Ok, chime in. What do you call it?

[Isaac]

Everyone uses one of the words "coke", "soda", or "pop" more dominantly than one of the other three. I omitted the "other" category, because I figured most of those are of people trying to be cute, facetious, or different. I know it's hard if you switch between the words, so try to remember what you last called a carbonated beverage coke.

[Alter-Fox]

I voted this thread at some point this evening. I will not tell you what for...

[Isaac]

Someone voted for pop. I can't believe we have a "popper" on this forum. Who calls it pop??? Nothing irritates me more.

[vision]

Pop is your dad.

[Isaac]

Exactly!!!

[Top Gun]

My feelings about the silliness of "pop" aside, at least it's many times better than "Coke." It's one thing to call any generic cola-flavored drink that, just like one would call any bandage a Band-Aid, but anyone who says "Coke" when they mean "root beer" is just plain wrong.

[Isaac]

The awesome part about that is, once a brand name has become generic, the company can lose its hold over it. Aspirin, escalator, trampoline, raisin bran, dry ice, lanolin, linoleum, nylon, corn flakes, and thermos were trade names. The same this is happening to "Coke". The opposite occurs when a generic term is given a secondary meaning, like "London Fog". However, AOL was able to establish secondary meaning AND make that term generic at the same time, with their "You have mail" phrase. This came up in a lawsuit between America Online, Inc and AT&T Corp. C-c-c-c-combo breaker.

[sdfgeoff]

Well, I hate to be different, but down south here we call it a 'fizzy drink' or simply 'fizzy'

[Sirius]

To me pop is an abbreviation for "popular", usually used in the context of music.

I generally just call them soft drinks but where anything else has reason to show up it's probably soda. Even though soft drinks rarely contain much sodium anymore.

P.S. Given the value of the "Coke"/Coca-Cola brand, I'm pretty sure anyone that actually tries to sell a competing product as that will get sued, regardless of whether it's common parlance.

[Avder]

I personally use both pop and soda, but the vast, vast majority of people where I live say pop.

[CDN_Merlin]

I think the majority of CDNs say pop.

[snoopy]

I think the majority of CDNs say pop.

That explains a lot....

[roid]

Well, I hate to be different, but down south here we call it a 'fizzy drink' or simply 'fizzy'

x2. Grew up saying "fizzy drink" and "soft drink".

i try to refer to generic cola as "cola".
(and prefer generic over coke/pepsi, coz ★■◆● you marketing)

is OP asking about what we call any sort of carbonated beverage, or just what we call Cola?

soft drink, soda, pop, coke, soda pop, fizzy drink, tonic, seltzer, mineral, sparkling water, carbonated beverage

[roid]

Peepums

[flip]

Lol, this is funny. I actually grew up in the house of Asa Candler here in Villa Rica, so no matter what kind of soft drink, it was always called a coke around here. Long running joke. Goes something like this: "You wanna coke? Yeah. What kind? Get me a Pepsi."

[Alter-Fox]

Ok if it's actually going to annoy everyone this much I will tell you that I call it pop. Along with everyone else I know. MUHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Isaac]

Grrr!!! Canadians giving things cutesy names makes me so maaad!!!!

[Tunnelcat]

Soda. I've always been on the West Coast and I've always heard the stuff called soda. Everybody from the East seemed to call it "pop" or "soda pop". Weren't the original dispensaries of the drink called "Soda Fountains" back in the olden days?

[flip]

Yep, originally they were drug stores/soda fountains. We had one here. You could get your prescription filled and get a lemon sour while you waited. I miss the good ole days!

[Jeff250]

Coke is not only what I call it but the only correct answer.

[Avder]

Coke is not only what I call it but the only correct answer.

Coke sucks tho. Rootbeer is the only pop that tastes any good to me anymore.

[Tunnelcat]

Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Henry Weinhard's Root Beer (yes, they make root beer). But it would be much better if they used real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Same problem with Coke. They dumped the sugar in favor of HFSC. Doesn't taste as good with that stuff.

http://root-beer.blogspot.com/2006/01/p ... hanks.html

[flip]

Avder, you've never had real coke. That stuff was awesome!! I remember when they changed the formula and I am convinced it still had cocaine in it up till that point. They came out with New Coke and the backlash was so bad, they re-labled it Classic Coke. Nope, just a bait and switch. It was never the same after that, and I don't think I have drink another one since then. It's Dr. Pepper for me if I drink any carbonated drink at all, which is rare.

EDIT: Yeah, that was 1985.

EDIT: A little off topic, but the same thing with Chik-Filet. We used to go to the OMNI in Atlanta and get those and I'm telling you man, those were great sandwiches. Around 20 years ago they changed something in them too. Now, I can hardly eat them. In fact, the quality of fast food all around has really diminished.

EDIT: LOL

[Sergeant Thorne]

Everyone around here calls it "pop". I'm familiar with the term "soda"--though I don't use it much--as well as "soda-pop". "Fizzy" is new to me.

EDIT: A little off topic, but the same thing with Chik-Filet. We used to go to the OMNI in Atlanta and get those and I'm telling you man, those were great sandwiches. Around 20 years ago they changed something in them too. Now, I can hardly eat them. In fact, the quality of fast food all around has really diminished.

I think the full horror of U.S. currency inflation is hidden by the trend of making (or importing) things cheaper and cheaper. A fast food meal comparable to something you would have gotten back then would probably cost 2-3 times what it would now, at least! Those fast-food chains are always finding ways to cut cost while masking any reduction in value.

[Spidey]

The road to diabetes.

[flip]

This is off-topic, but I don't think we have seen the full horror of inflation yet I mean, it has been slowly creeping up but it's getting hardly any coverage but I think as soon as the banks start lending again, you better get in and make your money quick.

[Firewheel]

Me and my family have always just called them "soft drinks."

[Enzo-03]

Weird. The counties I've lived in both say that almost everyone calls them "Coke" (something which infuriates me because it's another one of those pet peeves of mine regarding words, like people calling Hades the Devil and people calling Underworld Hell). But I might have run into 2 people my entire life personally who call soft drinks Cokes.

Almost everyone else I know calls them sodas, with pop being a close second and names like fizzy drink, soft drink, carbonated drink/beverage altogether being a small minority in third. Last but not least was one occasion when a health nut kept telling me I was "drinking diabetes."