Slang words used for a soft drink

jackster · Post by **jackster** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:11 am

Living in the Midwest U.S.A., in N. Illinois, we call a soft drink POP. A couple hundred miles south, (still in Illinois) they call it SODEY (don't even know what "pop" means other than relating to balloons). Out east, I've heard them call it soda-pop. Other places, soda. And other places yet, coke. Anyone else either here in U.S. or abroad have other slang words for soft drinks? Just curious.
Jack

Bobinwales · Post by **Bobinwales** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:13 am

We have called it pop for as long as I can remember. The bloke who delivered it was the Pop Man, and the place where it was made was the Pop Factory, one of which with a pun of which this forum can be proud, has now become a recording studio.

kagriffy · Post by **kagriffy** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:33 am

One of the standing jokes here is "You might be from Springfield (Illinois) if you go to Chicago and order a 'sodey' and no one understands you." I don't think I've really ever heard a Central Illinoisan call it "sodey," though; it's usually "soda." (We aren't quite THAT backwater hick here, you know.) I grew up about 100 miles further south (still in Illinois), and we usually use "Coke" as a kind of generic name for all soft drinks.

russcable · Post by **russcable** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 5:05 pm

I worked one summer at a hotel that hosted a family reunion. Many of the people were from either Alabama or Georgia (can't remember which) but they asked for change for the "soda water" machine.

Ken Greenwald · Post by **Ken Greenwald** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:07 pm

See pop versus soda for an interesting discussion of that subject.
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Ken G – April 1, 2006

jackster · Post by **jackster** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:43 pm

K.A.:

When I worked at the telephone company (Westerm Electric) on temporary transfer in Quincy, IL years ago, I was taking a break in the facility's small cafeteria with some co-workers who were from the Quincy area. I mentioned I thought I'd get a "pop". "What's a POP?", one guy said while the others looked at me equally inquisitively. I thought they were joking. When I finally mentioned a Coke, they then understood. "OH! YOU MEAN SODY!". "We've never heard it called pop". I didn't mean to offend by mentioning "South". I simply thought it odd that two slang words meaning the same thing weren't interchangable in such a short distance. Here In Rockford, just about every other town in Illinois is South of us.
Jack

mongrowl · Post by **mongrowl** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:25 am

Here is some More, and some
More, and
More
Lneil

Wizard of Oz · Post by **Wizard of Oz** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:14 am

.. ok .. so we are talking about soft drink or a softie .. which would get you a carbonated drink in NSW .. but if you went down to Tasmania then you might ask for a cordial and to prevent confusion you might want to specify a fizzy cordial .. but don't attempt to use the rule-of-thumb and abbreviate it further to cordie because the Taswegians wouldn't understand you but over in Perth they would give you an alcoholic drink .. now in the Hunter Valley of NSW I can remember the cordial man as being the man who came around in his truck and delivered soft drink .. another very general term in Aus is fizzy drink .. now if you went over to Adelaide then you would need to ask for a cool drink or even some lolly water although this would also be understood in other places like Sydney and Melbourne .. that about covers it for most of Aus although no doubt there are smaller pockets of other regionalisms yet to be recorded .. ummmmmm pass us a bundy mate willya ..

(Source: Word Map)

WoZ of Aus 02/04/06

jackster · Post by **jackster** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 8:31 pm

Here's an interesting website: http://www.popvssoda.com/ I never guessed such interest even existed before I brought it up here, but, like my wize old granddad once told me: "You young kids think what you do is NEW! It isn't new. It's all been done before, just by different people". How true..... how true.
Jackster