Toon- The Southern Pander-Man

[n2doc]

[Syrinx]

1. I never understood this thing about southerners calling every soft drink coke

I've heard it time and time again. But I don't know anyone that calls a Sprite, or Mountain Dew, or ginger ale, or root beer, or Sierra Mist, a Coke. It does not compute.

[liberal N proud]

2. Most of the people I know from southern states call all soft drinks Coke or Soda

Soda is what I hear from all the people I work with from North Carolina. Georgia natives lean for Coke because Coca-Cola is from Atlanta and they are proud of that.

When I was a teenager working in a grocery store in a small town in Iowa, this lady came in asking me to show her where the Soda was. I took her to the isle with the Baking Soda, she looked at me like I was stupid and said no, the Soda, I showed her the can of Baking Soda on the shelf and she started in that I didn't know what Soda was.

She was right, We called it Pop. She was from Arkansas, fortunately the owner of the store was originally from Arkansas as well and he over heard and escorted the pretty southern bell to the Soft Drink isle.

I was 16 and had at that time only made a few trips to the south.

[knitter4democracy]

3. We tend to do that where I live in Michigan, too, though.

It's not just a Southern thing. I think it's more that Coke's been around so long.

[Stuckinthebush]

4. Coca Cola was and is such a major part of Southern history

My east Georgia grandmother called it co-cola.

RC was big for a while but couldn't compete.