Thread: Your Answer Please!

Originally Posted by Bookman

It's Coke, as Fuego noted, but only a minority of people say that (I'm in that minority). Growing up, it used to be "would you like a soft drink?" I guess no one says that any more.

I never say pop and rarely soda. Now I usually ask for it by name. Coke, Pepsi, Root beer, Dr Pepper.

Does anyone think you are talking about drugs if you ask for "coke" instead of "coca cola" ?

Originally Posted by Romans828

And I usually take my own bottle of water - The servers always put too much ice in the glass..

Just tell them light on the ice, that's what I do.

Originally Posted by John

...In South TX it was "soda water".

See, that just seems so confusing too. Here you would get actual 'soda water'.

...and I'm still not understanding this 'coke' concept. I mean is Coke the only soft drink served in the south? What if you want something other than a cola?

I've asked them to "go light on the ice," and they still fill the glass up, so I just started taking my own bottled water.

I think most Southerners drink either Coke or Pepsi (next to Sweet Tea, of course), and it's really unusual to hear someone ask for a Sprite.

7-up, Fanta, Mountain Dew ?

Originally Posted by Colonel

Does anyone think you are talking about drugs if you ask for "coke" instead of "coca cola" ?

Never.

Originally Posted by krystian

See, that just seems so confusing too. Here you would get actual 'soda water'.

Same here.

...and I'm still not understanding this 'coke' concept. I mean is Coke the only soft drink served in the south? What if you want something other than a cola?

You ask for it. But the point is Coke is a generic term down here for sweet caramel colored carbonated drink. So most people would just ask for a Coke. If they don't have Coke they'll say 'is Pepsi OK?' And then you tell them yes or no, and if it's no, then you tell them what you want. But everybody down here understands what it means when you just say I want a Coke. You're not really using it as a namebrand per se but is a generic term for a dark soft drink sugar. We use it the same way you use pop. You don't use pop as a brand-name, we don't use Coke as a brand-name per se. Because Coke is so popular in the south, and the headquarters is here in Atlanta, then Coke has just become the generic term for that particular kind of soft drink. Again, most of the time when we use it we mean the same thing as you do when you say pop, not the specific name brand.

Originally Posted by Bookman

It's Coke, as Fuego noted, but only a minority of people say that (I'm in that minority).

How did you ever come about that living in the west instead of the south? Are you using coke as a generic term for a soft drink like we do down here? Or are you specifically asking for the Coke brand when you say that?