Slog - Comments on We're Firmly in "Pop" Country

Comment by it'smarkmitchell

it'smarkmitchell — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:05:56 -0800

I say "soda pop", but I'm rather affected.

Comment by AK Rob

AK Rob — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:08:04 -0800

Alaska does not have Counties: we have Boroughs.

Comment by John Bailo

John Bailo — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:08:26 -0800

You're not going to open up that whole "sub", "hoagie", "grinder" thing are you?

Comment by COMTE

COMTE — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:09:42 -0800

I'm an native PNW'er, and I've always refered to carbonated beverages as either "soda pop" or "soda", but never just "pop".

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:10:15 -0800

Soda for me.

Comment by Hernandez

Hernandez — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:15:26 -0800

When I was really young I said "pop". But then we started visiting my relatives in L.A. every summer, and so I picked up "soda" from them, and that stuck to this day.

Comment by Cascadian

Cascadian — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:16:27 -0800

I'm a Seattle native, and I grew up saying "pop." But most of the people I talk to on a daily basis these days are transplants, so I've switched to saying "soda" just because it's easier than translating.

Comment by boxofbirds

boxofbirds — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:16:33 -0800

I grew up calling it "pop," but now that I have a fancy degree I call it "soda."

But you really have to wonder about the people who call it "other."

Comment by Chris

Chris — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:17:52 -0800

I grew up in Indiana, where my friends said "pop," with a mother from West Virginia who said "coke" even though she drank primarily Pepsi products. She used to say to my visiting friends, "If you want a coke, there's some Pepsi in the fridge."

In college, I roomed with a girl from Minnesota who said "soda" with that long Minnesota "O". I picked that up habit, and have stuck with it since moving to Seattle nine years ago. Now I'm the oddball who says it wrong.

Comment by Balt-O-Matt

Balt-O-Matt — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:19:23 -0800

I grew up in one of those red counties in central Indiana where people say coke, though I grew up just calling it a soft drink. You can sort of tell that Indiana's the Middle Finger of the South. Additionally, FYI, a lot of folks in central Indiana are descended from Kentuckians who came up to work in the auto industry plants usually based in county seats. Neato.

Comment by leek

leek — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:19:53 -0800

Ha! Excellent explanation of my family's usage. Not only did I grow up in SoCal where "soda" is used anyway, but my parents were both from Jersey which is even more soda-centric. Good to know!

Comment by michael strangeways

michael strangeways — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:25:04 -0800

it's "sodie pop"

and with the advent of 24/7 access to the media, is this even very valid anymore?

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:29:17 -0800

Mine's a Scotch and soda, thanks.

Comment by brandon

brandon — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:29:32 -0800

i always thought upper michigan was the only place on earth where people call it pop. say "pop" anywhere else and you will be ridiculed for being from a backwoods shithole where people don't have electricity and talk like canadians. eventually your will is broken and you submit to a life of referring to carbonated beverages as "soda". or so i have read.

Comment by Jason Josephes

Jason Josephes — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:31:43 -0800

I never hear anyone say "pop." I always hated that term anyways.

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:32:10 -0800

Will including my generic name for soft drinks on my personals ad will make me more interesting? Or less? I'm guessing a lot less. Right up there with "I don't even own a TV."

Comment by Abby

Abby — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:33:21 -0800

I say 'soda'. It was an act of defiance when I moved to Denver from Washington, DC- I may have been stuck there, but damned if I was going to use their words.

My mom finds the Coloradan use of the word "sack" hilarious, even after ten years.

Comment by heywhatsit

heywhatsit — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:34:16 -0800

The real battle is "bubbler" vs. "drinking fountain". I'm partial to bubbler, mind you.

Comment by JBax

JBax — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:36:44 -0800

I'm from Colorado, and I have only ever said soda. I don't know too many people who say pop, so I'm wondering where in CO you lived in, Paul...

I do hear "sucker" every so often though, and I die a little inside every time.

Comment by rb

rb — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:46:01 -0800

I grew up in the wilds of Eastern Washington saying pop, sucker AND sack. Shameful. I think it was comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer who had some shtick about moving to the Midwest and wanting to die every time she was asked "Do you want a sack for your pop?" when she'd buy a soda at a convenience store.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:47:25 -0800

I'm also from soda-land, although the hard-core townies in my hometown said "tonic," which I guess is just another "other."

Comment by scharrera

scharrera — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:53:27 -0800

I used to HATE the texans that would come into my ice cream shop (high school job) and order a "coke". Then you hand them a coke, and they scream at you "I wanted a Dr. Pepper!" This scene best envisioned with an obnoxious Texas accent. Yup, in Colorado we all said pop. My cousins in Wisconsin - Soda.

Comment by blue barberpole

blue barberpole — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:55:26 -0800

I grew up in NY saying "soda" only. Then I lived for a while in Boston where they say "tonic" and I never got used to it. Server: What would you like to drink? Customer: I'll have a tonic. Server: What kind? We have Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, root beer, orange. I never heard "pop" until I moved to Seattle.

Comment by elswinger

elswinger — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:03:12 -0800

When I was a kid I said "soda" or "pop." Now I say "iced cold beverage" thanks to my college education.

Comment by RonK, Seattle

RonK, Seattle — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:03:42 -0800

We worship an awesome pop in the red counties, and we don't like federal agents poking around our cokes in the blue counties.

Surely Obama shall bring us together in Unity, but ... what about "the others"??? What are the fuck are drinking out there, Qaeda Cola?

Comment by josh

josh — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:07:08 -0800

this map will never die, will it?

Comment by Catman

Catman — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:20:24 -0800

coke is the word

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:28:58 -0800

Grew up in the Northwest, but my folks are from MI and OH, so it was always pop as a kid. The grocery store isles always had it labeled as such as well.

#13 - Never had you pegged for someone who'd put soda in their Scotch. I thought water was the only "correct" additional ingredient? (trust me, I don't believe it matters, but to those that do...)

Comment by Phoebe

Phoebe — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:29:44 -0800

Alaska is mostly made up of immigrants from other states who come for the jobs. A ton of people seem to be either from Montana, Arizona, or Texas.

Comment by Greg

Greg — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:32:05 -0800

Growing up in Puget Sound, I've heard both 'soda' and 'pop' used frequently by other locals. I stick with 'soda' because I think it sounds better.

Comment by Eric in Boulder

Eric in Boulder — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:35:00 -0800

I grew up in "tonic" land, but last time I was back in the 'hood, I found they don't say it anymore. Another regionalism bulldozed by TV, I guess. Like "sodypop". My SoCal grandfather used to do this carnival barker immitation, "Peacorn, popnuts, and sodygum! Ask yer mother for fifty cents to see the elephant kiss his ask your mother for fifty cents!" When I was eight and he was sixty, we both thought it was pretty hilarious. OK, I still think it's pretty funny, if done with appropriately W.C. Fieldsesque rhythms.

Comment by dod

dod — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:40:30 -0800

Grew up saying pop (and I'm from northern MN), but now say soda because the pop has been verbally beaten out of me.

The bigger question is: Casserole, hot dish or goulash?

Comment by elswinger

elswinger — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:41:03 -0800

Coke is a brand. At best you can say it refers to a "cola" beverage. But "soda" or "pop" refers to all sweetened carbonated beverages.

Comment by annie

annie — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:43:02 -0800

I got "pop" from both my father (Portland area) and my mother (Spokane), but then I went to Virginia for college and people literally couldn't understand me, so I switched to soda or soda pop. I say "coke" with a trace of a Virginia accent now, but people didn't use it for all sodas.

I never realized until today that sack and sucker were not universal. What do you mean, you don't say sack? Jesus said sack, according to the OED:

[OE. sacc masc., ad. L. sacc-us bag, sack, sackcloth (F. sac, from 11-12th c., Pr. sac, Sp., Pg. saco, It. sacco), a. Gr. {sigma}{gaacu}{kappa}{kappa}{omicron}{fsigma}, ad. Heb. (?Ph{oe}nician) saq = Jewish Aramaic saq, saqq{amac}, Syriac saq, saq�, Assyrian saqqu. The word appears in most of the Teut. langs.: Goth. sakkus sackcloth is prob. from Greek, but in the other langs. the proximate source is Latin: MDu. sak (Du. zak), OHG. sac, sach, acc. pl. secchi (MHG. sac, mod.G. sack bag), ON. sekk-r sack (Sw. s�kk, Da. s�k). The ON. and some of the OHG. forms, and perh. the OE. s�cc (confined to the sense �sackcloth�) indicate a prehistoric type *sakki-z: cf. med.L. �saccia, {sigma}{gaacu}{kappa}{kappa}{omicron}{fsigma}� in a Lat.-Gr. glossary. The word is found also as Irish and Gael. sac, Welsh sach, Hungarian zsak, Russian sak', Polish, Czech, Serbian, Albanian sak, which are all directly or indirectly from the Latin or Greek.]

Comment by amazonmidwife

amazonmidwife — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:43:02 -0800

Okay, I grew up with 'pop' and 'bag' in NE OH, but my grandparents were from Shenendoah County, Va, so that explains it. What I've never been to etymologize is their phrase for clearing the table of dishes after a meal---'rid up the table'. Anybody got a clue

Comment by MidwayPete

MidwayPete — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:43:56 -0800

Minnesota is "pop" and "sucker" territory. I've heard "sack" used to describe bags, but "bag" around here is pronounced almost the same as "beg."

I was rather taken aback to hear rubber bands described as "binders."

Comment by amazonmidwife

amazonmidwife — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:46:32 -0800

Comment by David Schmader

David Schmader — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:48:50 -0800

I'm from Texas, where if you wanted a soft drink, you ordered a Coke.

When they asked what kind, then you named your brand/flavor.

For example:

Kid: I'd like a Coke.
Watiress: What kind?
Kid: Sprite.

Texas is stupid. I wonder how much Coke paid the state.

Comment by Dod

Dod — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:00:22 -0800

I agree with the perspective that Coke is a brand, but so is Kleenex & Q-Tip. I rarely say tissue or cotton swab, but that doesn't mean that I'll start to call soda "Coke".

@36. Suckers - yep. I still stay beg instead of bag or begel instead of bagel. I can't break myself of that one.

I used to work with a guy from Boston who asked me to hand him a "rubber" in reference to an eraser. That was a new one for me.

Comment by PopTart

PopTart — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:09:37 -0800

I grew up in Colorado, definitely "pop" in Denver where I lived. I was born in Texas so when we visited relatives there it was "coke" or "soda pop."

What the heck is wrong with "sack?"

Comment by shell or boomba?

shell or boomba? — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:43:41 -0800

I grew up saying "pop" (Near Detroit was a soda chain called "The Pop Shoppe") but my inner-city peers called it soda, so I got used to hearing it.

A co-worker from eastern Kentucky called it "dope."

'rid up the table'

Probably "redd". From Answers.com:
r.v. Chiefly Pennsylvania., redd�ed or redd, redd�ing, redds.

To clear: redd the dinner table.
phrasal verb:

redd up

1. To tidy: redded up the front room.

[Middle English dialectal redden, to clear an area (influenced by Middle English redden, to rescue, free from), from Old Norse rydhja. See rid.]

REGIONAL NOTE The terms redd and redd up came to the American Midlands from the many Scottish immigrants who settled there. Meaning �to clear an area or to make it tidy,� redd is still used in Scotland and Northern Ireland; in the United States it is especially common in Pennsylvania as the phrasal verb redd up. The term, which goes back to Old Norse rydhja, can be traced from the 15th century to the present, particularly in dialects of Scotland and the North of England.

Comment by amazonmidwife

amazonmidwife — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:26:47 -0800

Thanks, sob. That makes so much sense, because that was how my grandma pronounced it, but I just attributed it to her accent and mentally adjusted it to 'rid'. The ethnicity was spot on as well, though they skipped through PA to get to OH.

Comment by Mary T

Mary T — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:59:56 -0800

I come from "pop" country in the Midwest. Thinking when I was younger that this was a purely Midwestern thing (and desperate to shed any and all things which might identify me as a Midwesterner) I worked hard to stop saying "pop" and affected the "soda" instead. So I still say soda now, although occasionally a pop slips out.

Comment by Andy

Andy — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:21:40 -0800

MidwayPete, I'd say that in Minnesota, "bag" is pronounced like "bake" with a G (at least some people do). I grew up saying "pop" but eventually migrated to "soda" for the drink. I still say "pop machine" and "pop cans" though.

Comment by Deacon Seattle

Deacon Seattle — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:36:43 -0800

I grew up around here, but my parents grew up in Hawaii, where they pronounce it as soodahh. I am accustomed to soda pop, just like Mark Mitchell.

Comment by Poppy

Poppy — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:21:34 -0800

I say pop.
But here's something that drives me nuts: A colleague who pronounces all the days of the week correctly until she gets to "Fri-dee." Who does that?

Comment by RainMan

RainMan — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:29:37 -0800

Tonic is a New England term. I was baffled when I first moved to the Boston area thinking tonic was a sparkling water served with gin.

Canada wasn't included on the map, but central Ontario is Soda-land. My brother and I at about age 10 nearly peed ourselves laughing when we heard our Michigan cousins use the term pop, which we used as a synonym for fart.

Comment by RainMan

RainMan — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:34:59 -0800

One more thing: "Sucker" for lollipop? What if the writers of The Wizard of Oz had those Munchkins singing "We represent the Sucker Guild..."?

Comment by Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:36:09 -0800

I grew up in Illinois, where you get a drink from a "water fountain." But just 17 miles north in Wisconsin, you get a drink from the "bubbler." Now that's just foolishness.

Comment by drewl

drewl — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:21:44 -0800

First time I heard 'What kinda coke you like? We got Sprite, root beer, Pepsi...' was in Baton Rouge. Been in MN for 20+ yrs now, and I still don't get the whole WI binder/bubbler thing. I've never heard that anywhere else.

Comment by kk

kk — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:02:19 -0800

coke. sack. lollipop. My people have been in Seattle since 1900, but they're originally from Kentucky, so I guess some things just stick.

Comment by Sha

Sha — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:08:46 -0800

I grew up in pop country, but now I say soda. I must have picked that up when the fam moved to Oregon. Even when I moved back to pop country I still said soda.
I guess I say bag wrong. It's never been a sack either. And suckers were a variety of lollipops. The DumDum suckers. Lollipops were the big hard candy round or tube like jobs.

Comment by Tom C.

Tom C. — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:13:27 -0800

Being Alaskan I remember saying pop and soda interchangably, but finding it weird when people couldn't fluctuate from one to the other. The thing that freaked me out was going to the South and having Coke be interchangable with soda. It's not a Kleenex, it's a flavor!!!

Comment by chuchu

chuchu — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:43:44 -0800

My mom called it sodie, but in the can-of-caffeine-free-diet-coke sense. As in, "Would you get me a sodie out of the fridge?"

Comment by Pop a sack right in your sucker

Pop a sack right in your sucker — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:32:35 -0800

Having grown up in Pittsburgh, PA, it was 'pop' and 'sucker' (hey, at least they said 'bag' instead of 'sack'. Hadn't heard that term before moving here.)

They also used 'redd up', along with 'nebby' (which everyone else on the planet calls 'nosy') and 'wush' or 'warsh' for 'wash'. Ah, Shitsburgh- how I do not miss thee.

Comment by Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:03:16 -0800

I too was a CO native until 6 months ago. Lived all over CO, mostly Denver.

I always called it pop.

Until I got made fun of my a Cali friend who said they all called it "soda pop" or just "soda".

An ex-bf from Arkansas said it was always "coke", no matter what the brand.

Now I just say fuck it and order a beer.