what do you drink?

[Gordon, Matthew J.]

Why is it that this lexical alternation (viz., pop v. soda) carries such strong emotional reactions? In written surveys I've conducted, many people feel the need to comment on how wrong or stupid the term they don't use is. In my experience, the soda folks are more vehement about this than the poparazzi (e.g., 'pop' means 'dad' and I wouldn't call my dad a drink).  Such comments (and justifications) are never added about other lexical variables (e.g., sack v. bag, seesaw v. teetertotter).