When I lived in New York, my friends and I would get in constant fights about what to call Pop. I call Pepsi pop. They call Pepsi Soda. In the South, they call Pepsi “Coke.” As in “I’ll have a Coke. Oh, what kind? A Pepsi.” It’s the linguistic argument of our time. Pepsi’s even been catering to the Midwest—with disingenuousness as clear as Crystal Pepsi—with a series of signs exploiting our fair slang. They’re both clever, and borderline insulting.
Left to Right: Ok, “Pop,” yes. We call it that. And “Sody Pop”? Really? They’re fixin’ to put up a Sody Pop sign down by the crick bed what for ta’ advertise us with? Unbelievable.
But at a local gas station today, I finally had to admit to myself that the use of the word “pop” isn’t always a good choice. As this cartoon logo, with it’s “X-Treme sun splorch ‘toon guy” (I hope that’s what it is) joins the ranks of the Midwest gas chain “Kum N’ Go” as an unfortunate use of slogans. I shall never think of Pop the same way again. Thanks for ruining my most preferred folksy colloquialism, Road Ranger.
By the looks of that cup it’s been used. Look at all those spooge marks. Mmmm. Makes me wanna put my mouf on it.
Comment by Jay "Biscuit Nuts" Shanle — May 13, 2009 @ 7:38 am
I’m a native of pittsburgh there is no Soda, only pop.
I now live in florida and when I say pop, people look at me as if I said an ethnic slur.
Comment by RD — May 13, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
It could have been worse. They could have used Shawn Johnson to advertise it, and we’d have another Ortega incident on our hands.
Comment by Friginator — May 13, 2009 @ 5:01 pm
You forgot “soft drink”, which is what I call it for reasons that even I don’t understand.
Comment by Rotten Arsenal — May 14, 2009 @ 6:33 am
I also like those pop machines that have the generic “COLD DRINK” can on the front. Just once, I wish I could push the button and that exact can would come out. Mmm…Cold Drink.
Comment by Chris Ward — May 14, 2009 @ 9:58 am
I’m a New York native, and even though I’ve heard about the NY/soda connection, the standard around where I live has always been “pop”. Then again, my town is largely home to rednecks, sex offenders, and the mentally deficient.
Comment by Casey — May 15, 2009 @ 12:31 am
I’ve always called it ’soda’. Here in MN I tend to hear ‘pop’ more often then not, and I work retail so when I say “do you want your soda in the bag?” I get a lot of concerned looks followed by looks of “OH, he meant POP!”
Either way, that’s very unfortunate. I should dig up a picture of me sitting outside of a ‘kum n go’ I swear, it’s overtly awkward to be around one of those, let alone walk into one.
Comment by Noah Jacobs — May 24, 2009 @ 12:49 am
By the looks of that cup it’s been used. Look at all those spooge marks. Mmmm. Makes me wanna put my mouf on it.
Comment by PB — May 27, 2009 @ 5:08 am
I live in NY & my girlfriend lives in MN. First time I went to visit her, she asked if I wanted some “pop”. I had no idea what she was talking about. I reminded her that the people that used to work at the fountains were called “Soda jerks”, because they would jerk the handle & SODA would come out. And no, that’s not code for something else.
Comment by Gogzilla — April 13, 2011 @ 9:15 pm