What word do you use to refer to carbonated drinks?
 

I was just in a discussion with a few people in the shoutbox about this, and I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys call it. I heard it varies within different regions, so share any information you may have about what your region may call it, etc.

Pop.

I call it soda, because when I was a kid I watched a lot of movies where they called it soda.

Most people around here call it pop.

a drink

Pop. From my understanding, in general, it's Canada = pop, USA = soda. Not sure about anywhere else.

Nah, most of the South is pop too, or at least where I've been. Except when I lived in NC, and they called it all sorts of weird things. I heard "tonic" and "dope" a few times from the older people there.

Another one for pop here eh

http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.c...pvssodamap.gif

This is the map I was referring to.

I call it soda

you were right about the northerners thing but just not people on the east coast.

I mixed up coke with pop.

Soda.

I don't really have an umbrella term I use... I usually say fizzy drinks, or I'll just call it the name of the specific drink in question.

I was flabbergasted to hear that people called soda 'pop'. Considering pop has other meanings and soda is a unique term, it almost makes me mad. I still don't understand. I'm from California, and as you can see from DJs map this is 'soda' country. Unfortunately, prior to seeing that, I would have said that the whole country would be yellow save for Michigan and the Great Lakes states. They want pop dontcha know.

So that map is depressing.

Also, I find that people that refer to ... a Sprite, or Pepsi, or any soda that isn't a coca cola, a Coke, ignorant, lazy, or retarded. There's a difference if you want a Coca Cola and you ask for a Coke and all they have is Pepsi. You don't turn around and say this Coke is good.

The proper term if you would like to say coke as a general term would be Cola.

"I would like a Cola. A Pepsi Cola, a Coca Cola, an RC Cola, I don't care. Just some sort of Cola"

I have been known to say "I need a carbonated drink" because that is indeed the kind of drink I wanted. I cared not for specifics. It could be ginger ale, cola, or tahitian treat. :D

I'm from the heart of "pop" country and I say "pop." But I don't like it much and never buy it, so I don't say "pop" often. :)

I didn't know anyone said "soda" until I went to the East Coast for the first time.

The tendency of Southerners to say "coke" as a generic term for "pop" has puzzled me since I first heard of it, because it would seem to create unnecessary confusion. Down there if people ask you, "Would you like a coke?" does this mean you won't know if they are asking if you want generic pop or specifically Coke?

Saying "pop" could lead to confusion. Does my pop's pop refer to his drink or my grandpa? However, I've never actually seen such confusion arise.

Soft drink.

I grew up calling it pop because of where I lived in Canada, but now I usually just refer to them by their brand name.

Its just a fizzy drink, or the name of whatever the drink is.

I don't know what they're called, I call it whatever it is Scotch & Soda, Gin & Tonic, Rum & Coke. I guess you can get technical and call them cocktails or highballs.

Yeah I live in NC and I've heard tons of crazy stuff. Mostly people, including me, say soda, and i've honestly never heard anyone call it 'pop' in person.

Carbonated Obesity.

I call it soda.

Speaking of which, they have amazing soda at Ruby Tuesday's. They use real ingredients, and don't add any sweetener. It's so unbelievably refreshing. I had Watermelon, and there's actually crushed up watermelon in the glass. A piece of it clogged up my straw, and that's when I knew I had the best drink ever. It's not sweet at ALL, and it has a beautifully sharp bite from fresh mint. Free refills too! I desperately wanna try Blackberry.

Isn't that the fresh fruit lemonade? I always get the blackberry, but maybe I should try the watermelon.

Nope! It's in that same menu though. It's under "seasonal soda". I think they use the same things for the lemonade (it certainly sounds like it), so I figure they could make the soda into whatever flavors they have for the lemonade. At least I hope so. If they do, I am ALL over Blackberry. I f'in love berries. I even wear a Blackberry fragrance, so that puts it into perspective. The friend who I got it with said that he had Blackberry, and he had it in November. I don't wanna wait until November, BUT the Watermelon one was incredible. So I'm content.

Really? I didn't know people in the UK said this, I thought it was purely a US thing.

You can tell which company took that region over, I guess. I'm originally from Tennessee and I do indeed use the term coke. They will, in fact, ask if you want a coke in a restaurant and will look at you all confused if you just reply with yes. If you are from the south there is no confusion as most people there refer to it that way as well and will just assume you mean it generically. When I left the south when I was little I was surprised to find everyone didn't call it that. I asked "what kind of coke do you have?" in a restaurant before when I first moved and got some confused looks. I guess I just figured it was everyone's way of acknowledging that Coca-Cola is the most successful carbonated drink company. Like, "congrats now all sodas are coke!"...

We also use soda sometimes, but never pop. I live in a pop region now and it still sounds weird to me. I just say soda now.

I say "soda" but "pop" seems like a reasonable thing to call it too (both are short for "soda pop" after all). People who call it all "coke", on the other hand, drive me nuts.

All my cousins in Ohio call it pop. It's weird.

It's pretty common here. I actually find myself referring to whatever kind of soda it is more than calling it anything else. I'll say "get me a Dr. Pepper" or "get me a Sprite" etc.

I am Irish and refer to carbonated drinks as fizzy drinks!

Coke, Fanta or Lemonade and occasionally Mountain Dew as that's all I drink.

I'm from the pop side of the divided state of New York, though I live in Virginia and it's all about soda. I do live in a high military population so there are a lot of people including myself that use the term they grew up with. I always found people that use Coke, to be "country".

BTW Nice find with the map.

we call it a "soft drink" here

in my native Hakka dialect of Chinese, we call it "Holland water" (i dunno why)

in general Chinese, it's "gas water"

Gas water sounds like something that would make you have to change your underwear.

I lol'd.

I call it Coke, not as a general term, but because Coca-Cola is all I drink. So when ordering food I always request Coke by name, that's basically the only time I ever refer to carbonated beverages. If I were to ever refer to tem in a general sense it would be using "soda".

Soda. But usually I just refer to whatever soda I want by name, thus staying away from the confusion.

beverage.

This thread comforts me. I never knew other people could be as condescending to those who call carbonated drinks "pop". I thought I was the lone *******. I don't know why it bugs me, but I just can't help but feel that those who use "pop" are quaint and goofy. Using "coke" is just plain dumb though.

That map is proving to be extremely accurate. I'm from Connecticut and have never heard anyone say anything but soda. I had no idea people used coke as a general term.

Yeah well we think you are dumb.

Could a moderator add a poll to have the following things:

> Soda
> Pop
> Soda Pop
> Coke/Cola
> Soft Drink
> Fizzy Drink
> Carbonated Drink
> Drink
> Gas Water (:laughing:)
> Other

You know everyone will just vote gas water, right? :p

anal beads?