[mbriant]

Quote:

There used to be a chain of stores that would refill your bottles with their brand of pop. It was called The Pop Shoppe. I miss it.

The Pop Shoppe went bankrupt quite a while back but the name was resurected and it's available again. They were able to get started and grew rapidly in the late '60s when the price of cane sugar suddenly skyrocketed ( that's when and why all the companies started switching to fructose/sucrose ) and the big companies like Coke and Pepsi started raising prices and gouging everyone ( they blamed the cost of sugar for the price jumps but they raised the price of their artificially sweetened brands just as much). The Pop Shoppe was able to sell for much less than all the big bottlers. Eventually, fearful that these upstart small competitors were gaining ground, the big names started reducing their prices again to drive the others out of business ... which for the most part they succeeded.

In Ontario we call it pop and use either Coke or Pepsi (depending on our preference) to order cola.

I'd like to know what names fall under "other".

 

[goldenratiophi]

Northern Ohio is basically pop-dominated. So yeah, it looks right for where I live.

 

[goldenratiophi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by buddha911 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What's 'other'?

I've heard it been called "sodapop," one word.

 

[blessingx]

Another difference I've found is if you order something "plain" (meaning no toppings) it isn't always understood throughout all the States. For example "plain cheeseburger" may mean cheeseburger with everything, as "plain" has no meaning. If it does have meaning, it may not apply to sauces. That's "dry" in some places. When I was driving cross-country several times I would order "plain cheeseburger; dry; just meat, cheese and the bun" and wait for the questions. Sometimes if "plain" was understood it ment nothing, and someplaces "cheeseburger" was generic for "hamburger", so a "plain cheeseburger" was just a hamburger without cheese and sometimes without a bun. And boy do I get strange looks in some locals if I'm drunk and slip into Midwest mode and order a "cheeseburg."

Yes, I like cheeseburgers.

 

[Joshatdot]

My nieces called it Brown Bubbly Water

 

[Mrvile]

I call it soda. I live in Ohio. I was born in Los Angeles though.

 

[daycart1]

The first time I heard one of my son's friends call my Orange Crush an "orange coke", I blew it out my nose at the crass stupidity!

 

[fraseyboy]

No-one here ever uses Pop. It just sounds weird to me...

A few people say Soda, but not that many. Mostly its Coke or fizzy drink.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

In Jersey, near New York, if you ask for a coffee and they ask if you want it "normal", it means with milk and sugar.

I use soda or pop interchangeably, but I've lived all over the place.

 

[shigzeo]

soft drink? saft?

 

[Marados]

Fizzy drink over here, is what I find normally.

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marados /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fizzy drink over here, is what I find normally.

Yeah most of the time its fizzy drink. Although I do find that it being called Coke is becoming more and more popular.

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Soda for me. Coke?? Thats kind of surprising so many use it as a generic term. I've only heard it used as a specific brand.

Growing up and being in the South, I've only heard it as coke

Every once in awhile I'll say soda....but here, it's pretty much assumed that if you say coke, you mean coca-cola or some derivative. Maybe it's because so many people prefer other types of sodas as well....I generally specify coke, sprite, mellow yellow, etc.

And actually, how people say cola was the first thing I noticed when I visited the Midwest for the first time. Pop everywhere

 

[MD1032]

Yup, I'm from NJ and pretty much here up through NE it's all "soda"

 

[Samgotit]

That's very interesting. Dead on for my part of the world, though I hear "Col' Drink" a lot. I just use the trade names to cut out the confusion.

Alaska is the melting pot of soft drink colloquialisms. Go Alaska.