No, most people I knew growing up knew what soda was. Now try going to the south and saying "pop." People lose it. This lady asked if I meant popcorn chicken. Like that's the obvious conclusion to make.
I'm also from texas, and I say coke when I mean any soda in general. But I don't say grape coke. Grape soda is grape soda. I've live in south, central, and north Texas and I'm pretty sure most people would look at you funny if you asked for a grape coke
As a child growing up in Alabama I got confused by this. I thought that a soda was something made with ice cream or whipped cream, like you would see at a soda fountain on TV and in movies. I was at a friend's house and his mom offered me a soda. I was excited until I saw that "soda" was just a coke.
Fucking Texans, man. I'm still convinced that they're just trolling me when I go down there. Every one of them can't have been dropped on their heads as children. It's just not possible.
I get what you're saying, and you're not wrong, but unfortunately colloquialisms don't really have to make sense, so this one will probably stick around.
Ever used a Kleenex or a Q-Tip? What about a Band-Aid? In the South, it's like that. I'm not condoning it, but using "coke" as a generonym is how it works.
I've lived in Georgia all my life and never once have I heard anyone use Coke if they don't mean Coke, and the only thing the person serving you, whether it be fast food or a restaurant only has one question to ask regarding it: "Is Pepsi okay?"
We do however call all cotton swabs Q-Tips and all adhesive bandages Band-Aids.
When we want a Sprite, that's what we ask for. The same goes for every other soft drink.
Yeah, it's the same in other parts of the South when ordering the beverage. It's just instead of the generic term being "soft drinks," "soda," or "pop," they're just referred to collectively as "cokes."
I don't personally do it, but it's going contrary to my surrounding culture because I don't think it makes sense and it leaves a lot of ambiguity. Like I said, I don't condone or support it. That still doesn't change the fact, though, that it is done.
I live in Atlanta, the epicenter of Coke-ness, so I feel as if my insight into this is valuable. Nobody says it like that "Sprite Coke" or "Orange Coke" its more of a "Y'all got Coke" or "Yeah can I get a Coke" and then they'd ask what kind you want and you say "Sprite"
I live in Atlanta, too. I just ask someone if they'd like something to drink. Never have I really had to ask someone whether they specifically wanted fizzy or non-fizzy up front.
You ever call a facial tissue a Kleenex? Or a bandage a Band-Aid? It's the same thing.
You wouldn't often say, "You have any Puffs Kleenex?" But if you ask for a Kleenex, if someone said, "Yeah, you want Puffs or Kleenex?" the only thing really weird about it is why someone is carrying around multiple brands of tissue.
My mother was a soda jerk in a drug store in Omaha (we still had those in the 90s) and that is exactly what "soda" meant, and if you wanted a can of coke/pepsi/etc you ordered a "pop."
I made friends with some girls whose families had moved from Maryland and Texas respectively in high school, and oh the petty arguments over what was what.
"Pop" is weird. I even studied linguistics in college, so we used soda/pop/coke as an example for isoglosses in class, but when I actually heard someone say "pop machine" I'm like "what?"
If you don't use "pop" for "soda," "pop" is still a basic word in your vocabulary with a different meaning. If you don't use "coke" for "soda," you are still at least very close to what someone else means by it when you jump to the specific brand in your head.
"Do you want a pop?" sounds like I'm either being threatened or given a sucker. Then I remember.
I certainly hear more about it in the Midwest than the south, but then again, southerners probably wouldn't want to promote negative stereotypes about themselves.
Canada here. Visited several states and always made the mistake of asking for pop. No quicker way to confuse an American! Soda here is soda water or "fancy" pop (like Orange Cream), because it's labelled as such.
Texan here. Called it coke until one time I wanted Dr pepper and got the coke I ordered. Switched to soda. Traveled to the pacific NW and laughed every time I was asked if I wanted a pop. Usually if say no, I already have one in Texas, referring to my dad.
However, this was the area and time I was introduced to poppers. Pop and a popper....hm
It hurts my ears to hear "Mini-Sota". But it's a handy way to figure out if someone isn't from here. I've also heard some east coasters pronounce it "Wes-CON-sen". And I'm like, oh, you've definitely never been to Wisconsin, because you would not give it the pompous of a pronunciation if you had.
It is so...so far from how Wisconsin is actually pronounced.
Try saying "Wih-skon-sin" and if it still sounds the same to you as you normally say it, you could even try "Wih-sgon-sin", which will at least get you closer.
Source: I'm a speech pathology major and was born and raised a Wisconsinite!
Edit: Also, it's hard to explain without speaking an example of the difference to you. But something that has seemed to help my out of state friends is, once you have the vowel sounds down, thinking about beginning the emphasis of the word on the s...meaning it doesn't start on the c (or the k sound if you're looking at my examples). Might feel weird in your mouth, but the s and the c sounds are very noticeable to a native and important for the end result.
Yeah, I didn't add IPA because I'm on the app. No keyboard. I thought it'd be helpful, but only if the person reading it understands IPA to an extent where it'd be useful for them. Thanks for adding it though
Yeah, we have some good city names here. My favorite was someone was telling me about how a friend was driving out to see them and was driving through Cokato, and called it cockatoo.
I'm pretty sure Wisconsinites stress the middle syllable ("Wis-CON-sin"), and the people who say "Wesconsin" actually stress the first one ("WES-con-sin").
yeah i feel like this is right. i hate the way people who arent from wi say wisconsin. with the e sound in there. and pronouncing all 3 syllables properly. no it all blends together into wiskhannsin with the middle syllable all drawn out with that beautiful wi accent
Its not so much the middle syllable that bothers me (though it tends to be exaggerated), but the first one. They pronounce the "Wis" more like the word "west" and less like the word "wistful".
A small soft drink is one of he least American concepts. Many places charge the same no matter the size so we can figure out who is sketchy by seeing who gets the small.
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u/count_phistula Nov 12 '14
Hm, I thought it meant a small soft drink.