Since they left, they've had a Subway Sandwich, a Grinder AND a Hoagie!

[dolari]

Comments

have a soda and a smile :)

[elenderel.livejournal.com]

I love regional stuff like this. Here in Syracuse and Onondaga County, everyone says soda. Drive less than half an hour west of here, and everyone says pop. When I attended the University of Rochester (western New York, in the map's blue part of NY), people would spent ungodly amounts of energy debating whether the proper and correct word was soda or pop. It became a minor matter of pride and one-upmanship on campus and, undoubtedly, throughout the region. It became something like rooting for your favorite football team and strongly identifying with them ... hard to explain to those who don't watch football, but makes every bit of sense to those embroiled in the game.

Steve likes to tell me about when he was a kid, his father took him to an ice cream parlour in the Northeast somewhere and his father asked for a soda. After giving him a weird look, the server poured him a glass of seltzer water! The locals had never heard of "soda."

The funny thing is that while I was growing up, every Syracuse-area Wegmans supermarket overhead aisle sign said "POP" instead of soda. It was kind of odd, seeing that sign as a little kid and wondering why they used the wrong word! Now that I'm thinking about it, I have to go shopping pretty soon; when I go to Wegmans (whose headquarters are in Rochester) I'll make a rare trip to the soft drink aisle and see what the overhead sign says. :)

Have you found anything similar regarding coneys? Er, those white hot dogs that have a bit of spice in 'em? Here in Syracuse, we call them coneys. Then again, we also eat mass quantities of salt potatoes and spiedies...

[nathan-r.livejournal.com]

Baltimore (my native land) and Philadelphia (the closest major city to where I went to college) are both "soda" strongholds, and my own vocabulary is no exception. Ah, I remember well the merciless mocking of the one young lady in my group of college friends who insisted on saying "pop."

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

San Antonio and Austin are both Coke places. State College was a definate Soda area.

Re: have a soda and a smile :)

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

I've actually never SEEN a white hot dog. We do have Chorizos, though. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/strangelv__/]

I have to say I don't agree with the respondents in the North Texas area -- definitely not as 80-100% calling Pepsi, Orange Slice, et c. Coke. I believe i would have noticed this if it were actually that bad with the misidentification.

I've alternated between soda and soft drink, but am usually more specific and not generic (ie Coke is Coke, Squirt is Squirt, Dr Pepper is Dr Pepper, et c).

I'm pretty sure I'd notice, as it's a pet peeve of mine when I encounter the phenomenon of calling non-Coke soft drinks Coke (so your Lexus is a Chevy, right?)...


SL

Re: have a soda and a smile :)

[inefficient.livejournal.com]

Is that like a Bratwurst?

[ghostangel.livejournal.com]

Pop dammit >_>; *looks at michigan*

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

I actually think it was a cncerted effort to get the brand name made as the generic name. You lose copyright, but you gain market share. :)