A soda by any other name
August 19th, 2007 ~ Potpourri for 100, AlexOkay, let’s talk about something really important for a change. What do you call a carbonated beverage? Here’s a hint: You may want to consult this map first. (Click on it to bring up the enlarged version.)
Since I spent a lot of years in California, I thought there was only one answer: a soda. It was a bit of a surprise when I got to Indiana and heard people asking me if I wanted a pop.
A pop? A POP?? That sounds like something Archie Andrews and Jughead get at the ice cream shoppe after school. On the other hand, I’ve heard Midwesterners remark that calling it a “soda” made them think of baking soda, or scotch and soda. Or a soda jerk, which gets us back to the ice cream shoppe.
But either one of those makes more sense to me than the Southern variant, which is that you call it a Coke. By which you mean — everything, not just Coke. A friend who had lived in Mississippi explained a typical exchange as being something like:
Q: You want a Coke?
A: Sure.
Q: What’ll you have?
A: Oh, make it a 7-up.
Now, really. With all due respect to the great Americans of Dixie, that’s just messed up. And it’s disrespecting the brand, which also makes it subversive.
But looking back at that map, I suppose the ones I really want to know about are those weirdos who answered “other.” There are a couple counties in New Mexico where 50-80% of them don’t say soda, pop OR Coke. What a bunch of trouble-makers! What, our words for soft drinks aren’t good enough for them? If they’ve got a hot contender, why don’t they share it with the rest of us? I suspect desert-dweller chicanery.
Well, no I don’t. It’s just the way linguistics works, I guess. But it’s still a little funny to look at this map. Why is it that the Hawaiians have gone so overwhelmingly for “soda”? Why don’t the southernmost Floridians say “Coke” like everyone around them? And what’s with that hotbed of the “soda” proponents cooking up a revolution in Missouri? (Not my fault, by the way — I’m on the Kansas City side; that looks like its epicenter is St. Louis.)
I think it’s leading to far too much distress to have this much disagreement. These are troubled times, and we need to build bridges. I think the only logical solution is for us all to just compromise and say “soda-pop-Coke-something.” Or maybe abbreviate that to “sopocoso.” That’s it. Makes perfect sense. All right, since I’m in problem-solving mode, I should go stop blogging and go tackle the clogged kitchen sink. Maybe I’ll grab a sopocoso at the same time. Yum!
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August 19th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Brilliant! But if you wanna be deeply subversive, I suppose, you’d wander around the South (and in particular, Atlanta, home of Coke) emphatically asking for a Pepsi. :)
August 19th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Well, maybe you’d start a new trend? Sorry you can’t get behind ’sopocoso’, though. I was hoping you’d help come up with a marketing campaign!
August 20th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I grew up in Montana and “Coke” was the generic name for sody-pop (as Foghorn Leghorn says it; and I think he’s pretty darn authoritative). My understanding is that this was fairly widespread around the nation until Coca-Cola began a serious effort to stop it. It was similar to the situation with the former brand name “aspirin;” they were about to lose their name brand to common use. Levis and Coke got serious about name violations at about the same time back in the 70s.
At least that’s how it was taught to me in a college marketing class.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:17 am
That’s the funny thing. You’d think it was always a good thing for a brand name to become THE name for something, but I understand it’s really not.
I’m hoping Greg will check back in and give the marketing guru background on that. Off topic, I know, but I still think marketing is an interesting study, if only because it overlaps with sociology, psychology and culture-watching.
But here’s a dumb question about calling every soft drink Coke — how do you tell someone that you really want a Coke?
August 20th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I say soda, but live in a region where it is pop. Grew up in soda country, though.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
That’s like me. Even knowing that the tendency here is to say pop, I say soda. It’s just a bit of linguistic oddity, but I found it interesting.
August 21st, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I say soda in a pop region, too. Now how about doing a map on the difference between ‘dinner’ and ’supper’! This has always been a big deal with my husband and myself…he’s a ’supper’ and I’m a ‘dinner’ concerning the evening meal…
August 21st, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Dinner, supper — I’m trying to think. I believe I’m a switch-hitter on that one. As for the map, given that the guys who did this one talked to 120,464 respondents in all 50 states, I’d say I’ll need a serious fundraiser before I can get started.
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I suspect that there’s no “desert-dweller chicanery” going on in NM; rather I suspect that folks speak Spanish… and so they’d say “refresco.” Just an observation based on where we live in TX. ;–)
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
That makes sense. Especially as “refrescos” is such a fun word to say.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:43 am
I neglected to mention that my son (age 15) and I are in quite a battle over soda vs pop. I say both, but lean toward ‘pop.’ He’s adamant that it must be ’soda.” We live on the Border, in TX, and both agree that the generic reference may never be “coke.” That’s just wrong… ;-)
Oh, and with the proliferation of flavored waters, we now refer to “seltzer” or, as we say down here, “agua mineral.”
Per ‘dinner’ and ’supper’: I grew up (in Kansas) where dinner was the big, hot meal of the midday usually served after church on Sunday. Supper is what you have in the evening.
BTW: Great discussion. What about spigot and tap? Fountain and bubbler? Davenport, sofa and couch? Etc.