasionally-pronounceable names, make fascinating reading for the ‘Pop’ aficionado. I was amazed by how many places have adopted fizzy drinks as part of their cultures. What is certain is, the concept of carbonation has an appeal that knows no borders or bounds…
~ Maggie J.