Can you name the most popular term used in each U.S. city for carbonated soft drinks? by AmblingPoodle

What is the most popular term in	Soda, pop, or Coke?	Percent Majority/Plurality
Hartford?		95%
Milwaukee?		95%
Philadelphia?		93%
Detroit?		92%
Honolulu?		92%
St. Louis?		92%
Buffalo?		90%
Cleveland?		88%
Pittsburgh?		86%
Des Moines?		86%
Memphis?		85%
Baltimore?		84%
Houston?		83%
Atlanta?		82%
Minneapolis?		81%
Dallas?		81%
San Francisco?		77%
Seattle?		75%

What is the most popular term in	Soda, pop, or Coke?	Percent Majority/Plurality
Cincinnati?		74%
Oklahoma City?		73%
Los Angeles?		70%
Louisville?		70%
Portland (OR)?		68%
Rochester (NY)?		66%
Denver?		64%
Tampa?		63%
Charlotte?		62%
Tulsa?		59%
Phoenix?		57%
Miami?		57%
Kansas City?		54%
Madison?		50%
New Orleans?		48%
Boston?		46% tonic, 45% soda
Indianapolis?		39% Coke, 38% pop, 17% soda

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There are 92 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Soda v. Pop v. Coke Quiz

by AmblingPoodle

Created Sep 20, 2010 in Geography
Game Plays 7,496

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	jonesjeffum:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 05:41 GMT		3 points
	wow so interesting

	LinuxLinus:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 05:43 GMT		22 points
	I see no need to hide the clues here.

	jjjoseph:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 06:13 GMT		28 points
	Ok this is really interesting, perhaps not great for the Sporcle format, though.

	wtncffts:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 06:31 GMT		17 points
	I don't really understand this. Pop and soda are generic names for soft drinks, but coke is a specific drink. Do people, evidently mostly in the south, use coke to refer to any soft drink? If they wanted, say, sprite, they would say coke? How would you differentiate?

	Riko:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 07:30 GMT		14 points
	From what I can gather from my southern family members, 'coke' means 'soda' and 'cola' is the specific drink that the rest of the country commonly calls 'coke'. That's how we get conversations like: A-"Hey you need something to drink? How about a coke?" B-"Sure, what kind do you have?" A-"...Coke." B-"...Yeah, what kind?" A-"...a-Cola?" B-"...Okay, sure, thanks."

	swiftfish08:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 07:38 GMT		21 points
	Nah we just refer to all sodas as coke, and if someone asks for specifics, then we name it. For example, if I went into a restaurant and the waitress asked me what I wanted to drink, I would say "Sprite". And if I said "Coke", I would mean Coca Cola.

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	RC_Cola:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 14:15 GMT		2 points
	Having lived in Indiana with friends from Chicago and Ohio, I have come to understand that these three words are all mutually synonymous. I'm from the DC area, so I don't consider myself very southern. I say "Coke" when I'm ordering a Coca-Cola-like drink (yes, this includes Pepsi). I have heard people say "soda" and "pop" for that same drink. The funny thing is there's no debate when it comes to things like Sprite/7Up, root beer, or Dr. Pepper/Mr. Pibb.

	tobinw:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 14:18 GMT		4 points
	@wtncffts - I grew up in Arkansas, went to grad school in Louisville, and am now doing a Master's in North Carolina. As others have said, if you go to a restaurant, for example, the waitress will ask what you want to drink. If you say "a coke," she'll say "Coke, Sprite, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper," etc. You have to specify. Or if you say you're someone is going to the store and asks if you want them to pick up some cokes, you have to ask what kind they're getting.

	sinatra22:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 14:57 GMT		15 points
	Many people who refer to all tissues as Kleenex. Same thing.

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	Tsunade:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 16:46 GMT		7 points
	Well sometimes I understand a quiz and get a really bad score. Here, I didn't understand a thing but got them all. Maybe 5 minutes is too long.

	ArtVandaley:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 16:54 GMT		13 points
	As stated above, it is not uncommon in Texas for somebody to ask for a coke, then the waiter ask "what kind" and the response be "sprite".

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	actwentysix:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 17:36 GMT		12 points
	First of all, if you have a waiter/ess when you order, you may ask differently to specify the specific drink you want. However, I think the question to ask yourself is, when you go to a McDonalds, and order a Big Mac, Large Fries, and ... what, a Large Soda, Large Pop, Large Coke? I think this is what it is referring to, as in this example, a specific drink is not ordered, but you are asking for the generic term where you are handed the cup to get the drink yourself.

	midnightdj:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 19:17 GMT		4 points
	Gotta cut the time...with only the same 3 choices for each city, there is more than enough time to just guess your way through. To wtncffts: If you wanted a sprite, you wouldn't say "I'll have a soda" or "I'll have a pop" anyway...but yes I have neighbors here in NY (where it is "soda" btw) originally from Florida and they use "coke" as a generic for all carbonated soft drinks....

	DragonNo4:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 19:19 GMT		5 points
	My family is odd. We're Southerners, but we all say "soda" unless we're being specific.

	fightinchicken26:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 20:03 GMT		8 points
	I live in the South and have never really heard anyone ever refer to a Sprite as "Coke." Coke is mainly used as an interchangable name between all the beverages similar to Coke. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, RC, generic Coke-rip offs you buy in grocery stores, etc. are all referred to as "Coke." The same goes for Diet Coke. At some restaurants that serve Pepsi products, you can order a Coke and the waiter/waitress won't even ask if Pepsi is okay, they just give you a Pepsi because they are basically interchangeable. However, if you order a Coke there, they would not say "Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, 7Up...?"

	moegoldberg:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 20:40 GMT		3 points
	Which Rochester? New York? Minnesota? Another one?

	kennyb:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 20:55 GMT		22 points
	Honestly, most of Boston would say "Soder".

	racefan12:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 21:05 GMT		13 points
	It's interesting how there are often discrepancies between cities that are relatively close together (Oklahoma City vs. Tulsa and Madison vs. Milwaukee are examples).

	mclooney:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 21:17 GMT		3 points
	basically all you have to do is guess all three which can be typed quickly. there is no skill involved. intresting facts though.

	paddy26:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 21:39 GMT		0 points
	Pshhhhh soda people....

	JohnJF:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 21:59 GMT		-3 points
	Seeing as I go to a school whose population comes largely from St. Louis and Kansas City, I feel like this is a vital quiz for educational purposes. For the record, I call it soda, but I'm willing to compromise with "soft drink" if it means I never, ever, ever, ever again have to hear a tasty beverage given the ugly term "pop".

	chriskotx:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 22:45 GMT		7 points
	Use of the word "coke" as a generic descriptor for soft drinks may be the most reliable indicator of Southern culture (wtg Indy!) It's a catch-all term used when no specification is needed: "the ice box is full of cokes (of all kinds)" but at a fast food place you almost always specifiy which soft drink you want up front. Btw, my grandfather would often say "you want a sody water?" ...and why would anyone vote a quiz like this down?

	redmoose:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 22:50 GMT		3 points
	I've never heard anyone say "tonic" and I live in MA though not right in Boston. Huh. I've only heard the word Pop when I visited North Carolina, it sounds so weird to me.

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	JayHankEdLyon:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 23:33 GMT		8 points
	What's with all the southern hate? I always figured the reason it's called Coke so often down there, at least in the southeast, is because Coke was invented in Atlanta. Sure, you don't see people calling generic soda "Pepsi" in North Carolina, but that's because Coke's a much simpler thing to say, and it was popular long before Pepsi really started picking up in the mid-thirties.

	Andy2k9:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 23:45 GMT		3 points
	Way too much time...

	Lindsay:	Sep 20th, 2010 at 23:47 GMT		9 points
	@redmoose - It's mostly the older generation that says "tonic" - my great-grandparents and grandparents use that term, while my parents and my generation say "soda"

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	XCBoss:	Sep 21st, 2010 at 00:08 GMT		8 points
	I live in Boston, and everyone I know says soda. Also this quiz has too much time because anyone can just guess for every single one and finish well inside the time limit.

	wtncffts:	Sep 21st, 2010 at 00:12 GMT		2 points
	Thanks for all the clarifying comments. It makes sense to me now, even if it still seems somewhat odd. @JayHankEdLyon: at least on my part there was no 'southern hate' intended.

	AmblingPoodle:	Sep 21st, 2010 at 00:18 GMT		4 points
	Thanks to all for the feedback. In response: game time reduced from 5:00 to 3:00. @moegoldberg: it's Rochester, NY (though Rochester, MN shares the same word). @racefan12 & JohnJF: finding the discrepancies between nearby cities was my favorite part of making this quiz.

	ChinaWhite:	Sep 21st, 2010 at 00:50 GMT		-1 points
	I am from Texas, and I can't recall anyone referring to a sprite Dr. Pepper etc as a "Coke". I have always understood it that Coke was generally a catchall phrase for cola type drinks like Pepsi, RC, and other generic colas. I have gone to many a restaurant that didn't have Coke on the menu, asked for a coke and the waiter would bring you whatever cola they served there without correcting you.

	chriskotx:	Sep 21st, 2010 at 01:57 GMT		9 points
	Southern usage of "coke" is just like the usage of "Yankee". Sometimes, all Americans are yankees, sometimes people from the North are Yankees and sometimes people from just New England are Yankees. Sometimes, all soft drinks are cokes, sometimes colas are cokes and sometimes Coca Cola is Coke. Depends on your intent and point of reference - and the listener may need clarification.

	chriskotx:	Sep 21st, 2010 at 02:01 GMT		6 points
	...and AmblingPoodle - congratulations on creating what will be the most commented-on quiz in a long time!

	AWalker17:	Sep 21st, 2010 at 03:18 GMT		0 points
	I live in Worcester, MA...45 min away from Boston, MA and the 2nd most populous city in New England. I have NEVER heard anyone refer to soda as tonic. No idea where that came from.