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Question of the day
Friday, Feb 26, 2010 * OK, it’s Friday, I have a lot more to do today, but let’s have a little non-political fun for a change. This map is almost a couple of years old, but here’s the Illinois county break-out on what we call sodafied beverages…   The national map is here. * The Question: Does your terminology match up with your county? Explain.
- Posted by Rich Miller
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- Old Shepherd - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:46 am:
It’s absolutely correct. We can always identify northerners when they ask for a “pop”.
- JoJo - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:48 am:
While I’m a POP girl I’ve always wondered why friends in Milwaukee and Springfield area say SODA. A friend in the south calls everything COKE. I guess my friends follow the “norm” of their area. Interesting though it never made sense.
- Will County Woman - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:48 am:
In Will County POP it is !!!!! :)
- Irish - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:52 am:
Yes, Pop is a soft drink, Coke is something else.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:54 am:
Referring to consumable beverages by the sound they make when you opened the package always seemed a little three-year-oldish to me.
Is soda is “pop”, are chips “crackle”?
- ArchPundit - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:56 am:
Who are these 20 percent in McLean county not calling it pop? I never met them.
They also left off sodie for some of the Southern areas of the state.
- Irish - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:56 am:
YDD - No “Crackle” is one third of a morning cereal. LOL
- LouisXIV - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:58 am:
Yep. I grew up in DuPage and live in Cook now and have always called it “pop.”
- Third Generation Chicago Native - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:59 am:
Yes, in CC it is pop.
Interesting country map. You have to wonder if there aren’t more language/terminology/verbiage in unique to each regional area. I was down south and heard someone call an egg a cackleberry (GA)
- Concerned Observer - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:59 am:
I’m a COKE person.
I was born in the suburbs and called it pop…went to school at SIU and decided I’d just start saying COKE to avoid the annoying looks.
I’m back in Will County, but haven’t changed. Coke ZERO, please.
- Fan of Cap Fax - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 11:59 am:
In my area of SO IL, it’s always Sodie. We’re country, friends.
- Conservative Veteran - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:00 pm:
I live in Cook Co., and about 2/3 of people, I know (including myself) call it pop. I checked a dictionary, and it states that pop is “a soft drink” and that soda is “a mixture of a soft drink and ice cream.”
- Pelon - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:03 pm:
In Central IL, you will also run across the term “sody”. It is frequently used by people who can’t properly conjugate the verb “see”. For instance, you may hear: “I seen the sody on the counter so I drank it.”
- 47th Ward - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:04 pm:
So can I assume the green areas use the hybrid term “soda pop?”
I’ve always been a pop man myself, with roots in Kankakee County and all. And I know Coke can be used generically like “Kleenex” is used instead of tissue. But even generically Coke means cola, while pop evokes a world of delicious and refreshing choices, including Dr. Pepper, Squirt, 7-Up, Pepsi, RC, Orange Crush (and my old fav Strawberry Crush), etc.
Despite our many political differences expressed here on the blog, I really hope there is one thing we can agree on however: Root beer is not pop or soda.
Root beer is root beer.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:07 pm:
===It is frequently used by people who can’t properly conjugate the verb “see”===
It is also commonly used by people who say “Do what?”
- vole - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:11 pm:
Pop, when yur done snortin’ that coke, can we go to Huckleberry’s and git me a sodie pop? I needs me an upper toot too.
- Beowulf - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:12 pm:
I have always used the term “pop” in Will County. A friend of mine who originally came from down by the St. Lois area always asks for “a soda”. She has been living in Will County for about 30 years but still refers to a Pepsi or Coke as “a soda”.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:15 pm:
I grew up calling it pop. Where I went to school, it was “ein cola”. Where I live now, it is “soda”.
The only thing I find frustrating is when my coworkers claim that folks in Chicagoland call it “soda” too. (The folks they know up there call it soda, because they grew up Downstate.)
Most Illinoisans call it “pop”.
- CLJ - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:23 pm:
Being a transplant from Central Illinois, my use of “soda” doesn’t fit with “pop” of Cook County.
I do find the national map interesting with the St.Louis-Central Illinois region being something of an anomaly. Not quite sure how it would be so similar in the usage of “soda” as the Yankee New England Region. Same goes for Milwuakee. Off the top of my head with literally no research; could be a tie to German brewers? Otherwise, interesting.
- Rarely Posts - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:26 pm:
In Daviess County, KY (shown on your map):
“I’ll have a Coke, please”
NEVER “pop”, NEVER “soda”
I’ve even heard:
“What kind of Coke”?
“Seven-Up”
- Will County Woman - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:32 pm:
terminology used appears to be just be a regional thing looking, but i’m not sure what’s up with southeastern wisconsin. southeastern illinois goes the way of kentucky and indiana, and southewestern illinois goes the way of missouri. politics too? i’m glad that no county in illinois was in the “other” category. i cannot imagine what “other” might be. who says, “i’d like a carbonated beverage” or something crazy like that?
- Bonsaso - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:34 pm:
I’ve always used “sodapop” to be clear but I have moved a lot.
- wordslinger - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:35 pm:
I’m in Cook and yes, it’s Pop.
I worked with people who California who thought that was insane. If they want a Pepsi, they say Pepsi. If they want a Dr. Pepper, they say Dr. Pepper.
- Anon down south - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:42 pm:
I grew up in east Central Illinois and its “pop.” The Coke thing comes from Coke being invented in the South. When I visit down there I always have to be mindful to always ask for a Coke.
- Small Town Liberal - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:48 pm:
I’m originally from Cass county, and before I went to college I had never had this conversation with anyone. Apparently we call it pop, but I just always refered to individual drinks by their name.
- Former New Englander - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:55 pm:
Looks good for Springfield, but as one of (a couple former New Englanders) who read the blog I would say that they underrepresent “soda” there. Much more uniform than indicated. When Shasta started advertising with the jingle “I want a pop… I want a Shasta” it was completely lost on me (I thought they wanted somebidy to hit them). Then again, my grandmother called it “tonic”, so…
- Ron Burgundy - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:56 pm:
No. I call it Soda but live in Cook County. I am a Madison/St. Clair Co. native though so that explains it. My wife says Pop. I told her where I come from you ask for a pop and someone slugs you.
- Ron Burgundy - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 12:57 pm:
I should add, my grandmother from So. IL used to call it Sodee Pop. Made me cringe every time.
- Secret Square - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:00 pm:
I grew up in La Salle County and my folks always said “soda pop”… a convienient blending of the Chicagoland and Downstate terms I guess. The “soda” trend in Springfield and points south seems to be a spill-over from St. Louis usage.
Referring to ALL soft drinks regardless of flavor or brand as “Coke” is a totally Southern thing, probably related to the prescence of Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta.
Just from looking at the map I’m guessing that heavily German areas (St. Louis, Milwaukee) favor “soda” while those dominated by the Irish or Eastern Europeans favor “pop.” Don’t know why though.
This is one of my favorite maps from one of my favorite websites, “Strange Maps.”
- girllawyer - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:08 pm:
I grew up north of Illinois and it was definately “pop”. First time I heard “coke” used as a general term was by a German exchange student in high school. “Sodie”, which I’d never heard before moving to Springfield, is very common among locals. It is a banned word at our house
- Downstate - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:11 pm:
I’ve noticed the soda/pop thing since high school and meeting students from up north. I hadn’t seen anything as to the “Coke” option. That’s strongest in Saline County. They had an early Coca-Cola bottling plant in Harrisburg that was operating at least as early as the 1920s (as the Klan was meeting in the upstairs of their plant during that decade). That (the plant, not the Klan) could help explain the high concentration of Coke lovers in southeastern Illinois.
It’s also an area that’s anti-Pepsi. Some of those small towns all you can do is order an RC, since the Harrisburg plant closed down decades ago.
- washedmyhands - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:11 pm:
Soda where I’m originally from by Springfirld. Another word is “Wash” - down in Southern Illinois it sounds more like “warsh.” It extends to other words like “Warshington, D.C.” The more I drink…the more my extra “r” shows up. Suppose my handle ought to be “warshedmyhands”
- DP - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:17 pm:
Where are the results for “sodie”? In my neck of the woods, not too far from Springfield, we grew up saying “sodie”.
- Obamarama - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:22 pm:
DuPage and Kane it’s definitely pop. I take issue with Western Pennsylvania where soda, in my opinion, is used most prevalently.
- Red Bird fan - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:23 pm:
It’s soda in my neck of the woods but, I love to visit friends from Memphis, where it’s called Coke. They will ask what kind of Coke you want. Then explain, I’ve got Dr. Pepper, 7 Up, Coke Cola and Orange.
- Prognosis Negative - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:23 pm:
Yep. I call it pop and so does the county where I grew up.
Outside of sodie or sodie pop, what else can “other” be in this data?
- Deep South - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:26 pm:
I grew up in Georgia. There, when you were asked if you wanted a Coke, they’d ask what kind. I always said Root Beer. My sister always said 7-Up. Today, in Williamson County its called soda.
- Anonymous - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:29 pm:
Unless you’re from Bond or Clinton county and you just drink “Ski”!!
- cermak_rd - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:32 pm:
I’m from Coles county originally but have lived in Cook County for a couple decades or so. So I use the hybrid soda pop or the brand names (Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Dr. Pepper) of whatever it is I want to drink.
- Old Shepherd - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:33 pm:
Doesn’t every old Western movie have a scene when someone walks in the saloon; both the piano music and the talking stops; and everyone turns around and looks at the person who walks in?
That’s similar to what happens when someone asks for a “pop” in Southern Illinois.
- Captain Flume - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:50 pm:
In some parts of my current county, it is “sodee”. But it remains “pop” from whence I came.
- Hoping for Rational Thought - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:57 pm:
I’m a soda guy who has lived in several pop counties. Hmmm
- Anon - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 1:59 pm:
At the Capitol I believe they call it “New Revenue.”
- JonShibleyFan - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:10 pm:
Pop here. But living on the East Coast, I was laughed at whenever I requested a pop. Of course, and this is no joke, someone also said I was from “farm country.” They knew I was from Chicago.
- 10th Indy - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:10 pm:
Raised in NY I ask for soda when I’d like a Pepsi or Sprite or Fresca. And because we are contrary folk in NY, I ask for seltzer when I’d like a soda.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:13 pm:
A store I stopped at in Springfield had a clerk that asked me, “Did ya get yur sodie here?” and I had to ask her to repeat herself a couple more times so that I was clear as to what she was asking me. After realizing that I was hearing her clearly, I still hadn’t a clue what she was asking me. The local guy behind me said she wanted to know if the bottle of pop I was holding was from the store we were in.
I try hard to listen to those with accents or disabilities to avoid embarrassing them, so I was pretty embarrassed for being unable to understand her. I never in my entire life ever heard anyone refer to pop as “sodie”, except on Gomer Pyle reruns - not that it is a bad thing, mind you.
Now I know.
I was raised to be respectful, so I was pretty embarrassed by it all.
- Vibes - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:15 pm:
?!?!
I grew up in Sangamon and never heard soda until I moved east. I see others there disagree, which just freaks me out. When was this?
- Wife of 1 - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:16 pm:
I grew up in Logan county where it was always pop. I moved to Christian county, a mere 40 miles away, and it’s either soda or sody (which I hate, Hate, HATE!) So, in my head it’s still pop but I often say soda (Never sody) - I don’t want the talking or the music to stop:)
- Chathamite - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:16 pm:
Yes… Lived in Sangamon county all of my life and had never heard anyone say pop until I met someone from Libertyville… It blew my mind and still drives me crazy!
- KeepSmiling - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:18 pm:
Yep. I’ve lived in 7 states including two counties in IL, and the map is spot on.
Hey, Deep South - I was a teenager in Georgia. I can still hear it now… “Would you like a Coke?” [yes, ma’am.] Followed by “What kind would you like?” [A Small Tab, please.] And here I had forgotten all about Tab! Now that was back in the day!
- Ray del Camino - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:26 pm:
Yep, in St. Louis and So Ill, it’s a “soda.” When I visted relatives in the Mountain West, they looked at me like I was from the moon. “That’s not a soda, that’s a pop!”
- Captain Flume - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:32 pm:
In the Blue Room, they call it a press pop
- Will County Woman - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:38 pm:
other= “soft drink” ?
- Levois - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 2:59 pm:
I almost always say pop, however, I have taken to using soda. I have heard however people refer to soda/pop as Coke no matter the brand or flavor.
- RobRoy - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:06 pm:
Looking at the national map I conclude that this is the source of our nationwide schizophrenia and think it will lead to the final fall.
- Rayne of terror - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:06 pm:
Coke drinker & McLean Co resident here. I’m from Terre Haute, home of the Coke bottle. I do switch it up and say pop and gym shoes instead of tennis shoes from time to time because I’m married to a suburban McHenry Co native.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:07 pm:
Secret Square was onto something there. If he grew up near the La Salle/Bureau County line (say in Peru) he is right on the divide between soda and pop, hence “soda pop”. As for me, it’s Friday, where’s the beer?
- bored now - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:16 pm:
i grew up in florida, and everything was a coke. but my mother’s family was/is in michigan, where i learned these other terms. i still have to do a double take when people say pop…
- bored now - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:17 pm:
opps, meant to answer the question: nope, not normal for cook county…
- Jake from Elwood - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:25 pm:
This begs the bigger question: do you drink out of a water fountain, a drinking fountain or a bubbler?
- LawDude - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:29 pm:
When I was young and naive I interned in Washington, D.C. for a semester. I had a conversation with a cashier at a fast food restaurant that went like this:
“Can I get a large pop with that?”
“A what?”
“A large pop.”
“What?”
“Can I get a large cup for the pop machine?”
“Oh, you mean a soda?”
“Yeah, I guess…”
I learned an important lesson that day.
- Secret Square - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:35 pm:
Interestingly, my dear spouse, born and raised in the Peoria area, also says “soda pop.”
Anyone else notice the pop/soda dividing line running roughly along I-39/U.S. 51 from Mendota to around Shelbyville?
- Been There - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:38 pm:
Long ago, my wife had my daughter at the local swimming pool. For some reason there was a truck parked outside and my daughter kept saying “look mom, daddy’s pop, daddy’s pop” while pointing at the truck. All the other moms got a kick out her continuing to point. Needless to say it wasn’t a pop truck. Nor a soda truck. That term stuck around for many years in our household whenever I needed a cold one.
- Conservative Republican - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:42 pm:
Until I read these comments, I was going to ask what the hell do those folks in that one outlier county in Indiana, where the overwhelming majority is grouped under “other”, call it? I guess that must be “sody”.
I always thought Chicagoland was definitely “pop” country, but its stats (Cook, DuPage, Lake) clearly show some serious usage of other forms (So. Ill transplants? Southerners, in general? Mexicans?(see border states)), whereas exurban Chicago is decidedly “pop”. I’d be interested in a closer drill down on usage there.
Finally, all you Southern Illinoisians who are bragging about soda, a look at the national map indicates that not only is it a St. Louis-centric phenomenom, but it appears to be a bi-coastal affectation as well. “Pop” is pure Heartland America.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 3:45 pm:
===I’d be interested in a closer drill down on usage there.===
My best friend’s dad, from Beverly, always used to say “Peps” for “Pepsi.” Never said “pop.” Maybe that’s it. Dunno.
- Secret Square - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 4:16 pm:
“I was going to ask what the hell do those folks in that one outlier county in Indiana, where the overwhelming majority is grouped under “other”, call it?”
According to the web page popvssoda.com, which breaks down in detail the responses to the survey plotted on the map, “soda pop”, “sodee” and any variations thereof, along with “soft drink”, are classified as “other.”
- RJW - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 4:36 pm:
I’m originally from McLean County. Always called it a pop. Fits with the map. My wife is from Texas. It was a Coke to her. Visited her Grandma there once and I ordered a Coke and they said “What kind?” Weird.
Another similar question:
Do you call that small stream a “creek” or a “crick?” I grew up with “crick.”
- Non-native Illinoisan - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 4:38 pm:
Grew up out in Southeastern PA and always called it soda. Still do. Also refer to that red stuff that goes on burgers as “catsup” because that was on the label of the A&P brand my parents used to buy. My kids love to correct me whenever I use either expression.
- prairiestatedem - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 4:52 pm:
Its an interesting map rich and links up with reality from my experiences across our great state. This begs an anaylsis of some other Illinoisms like Cheese Toasty (a grilled cheese sandwich) which I have only heard used in Decatur…Or maybe a look at the georaphic prolifiration of a horseshoe.
- Irish - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 4:56 pm:
==Anon - 1:59==
Brings up a point that given it’s Friday and 4:51 I will share.
Since we have to give Central-South Illinois their fair share,
Will a tariff on it be called the “Coke tax”? They wouldn’t dare!
Good night Gracie! :)
- BSPII - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 5:04 pm:
I’ve lived in Texas, Colorado and Illinois, but always dreamed of being an East Coaster, which might be why I say “soda” now.
I do distinctly remember growing up in Texas when this would be a regular exchange with waitstaff:
“What’ll you have to drink, sugar?”
“I’ll have a Coke.”
“What kind?”
“Sprite.”
Why I didn’t just say Sprite to begin with, I’ll never quite understand.
- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 5:07 pm:
That’s a great map. Growing up in Champaign, it was always “Pop.” Was quite confusing when I relocated to the ‘Patch and everyone was talking “soda,”, “sodie,” or “soda pop.”
Of course, in the intervening years at the Big U, with Illinoisans of all kinds present, the usage was 100% consistent: “Beer.”
We didn’t say “warsh” or “Warshington”, let alone the awful “ee” sound heard in words like “issues”, “fishing,” and “dishes.”
A former high-ranking public official who hailed from our end of the state drove me crazy when he would use those pronunications. “The ee-sues in Warshington…”
Though, like RJW, it was a “crick”, not “creek,” for AA…..
Fun QOTD, Captain.
- cover - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 5:37 pm:
I’m a Central Illinois native, originally from the 50%+ “pop” side of the line but now living in the mixed-bag of Sangamon County. I have always called the drink by brand name, but that might be because my mother was a big-time Pepsi drinker.
Interestingly enough, one of my U of I roommates who hailed from Metro East said that he had never heard the term “pop” before arriving in Urbana - a place where even the grocery stores use that term.
- Downstate Commissioner - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 5:52 pm:
Cheese toastie-thaat’s where it came from! My mom grew up in Decatur…
in Logan County, it’s pop, whick I use myself, although I hear “soda” a lot, including my daughter, who lived in Indianapolis for two years.
My mon used to ask my dad to stop for P-O-P (which acutaly meant Coke); pop was the first word I learned to spell..
- Downstate Commissioner - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 5:59 pm:
Continuing to go off topic, in Logan County, we know what a horseshoe is, but when a friend of mine asked for one in Peoria a few years ago, the waiter looked at him like he was crazy, and then asked what kind of drink was that?
- Visual Manager - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 6:19 pm:
Lets see the Miller Lite v. Bud light breakdown!!
- TJ - Friday, Feb 26, 10 @ 10:01 pm:
As a Champaign native, I feel a bit odd as I always called it Soda, as did most of my friends, but that’s not how it shows up on the map. I recognize this as being especially odd, as both of my parents are from Chicago, but I got Soda from them.
But yeah, now that I live in Northern Illinois, I know I’ve gotten a few odd looks when I ask for a soda instead of a pop.
- Tomato-tomatoe - Saturday, Feb 27, 10 @ 7:54 am:
I grew up in Lake Co., IL just about a block from the IL/WI line. I’ve lived in Central IL for over 30 years & still call it pop. My husband was born & raised in Central IL & called it soda. My daughter, raised in Central IL & now living in the south ‘burbs is bi-lingual & uses the terms interchangeably.
- jerry 101 - Saturday, Feb 27, 10 @ 12:24 pm:
I grew up a “pop” guy, I live in a “pop” area (cook county).
For some odd reason, I’ve taken to saying soda.
Pop, I think, just sounds childish.
- wordslinger - Saturday, Feb 27, 10 @ 8:10 pm:
AA, “warsh” and “Warshington” are the worst. People who say them should be deported to Alabama and take advantage of its friendly business climate.
Close second: Those who say ROOS-evelt Road. Even stranger, ask them who it’s named after, and they’ll say ROSE-evelt.