Pop

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Fizzy Drinks Soda Pop

Pop is fizzy, flavoured soft drinks sold in bottles, cans or from dispensing pumps in restaurants, fast-food places and stands, etc.

A technical definition of it would be along the lines of "non-alcoholic carbonated beverage."

Often at restaurants, you'll notice that all the kinds on offer belong to one big chain or another, usually The Coca-Cola Company or PepsiCo.

Pop, despite being made generally of all artificial ingredients, can expire: it can get so old there are precipitates on the bottom of the bottle or tin.

People usually get to debating what flavour is best, and what brand does that particular flavour best, but it doesn't take long for the debate to grind to a halt and get side-tracked, saying "what did you just call it? That is so weird" -- because everyone uses a different name for "Pop."

The variations appear to occur regionally.

In the UK, they tend to just say fizzy drink and be done with it. And pretty much across Canada, it's Pop (they understand soda, but it sounds quaint.)

Some other countries:
  • Brazil: "refrigerante", or it's shorter version, "refri"
  • Germany, called "Limo" (even though technically that's short for "Limonade" -- lemonade in German -- it doesn't mean lemonade when said as "limo.") There are regional variations, though: "Brause" in eastern German, and Sprudel in some other parts.
  • Greece: Gazoza
  • Mexico (central and southern): "refrescos" (meaning "refreshers") or "gaseosas" (meaning "gassies")
  • Mexico (northern): soda
  • Netherlands: "frisdrank" (meaning "fresh drink")
  • Norway: brus (meaning "fizz", short for "bruslimonade", "sparkling lemonade")
  • Sweden: läsk (from "läskande drycker", meaning "refreshing drinks", or "dricka" (meaning "drink") or "limsa"

It's in America that the variations in nomenclature are the most prominent, and the most vigorously debated (it is a part of "pop" culture, after all....)

You can start with this generalization:
  • Northern / Midwestern US: pop
  • Southern / Eastern US: soda

But then, you have to start peppering that generalization with so many holes that you start to wonder if America isn't a country divided by a common language.

In the American south, you might ask a waitress for a coke, and then she'll say "what kind of coke do you want? We got orange, Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew, root beer, Pepsi...."

A rough, unscientific survey of who says what, where. It would be impossible to produce a survey of this nature that everyone would agree with.
  • Arkansas: coke
  • Boston, Massachusetts: soda / tonic
  • California: soda
  • California (southern): coke
  • Connecticut: soda
  • Florida: soda
  • Illinois (Chicago): pop
  • Illinois (parts of southern): pop
  • Illinois (rest of state): soda
  • Indiana: pop
  • Iowa: pop
  • Kentucky: coke
  • Maryland: soda
  • Massachusetts: tonic
  • Maine: tonic
  • Michigan: pop
  • Minnesota: soda
  • Minnesota (Minneapolis): pop
  • Nebraska: pop
  • New York State (Buffalo): pop
  • New York State (Corning): pop
  • New York State (Cortland): soda
  • New York State (Horseheads): pop
  • New York State (New York City): soda
  • New York State (Rochester): pop
  • New York State (Syracuse): soda
  • New York State (Utica): soda
  • North Carolina: coke
  • Ohio: pop
  • Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh): pop / soda pop
  • St Louis, Missouri: soda
  • Texas: coke
  • Utah: pop
  • Washington State: pop
  • Wisconsin: soda (pop in parts of southern Wisconsin such as around Kenosha and Mineral Point areas)


Language Notes
In Chicago, asking for a "soda" used to mean an "Ice Cream Soda." If you wanted "soda pop", you asked for "pop."

Also called:
Boisson rafraîchissante (French); Bebida refrescante (Spanish); Bebida refres-cante, Refrigerante (Portuguese) Top...