I was flabbergasted to hear that people called soda 'pop'. Considering pop has other meanings and soda is a unique term, it almost makes me mad. I still don't understand. I'm from California, and as you can see from DJs map this is 'soda' country. Unfortunately, prior to seeing that, I would have said that the whole country would be yellow save for Michigan and the Great Lakes states. They want pop dontcha know.

So that map is depressing.

Also, I find that people that refer to ... a Sprite, or Pepsi, or any soda that isn't a coca cola, a Coke, ignorant, lazy, or retarded. There's a difference if you want a Coca Cola and you ask for a Coke and all they have is Pepsi. You don't turn around and say this Coke is good.

The proper term if you would like to say coke as a general term would be Cola.

"I would like a Cola. A Pepsi Cola, a Coca Cola, an RC Cola, I don't care. Just some sort of Cola"

I have been known to say "I need a carbonated drink" because that is indeed the kind of drink I wanted. I cared not for specifics. It could be ginger ale, cola, or tahitian treat. :D

I'm from the heart of "pop" country and I say "pop." But I don't like it much and never buy it, so I don't say "pop" often. :)

I didn't know anyone said "soda" until I went to the East Coast for the first time.

The tendency of Southerners to say "coke" as a generic term for "pop" has puzzled me since I first heard of it, because it would seem to create unnecessary confusion. Down there if people ask you, "Would you like a coke?" does this mean you won't know if they are asking if you want generic pop or specifically Coke?

Saying "pop" could lead to confusion. Does my pop's pop refer to his drink or my grandpa? However, I've never actually seen such confusion arise.

Soft drink.

I grew up calling it pop because of where I lived in Canada, but now I usually just refer to them by their brand name.

Its just a fizzy drink, or the name of whatever the drink is.

I don't know what they're called, I call it whatever it is Scotch & Soda, Gin & Tonic, Rum & Coke. I guess you can get technical and call them cocktails or highballs.

Yeah I live in NC and I've heard tons of crazy stuff. Mostly people, including me, say soda, and i've honestly never heard anyone call it 'pop' in person.

Carbonated Obesity.

I call it soda.

Speaking of which, they have amazing soda at Ruby Tuesday's. They use real ingredients, and don't add any sweetener. It's so unbelievably refreshing. I had Watermelon, and there's actually crushed up watermelon in the glass. A piece of it clogged up my straw, and that's when I knew I had the best drink ever. It's not sweet at ALL, and it has a beautifully sharp bite from fresh mint. Free refills too! I desperately wanna try Blackberry.

Isn't that the fresh fruit lemonade? I always get the blackberry, but maybe I should try the watermelon.