The Great Soft Drink Debate: Soda, Pop, or Coke

By Marcus Gilmer in Food on Sep 14, 2010 8:20PM

Ah, one of the great debates of this grand country of ours: soda, pop, or coke? Which do you call it? I grew up in the region that overwhelmingly calls it "Coke." But Illinois? You call it "pop." By an overwhelming majority (66 percent). It's a fascinating look at how the trend varies by region; what gives, east Missouri/western and central Illinois? Soda, eh? A rebellion against the north staters' "pop" coalition? Check out the map above, created by Matthew Campbell and Prof. Greg Plumb of East Central University in Oklahoma, and even more of the data, collected in a not-exactly-scientific method by Alan McConchie, here. [h/t our sister site LAist who apparently calls it "soda"]