Pop, Soda, Cola, or Coke

I say coke and I'm from the South. It's just like saying Bain-Aid, Xerox, or Kleenex as someone else said. People acting like it's so weird are idiots. It's no big deal.

what!? ive lived in mississippi, alabama, florida, south carolina and now im in north carolina and ive never heard the term coke as a generalization, and i say the specific drink i want

where exactly did u here this? this is interesting

Well, that's strange then b/c it comes up all the time.

Mtn Dew wrote:

I say coke and I'm from the South. It's just like saying Bain-Aid, Xerox, or Kleenex as someone else said. People acting like it's so weird are idiots. It's no big deal.

Yeah, but when I want a photocopy, a Xerox or a Toshiba or a Canon all do the same thing. When I want a small flexible bandage, a Band-Aid or some generic thing all do the same thing. When I want a lemon-lime soda, a Coke does not do the same thing.

I grew up in a 'soda' region and now live in a 'pop' region. But I still say soda. I just can't bring myself to say pop. It sounds wrong. And somehow, people behind the counter all know what I mean. But they all grew up in Mexico, so whatever.

Mtn Dew wrote:

I say coke and I'm from the South. It's just like saying Bain-Aid, Xerox, or Kleenex as someone else said. People acting like it's so weird are idiots. It's no big deal.

The difference, as has already pointed out, is that if you say you want a Band-Aid, Xerox, or Kleenex, and you get a different brand of the same item, you will still be satisfied. The main reason (aside from market dominance) that those terms became "genericized" is that different brands of the same product are pretty hard to tell apart in any way that is relevant to the consumer. This is simply not true for Coca-Cola and other soft drinks.

I see that someone else posted much the same point while I was writing my post.

This is just me. When I use to live in North Jersey, I said Coke. This was just for a Coke, Pepsi, RC Cola etc. not for a Sprite, 7up or any other flavored bubbly drink. Now, I live in the Midwest and I ask for what I want usually a Pepsi. In a restaurant I ask for "a Coke or Pepsi, whichever you have". Honestly, I don’t know why I changed, maybe because I really don’t like Coke and just called everything a Coke back then, because that’s what the people around me did.

By the way, when you're in England, you don't vacuum the rug, you Hoover it.

Here are the results of the original dialect survey.

http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

When I was a kid in WV, my dad worked for the local Pepsi bottler. Our Little League concession stand sold only Pepsi products; the concession stand workers knew when I or one of my siblings was ordering because we always asked for a "Pepsi," while "everyone else" asked for a "Coke."

Along the same lines, do you put food down into the "garbage disposal"? That's a brand name, too: "dispo-all."

What we've learned from this thread is that not all people from the southern US are dumbass, I'll take this as good news.

Now, wouldn't it be interesting to get a handle on the percentage of dumbass folk from different regions?

I have lived in various parts of the country and found Colorado to have a low "DA" factor. I have spent enough time in the south to know it has a much higher "DA" factor. I have heard the upper mid-west is quite high, and from experience know the NE and west coast have strong and weak pockets but remain about average.

Who the hell calls a copy a xerox anyway...

sal paradise wrote:

Along the same lines, do you put food down into the "garbage disposal"? That's a brand name, too: "dispo-all."

So is "duct" tape, which is a malapropism for the brand Duck Tape.

Mtn Dew wrote:

I say coke and I'm from the South. It's just like saying Ban[d]-Aid, Xerox, or Kleenex as someone else said. People acting like it's so weird are idiots. It's no big deal.

But it is a big deal for those who hold those trademarks. Coke, Pepsi and other brands have secret shopppers in the field who remind vendors they must require employees to enforce those trademarks of their "strategic partners." John Belushi's observation at Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern resulted in one of the most famous Saturday Night Live sketches ever - "Cheeburger, cheeburger, no coke, pepsi!"

Always called it tonic while growing up.

Im too lazy to read everyone elses post... but that map does not adequetly show which term is used the most.. the california/ny areas are much more densly populated... and wyoming has like 8 people in it... just because there is more blue on the map doesnt mean it is used more

malmo wrote:Here are the results of the original dialect survey.

http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

malmo,

do you know if they did anything with the data beyond plotting them on the maps? It's nearly impossible to detect any trends from the maps, since they all pretty much look to be representative of opoulation distribution.

Pretty cool info nonetheless.

Kazzy 33 wrote:

Always called it tonic while growing up.

Pack the cah over by the packie?

Pete wrote:

opoulation

POPulation.

... goddam typing fingers are getting Alzheimers

Tonic.

In Boston, it's "hey, you wanna orange tonic wi that?"

"Nah, gimme a coke."

In parts of the middle east, all soda is called Pepsi (or 'bebsi').

I used to drink tonic at the spa...

malmo wrote:

So is "duct" tape, which is a malapropism for the brand Duck Tape.

Wrong. Duct tape (the WWII military version) was first created and manufactured in 1942 by the Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division. The resulting tape was nicknamed "Duck Tape" for its ability to repel water, while ripping easily into strips for fast convenient use. Manco, the parent company of Duck Brands, changed the name to Duck Tape in the 70s.

Any malapropism is on behalf of Duck Brands.