Click on the map to enlarge it.Michigan is extremely pop-centric, according to this map detailing the preference for the term pop versus soda. In fact, it appears to be the most pro-pop state in the union.
Notice how the battle lines are drawn between the western UP and northeastern Wisconsin. Things must be very tense along the state line up there.
And Alaska appears to be having a real soft-drink identity crisis.
Thanks to Strangemaps for this gem.
aye, monnie,ye ken treil on doon tae dunkeld en hae yersell en Irn Bru, buh aye burkies wil gae ye a har-r-d time o it! nae bother wae coke frae hta sassonach muckies! tastes like aye shite!
ReplyDeleteI have always tried to tell my friends and family, if you ask for a 'Pop' south of the mason-dixon line, you'll probably get slapped upside the head.
ReplyDeleteThe first week I lived in New Jersey, my coming here after 25 years in Flint and 8 in Oak Park, I asked a waitress if I could have Pop with my meal. She looked at me straight faced and said, he's the little old guy who cleans up in the kitchen, but I'll ask him if he wants to join you when he finishes the floor. Afer the embarrasing and uproarious ribbing I took from my work dining colleagues, I've been carefully asking for Soda for 31 years now without much fail. It only took one episode of being the joke of the restaurant to change my Michigan habits fast. Not as painful a a slap to the head, but just as effective. I still miss Michigan.
ReplyDeleteBJ - your story is hysterical! I ordered a Coke in the South (and this was before Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine Free Coke, etc.) and they asked me what kind...little did I know that ordering a Coke meant "I'll have a pop." So, looking blankly at the waitress, I asked what kind they had and was informed that they had Coca-Cola, 7-up, Dr. Pepper and Tab...now tell me that isn't messed up!!!
ReplyDeleteYou can even get berated in Michigan... my college roommate was from New York (say no MOwah).
ReplyDeleteOne night we went to get liquor and supplies and she told me to go get some soda, so I brought up some club soda up to the cashier. She says "WTF is this!?!" I told her I didn't know why she wanted it either. And she got really miffed about it, like I was the one that was crazy.
The "coke" thing in the South used to confuse me too... although I do use "kleenex" for when I want a tissue... then again, there aren't different flavors of tissues...
I'd prefer a phosphate
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