The Soda vs Pop Debate: Breaking It Down
I’m cool with either as long as you don’t call it a Coke
Soda or pop
California has soda. Chicago and Erie both have pop. It really is a regional difference in the country. Different locales in the states will have a different word for all of our favorite carbonated beverages. I knew the sugary drink as soda for most of my 39-year life living in California and no one could ever tell me any differently. Once I made it to the Midwest in Chicago in 2016, the word pop was easy to switch to. The rationale was that it was just a shorthand for the word soda pop.
I’m not going to get mad at someone for thinking it’s soda or it’s pop, as long as they don’t care that I’ll freely switch between the two when talking about the drink. Since I’ve been in Rome, or in this case, the Midwest and Erie County, I’ve done as the Romans/Midwesterners do and call it pop publicly.
Just fit in with the region
I’ll be in the store and say it loud enough so that it doesn’t sound like I’m an outsider trying to fit in a new area, which I actually am. I start saying pop to my family and friends back home in California, who know the drink like soda, just to show them I’m removed from the area and no longer use their outdated and regional terms.
Other words from regions I’ve lived in
I’ve moved on up and out of the West Coast. I don’t need to defer back to their lingo unless it suits my purpose. I’ve introduced a ton of the word “hella” to almost every phrase I use when emphasizing a large quantity of something. If you’re not familiar, the phrase “hella” originated in Northern California and is used as a modifier for something. For example, to say something is very good, you can say that it’s hella good. I started saying this subconsciously when I got to Chicago and some people were confused.
A word I picked up while I was in Chicago that a lot of the urbanites liked to use to describe something that is cool or awesome is “fire.” That track is fire or that video was fire. I’ve never been south of the Donna Dixon, er, I mean Mason-Dixon line but I’ve heard a rumor that some states south of it use the word Coke for any type of soft drink that you can drink.
No Coke, we don’t do that over here
These are the people that both the Midwest, Northeast, and West would surely align against. Coke is a brand of products and not a word for soft drinks in general. I guess because of the lingo of the region, Coke is much easier and casual to say than soda or pop but it definitely doesn’t belong in the conversation of the ultimate right way to say the name of the popular soft drink.
Additionally, coke can also be associated with the drugs and if I hear a Southern person ask for some coke, I’ll just assume that they’re itching for their next fix and not necessarily that they’re wanting something to quench their thirst.
Heated debate on social media but it’s just a word
Apparently, though, people get pretty heated about this topic and I’ve seen lengthy posts and threads debating each other to the end over something that honestly doesn’t really matter. If you didn’t pick up on the sarcasm about the Coke bit, I honestly don’t care what you call it and I certainly won’t die on a hill defending one “proper” word to call the beverage.
I just think it’s funny that there are actually people out there who think that their one way is right and everyone else is wrong. The next time you’re out and about or traveling, I suggest you just ask for a soft drink unless you’re fine with just fitting in with the area and using the chosen word for the reason. In the meantime, stay off social media boards arguing about it. It’s just a word.
