Pop, Soda, Or Coke? What do you refer to it as?

Just wondering, when I lived in Ohio, I remember a lot of people saying “Pop” if they wanted a soft drink? They’d say “Hey, can you hand me a pop please?” Now I’m in Colorado, everyone just says “Soda” here instead of “pop”? I heard down in the southern states they just call everything a “Coke” there or something? They’ll say like “What kind of Coke do you want today?”

What’s your take on this? Would you refer to a soft drink as a Pop, A soda? Or a Coke?
 
 
Pop for me, but will adapt to be understood. When my daughter lived in Atlanta, Coke was the generic word, but the word "dope" was also used generically. The term "soft drink" is also pretty common where I live.I use "soda" when I'm in Chicago with family. Not fond of saying "soda pop."
 
Grew up saying pop.

Now live in NYC and have only been saying soda. T'was a tough transition to make.

move to Atlanta. This graphic says what everyone really knows about Florida.
pop.png
 
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Pop.

Many years ago We were in Daytona is a small Diner type restaurant and we asked the waitress what kind of pop they had. She asked us if we were from Ohio because she was so used to hearing people call it soda. Ended up she was from Coldwater.
 
Growing up, a soda was a mixture of pop and ice cream.

I always knew ice cream with Pepsi or rootbeer to be a "float". But you're right, "soda" could refer to an ice cream treat back in the day. I had a chocolate soda a few times in the 1960's. That was ice cream, chocolate syrup, and unflavored seltzer water.

Pretty cool about the phosphates. Never had one. From what I read, they're supposed to be somewhat tart?

Talking about chocolate soda reminds me - in the late 1960's, Lawson stores used to stock their own brand of sodas (or pops, I guess). They actually had a carbonated chocolate cola - basically a Big K cola with a chocolate flavoring. It was different. I remember drinking one and thinking it was big deal because of the chocolate, but after a while the two flavors didn't go well together at all.
 
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I always knew ice cream with Pepsi or rootbeer to be a "float". But you're right, "soda" could refer to an ice cream treat back in the day. I had a chocolate soda a few times in the 1960's. That was ice cream, chocolate syrup, and unflavored seltzer water.

Pretty cool about the phosphates. Never had one. From what I read, they're supposed to be somewhat tart?

Talking about chocolate soda reminds me - in the late 1960's, Lawson stores used to stock their own brand of sodas (or pops, I guess). They actually had a carbonated chocolate cola - basically a Big K cola with a chocolate flavoring. It was different. I remember drinking one and thinking it was big deal because of the chocolate, but after a while the two flavors didn't go well together at all.
Now that I think of it, we did did use float and soda synonymously. The phosphate syrups were what gave flavor to the cherry cokes, chocolate cokes, etc. I don't remember them being tart. I didn't like tart as a kid. (Well, there was this one tart that I had a crush on in 7th grade.)

We also liked brown cows with vanilla ice cream and Barq's root beer; also pink cows with vanilla ice cream and Barq's cream soda. Until i was an adult, I thought that all cream sodas were red.
 
Common restaurant exchange:

Q: What would you like to drink?
A: Coke
Q: Would Pepsi be okay?
A: No thank you, I'll have water.
Lol.

My first day working at Arby's, I got the "misrepresentation of trademarked products" lecture from the supervisor. My very first customer had asked for a Coke, and Arby's sold Pepsi. I gave him the Pepsi without a second though. I'm not on the job an hour and I'm getting chewed out. Lesson learned.

A year later, Royal Crown bought out Arby's, so we had to sell their soft drinks, and say "Will RC be okay?" That would throw customers for a loop. Had multiple requests for water for a while.
 
Lol.

My first day working at Arby's, I got the "misrepresentation of trademarked products" lecture from the supervisor. My very first customer had asked for a Coke, and Arby's sold Pepsi. I gave him the Pepsi without a second though. I'm not on the job an hour and I'm getting chewed out. Lesson learned.

A year later, Royal Crown bought out Arby's, so we had to sell their soft drinks, and say "Will RC be okay?" That would throw customers for a loop. Had multiple requests for water for a while.
RC would definitely be okay with me! Way better than the pop that starts with a P.
 
I'd forgotten all about Soda Fountain Chocolate Soda's. Too good, they always seemed too end to quickly. Be running that straw around all the creases to get all the bits.
 
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Always was pop growing up(Western Pa) Then went to college in central Pa. With a lot of East Pa and Jersey kids And the soda/pop thing was always a topic. I think it was pop when I lived in WVa, not sure about Tenn. And then Chicago. In Portland Oregon it was a mix of both pop/soda. Right now I use both interchangeably.
 
Pop when generalizing. Coke when being specific.

Common restaurant exchange:

Q: What would you like to drink?
A: Coke
Q: Would Pepsi be okay?
A: No thank you, I'll have water.
In that scenario, I'll ask for Mountain Dew or Sierra Mist before resigning myself to just water, but the end result is the same in that a Pepsi will not make up for the absence of a Coke.
 
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