Pop/Soda/Coke

[David Bowie]

From:    Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
: somebody else wrote:

: >Natalie Maynor quotes a student as saying "Sodas are known as
: >cokes in the South.  Even Pepsi is called a coke in the South."

: >Does this mean that ginger ale and root beer and Dr. Pepper are
: >also called "coke"?  If so, how do they specify that they want or
: >are drinking a cola drink?  If Southerners were to be given a Dr.
: >Brown's Cel-Ray, what would they call it, other than a vile
: >concoction?

: This was discussed on the list earlier, and there seemed to be
: some variation, presumably regional (among other parameters),
: between those Southerners for whom ALL soft drinks are cokes and
: those for whom only colas are.  Presumably there are other
: intermediate cases, where "coke" extends to, say, the union of
: {colas} U {Dr. Pepper}, {colas} U {Dr. Pepper} U {root beer} (but
: not Sprite or ginger ale), etc.  It's a bit like "yankee".

Well, for my Southern Maryland self, "coke" is the generic term, but there's
some carbonated beverages i would never use "coke" for: Vernor's (assuming i
would ever order something so disgusting :-P ), fruit-ish-flavored drinks
(like Nehi), tonic water, bitter lemon, and seltzer water (including the
unsweetened kinds with what they claim is fruit flavor but's really just an
excuse to charge more). You don't generally get those in restaurants,
though, with the possible exception of mineral water.

The rest is all "coke", with clarification coming via the following sort of
exchange:

  Me:      I'd like a large coke.
  Waitron: What kind of coke?
  Me:      A Coke.

The use of "coCOla" for "Coca-Cola" isn't found where i'm from, but i *have*
heard some very much older Southern Marylanders refer to RC as "RC-coCOla".
Until i read the postings discussing the use of "coCOla" i'd always assumed
that the first "co" was saying out the abbreviation for "company", since the
official name of the beverage is (i think) "Royal Crown Company Cola".

I should note that the use of "coke" as a generic isn't universal where i
grew up, although it does seem to be universally understood and accommodated
for among locals.

Also, as i've noted before when this has come up, the pop vs. soda page is
to be found at http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/

David Bowie                                       Department of English
Assistant Professor                            Brigham Young University
db.list at pmpkn.net              http://humanities.byu.edu/faculty/bowied
   The opinions stated here are not necessarily those of my employer