Sooner or later (but usually during the first week of school), incoming college freshmen always get a big dose of culture shock when they discover that American English-speakers tend to prefer one of three different regional terms for sweetened, carbonated beverages.
This inevitably leads to late night arguments with dorm-mates along the following lines:
KID A: You mean you call it "soda?" That's, like, so '50s. [mocking] "Hey, Sally, wanna go over to the fountain for a soda?"
KID B: Dude, that's what it's called. "Pop" is what sounds dorky. God, I can hardly even say it with a straight face. "Soda" is objectively correct, isn't it, Kid C?
KID C: Where ah come frum, we jes say, "Hay, gimme a coke." And then the waitress says, "What kinda coke you want? We got Root Beer, Sprite, Pepsi..."
The fact that people from different parts of the country use different words does not blow my mind. What blows my mind is the following map (click to see the full-size version):
It raises so many questions. Why are there pockets of Soda-Sayers in Missouri and Wisconsin? Why is it that Kentucky is the only place north of the Mason-Dixon line where people refer to a soft drink generically as a "coke"? How do you explain why certain state lines are so divisive? (Specifically, California/Oregon and New Mexico/Arizona.) Why are some states so much more linguistically homogeneous than others?
I am convinced that the keys to truly understanding our nation's history and character lie in the answers to these questions, and I demand that further studies be undertaken.
