The word “soda” sweeps across the US.
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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National TV shows coming primarily from soda states no doubt facilitated this linguistic shift.
The ^(ᵐⁱᵈ)west has fallen, billions must die
Obamna
So when you order a Coke in the deep south, do you have to clarify it as “Coca Cola?”
Edited for spelling because I was tired lol
The older generation in New England will still call a soft drink “tonic.”
As in, “ay, kehd, getcher ass outta dah cah sos we can get a tonic!”
Never heard non cola called coke
From Cleveland- pop and soda were always kinda interchangeable for me growing up in the 90s. The first time I remember being aware of it was when I used the word soda in Vermont in 07 and a kid told me I was supposed to say Pop. OK, I guess. The local custard place had phosphates but nobody ever called it that.
We say Sodie Pop round these parts
The spots in Michigan are weird because everyone in the state calls it pop
Not this map again
I see this posted on social media a lot, but is it based on any real evidence? I’m skeptical that researchers went town-by-town through Michigan and Montana asking whether people said soda or pop.
We defintley call it pop in Chicago, not sure why that is white
I’m from PNW and grew up calling it pop. Now I say soda. Don’t know why. Maybe cuz a southern flight attendant once said, ” where you from where they saying pop?”
How did you generate this map? The little holes in the pop and coke regions seem very specific, especially since many of them are in very sparsely populated areas.
I remember calling it tonic in my part of New England through the 70s and most of (if not all of) the 80s before gradually shifting over to soda.
Interesting that St..Louis is a bastion of soda in 1947.
I am in Michigan and, while I typically say pop, if I’m feeling particularly like a terrorist I might ask for a soda pop.
Ed: I did add sodie to my vernacular after watching an episode of 1,000 lb sisters.
In New England, the term was TONIC, not to be confused with tonic water. Any carbonated soft drink was called TONIC, not soda or pop, although of course people knew what those terms meant.
For example, “Would you like a TONIC?” “Thanks, yes, I’ll have Moxie.”
And “Coke” only meant Coca-Cola.
I’m from NH and some people used the word tonic
Yeah, I haven’t heard anyone in North Carolina use “coke” as the generic since the late 80s/early 90s. I recall saying it as a little kid in the 80s, but it felt like it disappeared almost overnight. Kind of funny how it seemed to vanish so quickly.
How was this measured?
Northern Ohio…
This map isn’t correct. In 1947, “tonic” would have been used in much of New England.
It’s still “pop” in Chicago.
In Massachusetts it used to be tonic.
A lot of old Boston calls soda, tonic.
Do you one better, in New Orleans we call it a cold drink
Nah. Nobody in Chicago calls it soda.
I like pop. Just because it has some sweet old grandparents vibe
It’d be interesting to see a map like this that includes Canada
Pennsylvania is still split east vs west. East says soda and west says pop.
I feel like this trend comes from Minne‘soda
Early 1970s I moved from western MA where it was called “soda” to Boston area where it was called “tonic”, though probably not anymore.
Calling a non-coke product “coke” is absurd. It sounds like your brain was rented by the coca-cola corp.
My dad calls it tonic…