The Great Soft Drink Map

September 9, 2010 · 5 comments

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The YS offices have a mix of California and non-California people. On top of that, we often host guests from all over North America. So it’s pretty common to here a debate that sounds like this.

“It’s not pop, its soda. Unless we’re in the south– then it’s coke. Everything is coke in the south. Unless its sweet tea.”

As it turns out there is a person who cared about this so much that he conducted research county-by-county in our great nation. Apparently, this is a big deal in East Central Oklahoma, where a university conducted this study and hosts the website The Pop vs. Soda Page. If nothing else it is certainly an interesting research question.

That’s your government money hard at work, people!

I grew up in Indiana, went to college in Chicago. So when I’m home its pop. But, right now living in Southern California, it is vehemently soda.

Question: The green sections are “other.” What are other names for soft drinks?

Shawn

Here in south central VA (which is in the other) we just call it drink. We say hey man you want a drink? and that means soda!
http://adammclane.com adam mclane

Never heard that, but if you ask for a drink at a lot of houses you won’t be getting a soft drink.
http://www.thesnuffy.com Todd Porter

I had seen a study that showed that a plurality of our country says pop, so pop wins in my book no matter where I am.

I have a friend who grew up in New Hampshire and they say tonic there. That is weird.
http://www.evokingchange.com Anna Christie

In Canada I’m pretty sure the whole country calls it pop. A soda is pop mixed with ice cream in some places. Other places that’s called a float. And it’s iced tea, not sweet tea here. My daughter is 25. She says soda – her husband is Filipino and that’s what they call it. So she’s the only Canadian saying soda. Everyone thinks she’s referring to baking soda or soda water.
http://www.facebook.com Sean Scott

To avoid being corrected by waitresses in restaurants whenever I order a “Pepsi” when they only serve “Coke” and vice versa, I started requesting “cola.” So my vote for the green other places would be those where they tend to order by asking for a cola.