I'm looking for a booklet

[Anne Lambert]

In my (unpublished) master's thesis on regional names of various kinds of
fast food, I note that my survey found "pop" in Ohio, Phoenix, and Denver;
Carver calls it "Inland North-and-West." "Soda" is Northeastern, sometimes
Texas and Phoenix.  It seems to me also to be universally used in
California, which has other Northeasternisms like "Catty-corner."  I never
heard "soda" until I came East from Chicago in 1981; to me "soft drink" was
the generic and "soda" referred to soda water or ice-cream soda.
    The DARE entry on "bag" is unsatisfactory and does not give regional
distribution.  I always said "bag" until I came here to Gainesville, FL,
where "sack" is used for paper bags; now I use it too.  We do however say "a
brown bag lunch."

Jan Kammert wrote:

> I'm a middle school teacher and I'm looking for a booklet with different
> usages for different areas of the country.  I used to have something
> similar about 20 years ago... it showed where people say "bag" vs. "sack"
> or "pop" vs. "soda."  I'm looking for something easy enough for middle
> school students to understand.  Can anyone on this list offer me any
> suggestions?
>
> Jan Kammert                             McMurray Middle School
> American Studies                        9829 SW Cemetery Road
> 206-463-9168, ext.270                   Vashon WA  98070
> write at wolfenet.com                      USA