Coke, Soda, or Pop: Most of NC, says Soda (credit, county)

[Tarheelhombre]

I wonder if race is correlated with the terms. I always hear African Americans call it "soda" no matter where they are from or live.

[poppydog]

My kids say "cola", too, for the brown stuff, be it Pepsi, Coke, RC, or other brand.

[poppydog]

This is interesting: Dialect Survey Results . It's an interactive version of the map the guy from State is doing. You can drill down to individual cities.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I grew up in Southern California and it was always soda. I would never call it coke as I prefer Pepsi. Always thought Dr. Pepper taste like cough medicine.

Someone asked does it depend on what you are eating? No, it is always soda. Color does not matter either. 7UP is a Soda, Pepsi is a Soda, Coke is a Soda. It could be said though that 7UP is the un cola. LOL

Someone will ask what you want to drink. You say, get me a soda. They say we have these available soda's. You tell them which one you want. If you want to be specific you could say, do you have a 7UP or something like that? Or, in my case, do you have a Pepsi?

I lived in Iowa for two years and everyone there called it Popp.

I realize that this is a regional thing and many that travel have asked for a soft drink or combined the two to say, "Soda Popp".

[Ohky0815]

I call it soda pop. Im from Ohio though so maybe we are weird?

[Francois]

This thread is old and two people not even in NC have resurrected it...?

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by Francois

This thread is old and two people not even in NC have resurrected it...?

LOL,

Ok SO I was in another forum looking at a different thread about a soda tax and low and behold I see three other related threads. Not knowing that they were old threads I jumped on this one without checking the date. I completely thought it was a current thread. So sorry to reopen a dead thread. My apologies.

[SunnyKayak]

Nothing wrong with thread resurrection with additional opinions

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Tarheelhombre

I wonder if race is correlated with the terms. I always hear African Americans call it "soda" no matter where they are from or live.

Black Northerners call it pop from my experiences, especially those from Chicago and other parts of the Midwest.

I'm from SC and have always called it soda.

[Francois]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Black Northerners call it pop from my experiences, especially those from Chicago and other parts of the Midwest.

I'm from SC and have always called it soda.

I concur that Black people in the South say "soda", while most white NC natives would say "Coke".

I personally say "a soft drink" because I know people using all of the above, often in the same group.

"Pop", black or white, is exclusively in the Great Lakes region and the upper west. NC actually is one of the most diverse states, where you'll liable to hear all of them. But this is far from an NC-exclusive topic.

Article with cool Map