Fizzy pops are made of soda

[matgb]

• US county map of soft drink names
  USians are so silly, arguing over the generic name for a fizzy drink. We don't bother with such things... (unless you count cup cakes, but that's food, which is IMPORTANT)
  (tags: maps linguistics america)

Comments

[morgaine-x.livejournal.com]

Now, UK regional variations of what to call a bread roll/barm/muffin - that's difficult. I can remember three variations just within greater Manchester which would be met with incredulity in a shop should you use the wrong one...

[matgb]

Well, possibly. But, y'know, Manchester...

[innerbrat]

Two of those'd get you something very specific (and different) over here, the other would get you laughed out of the pub.

Weirdoes.

[matgb]

Aye, I've never really got how it works at all, especially using 'coke' as a generic for any fizzy drink, that's weird.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

We do. Is it a tin of pop or a can of fizz, for example?

[matgb]

Neither, it's a can of [brand name] for the most part. We tended to ask for a "can of something" if we didn't specifically care, don't think I've ever used either pop or fizz as a generic term.

Maybe that's a regional variation as well?

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Of course we do! Isogloss maps can be found in all sorts of sensible British academic works including those of the Opies (I used their books on playground games, including the languages used, for my BA so I'm most familiar with those). Different names for soft drinks is definitely part of the wide variety of British English.

[matgb]

Show off—you have to ruin it with actual facts, that are norty.

[eldar.livejournal.com]

For a start, that data's 5 years out of date! Now dig deeper and you'll find some very odd statistical anomalies.

I dug in to the New York State stats (for obvious reasons) and saw that a bunch of counties, all up in the north-west of the state, all had (a) disproportionately large numbers of votes - the bulk of NY State's population resides in the counties of New York (AKA Manhattan)*, Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Westchester, Nassau & Suffolk (Long Island) and (b) all voted for "Pop" over the otherwise pretty ubiquitous "Soda" in NY State. Okay, maybe it's a Canadian thing - all those counties will have a lot of US/Canada crossover - but the relatively large numbers of votes suggests some attempts at ballot-stuffing by the residents of Buffalo. Or maybe they care more about it than New Yorkers. The other big voter is Monroe County, where Rochester is. Lots of students in Rochester. Go figure ;)

* Yes, this means that from a technical point of view, residents of Manhattan can claim to be living in New York, New York, New York - so good they named it three times. Given that for most people, "New York" is synonymous with "Manhattan", the song got it wrong.

[Edit] Really, work isn't that interesting right now. Can you tell?

[matgb]

See that NY thing was something I didn't know at all, and is very very daft, making it worse than City of London, County of London, Greater London for the Square Mile.

But, y'know, I linked as it was silly and a pretty map, not because I actually care ;-)

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Buns!

[matgb]

Why do you always have to lower the tone?

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Because it's there? You know me, if there's a tone to be lowered, I can't resist.

[misscoollinda.livejournal.com]

I never understood the "coke" thing. If I order an actual Coke in that region, do I have to say Coke Coke? That's dumb.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

It is quite an interesting map, though. It makes me want to ask lotsd of questions.

Like, whi is "soda" confined mostly to the north east and (to a less extent) the west - except for a big block in the centre (would that be St Louis? On the Mississipi, I think)?

Why is "pop" only used in the northern half of the country?

And what on earth is the "other" stuck in the middle of the border with Canada?