Soda vs. Pop

 

Originally published in NYT blog on 9/11/08.

Language | How do Americans in different parts of the country refer to their fizzy drinks? “Soda,” “pop” or “coke”? A 1996 linguistics study (first page here) inspired a map that remains popular on the Web, showing “soda” (green and yellow on the map) prevalent on the coasts, while “pop” (blue) held sway in the Northwest and Midwest, and the generic “coke” (red) took the South. There must be some electoral significance to this. [Strange Maps]