I will NOT convert

Posted on March 26th, 2008 by admin

Since moving from the Great Lake State to the Lone Star State, I have had to learn to speak a different language. I think that people in the South think that they have the ability to make up words and phrases. I have been keeping a list of Texas words/phrases that I will share with you at a later date. But I had to bring this particular issue up immediately. I need your input. For some strange reason the United States is split on this super duper important issue. No, I’m not talking about Clinton/Obama. This is something much more important.

I’m talking about the great “soda”/”pop” debate. When I was a youngin’ I didn’t even realize that some people referred to pop as soda. The actual word ‘soda’ only entered my mind when thinking about baking soda. And I don’t really think I thought about baking soda that much. But sooner or later I learned about this strange phenomenon. Since I was a hermit for the first 20 years of my life and didn’t go five miles from the farm I had never heard anyone refre to pop as soda. That is, until I moved to Texas. Don’t get me wrong, I love Texas and everything that comes to mind when one thinks about Texas (cowboys, horses, tumble weeds, etc.) but the language barrier can be tough at times. Since moving here, I’ve heard so many words and phrases that I’ve never heard before in my life. It’s crazy. I know Texas used to be it’s own country, but seriously that does not give you the right to make up crap.

I have also heard of this phenomenon where some people refer to pop as Coke. You ask for a Coke-not a pop or soda. Every pop is a Coke. I’m not really sure what you’d do if you wanted a Pepsi. “I’ll have a Coke/Pepsi.” I have yet to hear anyone ask for a pop in this manner, but I will be sure to let you know if I do.

The reason I am bringing this up today is because I had a little, “You must be from up north,” run in. I was out on a shopping trip with the old folks today when I decided that I would like a cold pop. There was a dollar store nearby so I decided to run over there to see if they had any. I found one cooler with cold pop, but it was full of off brand crap that I didn’t want. So, I found an associate and asked her if there was another cooler somewhere with more pop. She gave me a really confused look and then said something like, “Sorry-only Espanol.” FRICK. That’s Houston, Texas for you. That’s actually the first time I’ve encountered this issue, but I like to generalize. Since they didn’t have anything besides Green Mountain Blast I went to a nearby deli. I asked the dude if they sold pop. He lifted an eyebrow and then pointed to the cooler. Finally! As the dude was ringing me up he said, “You must be from up north, huh?” He asked me where I was from and I told him Michigan. He said, “That’s what I was gonna say.” Apparently Texans have a sixth sense that allows them to identify which Northern state your from. Neat! I don’t know if he said that because I asked for a pop or because I speak with a funny accent. Which I don’t.

And I don’t really know what they mean when they say ‘up north.’ Are they talking about Northern Texas, or Minnesota, or North Dakota? Living in Michigan, ‘up north’ meant that you were from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I’m so confused.

Anyways…back to the issue at hand. Soda or Pop, what do you call it? I’m not the only one whos interest has been peaked by this issue. Luckily someone has already done the leg work for us. Let’s take a look-see shall we?

The Great Debate

As you can see, some nice folks at East Central University (Oklahoma) surveyed the entire United States to see what people are calling pop. But you can also see that this map is based upon the responses of 120,464 people. So…I don’t even think that they could have had one person per county. Weird. But it’s an interesting bit of data fo sho. The ‘Coke’ phenomenon is taking over the entire South. People in Alaska are just confused.

Although we can clearly see that no one in the south refers to pop as pop…I will NOT convert! Even if this means I will be a societal outcast. Pop will be pop and coke will be coke till I die!

Happy Hump Day everyone!!!