Soda or Pop???

I just call them soft drinks, and if I get a puzzled look I say coke or pepsi or whatever to clarify it.

Growing up in MI, I've always said pop, but since I've started law school and am around people from all over the country, I've changed and say soda all the time. Damn peer pressure!

Aphrodisia, I think in different parts of MI it's pop or soda. Where abouts do you live? UP? LP?

I'm from Metro Detroit and I currently live in Lansing...so I've basically stayed within the LP my entire life, and everyone I've known has said pop.

What parts of MI say soda?

Coke = Coca Cola
Soda = Soda Water
'Pop' is non existant for any fizzy drink

...but I dare you to ask for a Bourbon & Soda from any bar here yuk

I grew up in Michigan (Flint area) and it was definitely pop. I'm in Florida now, and there is no quicker road to ridicule than to use that term with a native southerner.

One change here over the last decade, though. When I moved here in 1993, iced tea was ALWAYS sweetened in restaurants. Now, they ask if you want it sweetened or not.

And our local Michigan soft drink (Vernor's ginger ale) is available down here. Talk about carbonated.

I have to sneeze just thinking about Vernor's.

You can leave an open Vernor's on the shelf for days and still have fizz. Amazing stuff.

It's "fizzy drink" or "soft drink" over here,unless you actually want a Coke,etc,then you ask for it by name.Soda,to us,is carbonated water,Pop is a general term for "fizzy drinks" :wink:

Eminem was 8 Mile. I was 15 Mile, suburban Detroit, and it was definitely "pop"there, and I HATED Vernor's--Canada Dry was a revelation to me when we moved to NJ. Any visiting relations would always bring a trunkful of Vernor's, and one bottle about every ten years seemed to be the right ratio, to keep my roots intact.

Managed to change my vocabulary from "pop" to "soda" without too much trouble, then when I moved to Boston had to change it again to "tonic", which is what the natives called it--tho "tonic" has been fighting a losing battle to "soda" lately, even though the soda aisle in the local Star Market still calls it "tonic" ("tonic" because originally, in the second hald of the 19th century, the first sodas were sold as healthful nerve tonics, to tone you up. Little did they know. Which is where the coca part in Coca Cola came in).

And here if you want a chocolate milkshake you have to order a "black and white frappe".

Anyone ever had Inca Cola from Peru--it looks exactly like acid yellow-green toxic waste and tastes a bit like it too.

I still would say pop is better, as it has only one syllable, while soda has two. Thus, building up every time you say it, to save you valuable time throughout your life. Think about it

coke and nabs

blast! My theory is ruined!

not to mention less wear & tear on your tongue, teeth, lips and vocal cords...

soft drinks

I'll have a soda pop, please . . . any flavor will do . . .

Just say pop; it's so much easier, just say it, saaaay iiitt....


.....Come to the dark side Setana