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.
