What do you call it?

[Disgustipated]

I should mention when I was a kid and called it coke, there weren't many brands out there. You had coke, pepsi (and the diet versions of these), Dr. Pepper, 7-up, and root beer, and not many others. I think Sprite was around back then, but wasn't too popular.

 

[Quintillus]

More accurately these days - diluted corn syrup.

Only if you live in America is it usually "diluted corn syruped water". In most other places, it is real "sugared water". Depending on your preferences, "aspartamed water" or "sucralosed water" might also be the most accurate. None of them sound particularly appealing, hence why they probably aren't very popular terms.

Myself, I don't always drink soda, but when I do, it's usually authentic sugared water.

I call coke 'coke', and I call soda 'soda'. I also still call my grandfather 'pop'. 'Soft drink' is the term here.

What do you people call lemonade (i.e. Sprite), as distinct from, say, coke?

Hearing "lemonade" applied to a citrus soda sounds almost cringeworthy to me. Real lemonade is several steps above citrus sodas. Then again, I also find real lemonades to be far superior to hard lemonades.

But I'd never order a "citrus soda" even though that's the generic term (perhaps lemon-lime soda, to be more specific). I'd probably ask for a 7-Up, and if they carried some other brand instead, consider whether it was close enough to what I wanted.

 

[Mad Man]

Soda it is, only hicks call it pop.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

Soda it is, only hicks call it pop.

 

[Verarde]

I call it soda, but people I know will generally attempt to be more specific. "Do you want some Coke/Sprite/Pepsi etc.?"

And my county agrees with me very highly.