What do you call it?

[Quackers]

Either: "Soft drinks", "Fizzy drinks" or the brand name.

 

[CheeseWalrus]

"Soda" or "soda pop".

 

[kochman]

I would say if this poll was held here you would get 95% "soft drink" , 5% fizzy drink

Hahahaha, I like that! Fizzy drink!

 

[The_J]

I don't think we have a really common word here to address all what falls under one of the mentioned names, unless you say soft drink, but I don't think it's really used in the daily life.
I guess you get most if you say here lemonade (which is used here for Fanta, Sprite, etc; wikipedia says that the term only used in AUS/NZ in the same way).

 

[danjuno]

I call it soda. Not only does my county agree, but so does every other county in the state except Santa Cruz and Gila.

 

[madviking]

Soda or cola.

 

[warpus]

I'm Canadian so pop

 

[Silurian]

Pop is fizzy lemonade
If you ask for Coke you will get Pepsi in one pub I drink in.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

It's definitely pop. I've only ever heard the term "soda" in national TV commercials.

 

[say1988]

We call it 'pop' in Maritimes Canada. I call it 'soda' when I'm trying to be funny. Calling a non-Coke 'Coke' just seems silly to me, but I sometimes call tissue paper Kleenex despite its brand.

Coke is commonly used to refer to any cola here (Ontario), even Pepsi. But never for other pop (i.e. root beer)

The generic term is pop. Soft drink is infrequently used, but more broad term that can refer to any non-alcoholic beverage whether carbonated or not.

 

[Ajidica]

We tend to call it pop in Minnesota, although I will call it soda if I am in a slightly formal setting.

 

[Mise]

Fizzy drink.

 

[downtown]

If I started my own carbonated beverage, I would call it a "pop", because duh, thats the sound it makes when you open the can.

 

[Mise]

Sounds more like "Tssst!" to me.

 

[Save_Ferris]

RANDOM STRIKES AGAIN!
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=433944

I even posted in that... That's where the idea came from...

 

[Disgustipated]

I used to call it coke as a kid, but after being in the military and living back east, I grew accustomed to calling it soda. I'll never in a million years call it pop.

edit: Although interestingly, my city (Las Vegas) supposedly calls it soda, and many places in the Southeast are red on the map, including what looks to be Orlando (my first duty station), and Charleston, South Carolina (my second place I lived in the Navy). But I may have picked up soda from guys from other places in the country from my buddies in the military.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I sometimes refer to Coca Cola as black aspirin

 

[IAM]

I don't use a generic title. I name the specific drink as a category though i would go with soft drink because that is recognized in my area. They should be called sugar water in my opinion.

 

[Quintillus]

I was just thinking about this when deciding which soda to buy the other day when the store didn't have the one I'd planned to get.

Apparently I come from an area that's 4:1 pop in favour of soda, I went to college in an area that was split 50:50 Coke:Soda, and I live in an area that's 50:50 sodaop. I first started semi-regularly drinking soda in college, so that's where I probably picked it up.

I agree that "Tsst!" is accurate when opening a can, but "pop" is closer if you are popping off a bottle cap. I drink more bottled than canned soda (not a whole lot overall, either way), but still call it soda.

Other fine names missing from the options include the old-fashioned phosphates, the pretentious (and allegedly popular at Duke, according to a previous thread) San Pellegrino, the classic soda pop (which I saw legitimately used earlier this week), carbonated beverages (which I occasionally use when intentionally referring to the carbonation), soft drinks (which I might use when ordering at a restaurant), and John Sculley's famous sugared water.

 

[BvBPL]

I was the first one to link to that map. Warpus is a Johnny-Come Lately. Get your facts straight, Save Ferris. Maybe you've been listening to too much ska.

I pick between soda, pop, and tonic, mostly because saying pop and tonic confuses the New Englanders. I grew up right on the border of the soda-pop line.