What do you call soft drinks/soda pop in your country? (map included!)

[SamuelRSmith]

Kasz216 said:

mrstickball said:

-Newcloud- said:

In ireland we just say the drink we want, like 7up,fanta,club orange or coke ect... I never understood why some countrys call soda it makes the drink sound cheap IMO

My take is that the usage of 'Soda' and 'Pop' was always used a shorter term for soda pop.

American usage of any of the three major terms is because of the soda wars in the states. All restaurants are forced to carry only one brand of soft drinks, and can be fined if they carry rival brands (e.g. Pepsi Co. products and Coke products). The penality is so high that a place would likely rather shut down than handle the fine.

Therefore, if you are at a restaurant and the server asks "What would you like to drink?" and you want a soft drink, you respond with a phrase that asks the question of which grouping of products and special classes of soft drinks they have. So in Ohio, its typically "What kind of pop do you have?".

Having said that, I don't think many people ever use soda/pop/coke outside of such situations, as we're always more specific if someone is talking about anything outside of their generic usages.

I wish this was more covered.

Like I want to know what kidna deal Coke reached with Dr. Pepper, that it's now provided with the Coke products, when previously it was Pepsi only and Coke had to come up with Mr. Pibb.

Also, my local burgerking uses coke products, which is odd, considering I thought burkerking was owned by pepsi.  Franchise or no i'd think you'd be required to use pepsi.

Nah, Pepsi don't own Burger King, BK is owned by a private investment group.