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Pop, Soda Or Coke? The Fizzy History Behind America’s Favorite Linguistic Debate
Study Finds ^ | August 24, 2025 | Valerie M. Fridland, University of Nevada, Reno

Posted on 08/25/2025 9:59:19 AM PDT by Red Badger

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1 posted on 08/25/2025 9:59:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Tonic.


2 posted on 08/25/2025 10:00:48 AM PDT by Fido969
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To: Red Badger

pop all day.


3 posted on 08/25/2025 10:01:25 AM PDT by ronniesgal ( so is it okay that I said that??? GO TRUMP GO!!!!)
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To: Red Badger

I had a university prof who grew up in one of the Dakotas, and the use of “Coke” to refer to any soft drink prevailed there as well.

One of my U buddies called drinking fountains “bubblers” which was (he said) the practice in Wisconsin, and was a strong advocate of saying “soda” instead of “pop”.

Meanwhile, there’s still cancer to cure...


4 posted on 08/25/2025 10:05:48 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
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To: Red Badger

5 posted on 08/25/2025 10:06:51 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: Red Badger

It’s pop.


6 posted on 08/25/2025 10:06:51 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: Red Badger

I grew up in Rochester, New York. It was pop then. When I moved to Auburn, NY, it was soda. I live in the Utica-Rome area now. It’s soda.


7 posted on 08/25/2025 10:07:57 AM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: Red Badger

Southern born, southern bred, and when I die I’ll be southern dead. It’s Coke (duh! It’s also “Kleenex” and “Dixie Cups” — we’re impressionable that way)

My wife is from Utah by way of Michigan. It’s pop for her.

My son grunts and points. He’s a teenager.


8 posted on 08/25/2025 10:10:17 AM PDT by Retrofitted
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To: Red Badger
The drinks were served by 'Soda Jerks' (a pun on 'Soda Clerks') at 'Soda Fountains'.

'Soda fountains', not 'pop fountains' or 'fizzy fountains' mechanically dispense the drinks.

Customers order an "ice cream soda", not an "ice cream pop" or "ice cream fizzy".

9 posted on 08/25/2025 10:10:22 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Red Badger

Soda water


10 posted on 08/25/2025 10:10:30 AM PDT by decal (They won't stop, so they'll have to be stopped)
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To: Red Badger
"Again with the oranges!"


11 posted on 08/25/2025 10:12:06 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Red Badger

I grew up calling it all coke, a root beer coke, an orange coke, let’s go get some cokes, what kind of coke do you want?


12 posted on 08/25/2025 10:12:24 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Red Badger
"That Seventies Show" set in Wisconsin had Fez saying "soda" the first season. I think they changed that to "pop" in the later seasons.

Is it confusing in the South? Always having say "ginger ale coke" or "root beer coke?" And how to distinguish between a "cherry coke" soda and a "Cherry Coke" Coke?

Anyway, this civil war is just about over.


13 posted on 08/25/2025 10:15:20 AM PDT by x
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To: Red Badger

I wonder how long those soda fountain stools would hold up with modern Americans sitting on them?


14 posted on 08/25/2025 10:16:06 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: x

“Is it confusing in the South? Always having say “ginger ale coke” or “root beer coke?”

It was always just ‘ginger ale’ or ‘root beer’.


15 posted on 08/25/2025 10:18:44 AM PDT by TexasGator ('150 hp Florida Gnat)
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bookmark


16 posted on 08/25/2025 10:20:02 AM PDT by freds6girlies (many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. Mt. 19:30. R.I.P. G & J)
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To: mass55th
I'm 80...Same...It's still pop to me.

We didn't have it at home. We had to go to the gas station and get it out of a machine.

17 posted on 08/25/2025 10:21:13 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Red Badger

“Interestingly, the original Coca-Cola formula included wine”

Fake.


18 posted on 08/25/2025 10:22:03 AM PDT by TexasGator ('150 hp Florida Gnat)
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To: Red Badger

My folks called it (collectively) “soda pop”. I now call it “beer substitute”.


19 posted on 08/25/2025 10:22:38 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Red Badger

The bottle in which carbonated drinks were originally sold were all glass with a trapped marble at the top. That marble stoppered the bottle, and was held in place by the pressure in the bottle. The marble was pressed down by the thumb in order to force it down, opening the bottle. The marble was then trapped in a series of baffles just below the opening. The bottle made a loud “pop” when opened, hence the name “pop bottle”. This was a name attributed to the bottle, not the drink.

These were made in the late 1800s. The one I saw in a private collection was made somewhere around 1880. I’m trying to find a photograph.


20 posted on 08/25/2025 10:23:21 AM PDT by GingisK
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