Re: CHAT: Soda vs. Pop, was Re: Dialect and register

Doug Dee wrote:

> Interested persons will want to check out the Pop vs. Soda Page:
> http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/
According to this, "soda" - the term I expect an American to use, is
slightly _less_ common than "pop" - a term I have never heard at all!
This surprises me.

I _am_ aware of the conjunct "soda-pop", but I've always assumed that
it's what an American might say to a very young child, perhaps as one
might say "sheepy-baa" instead of "sheep" - it would sound out of
place between adults. I'm sure that I've never heard "pop" at all, not
even in movies. And "coke" for generic carbonated beverage is also new
to me.

I notice that "soft drink" is the most common of the "other"
responses (23% of 'other', 1% of total, most common in California),
which as I've said is the usual term in Australia. However, I'm sure
that I've heard Americans use "soft drink" to mean any non-alcoholic
drink, including fruit juice, so presumably that usage is more common.

(I notice the site has printed all responses, including joke ones ...
no, I'm not going to scroll to the end.)

English dialect words for food and drink are always surprising!

Adrian.

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