Home » Featured »Popular Culture » Currently Reading:

St. Louis More An Island Than I Thought

February 4, 2012 Featured, Popular Culture 22 Comments

I often find myself arguing that St. Louis isn’t so different from the rest of the country, other regions encounter the same problems we face. But then I see data that shows we are different in one respect.

ABOVE: Click image to view website documenting the research that led to the map

Here in the St. Louis region and surrounding area we call soft drinks “soda” while those to the north say “pop” and to the south “coke”. The data from this map is from 2003 so it’s possible our region’s term for a soft drink it part of a larger area, but my guess is we are still a “soda” island.

 – Steve Patterson

 

Currently there are "22 comments" on this Article:

  1. TGEempress says:

    Having grown up in KC and called it pop, then moving to the East Coast and learning to call it soda, I’m thankful to not have to unlearn or heaven forbid learn a third term for a carbonated beverage.

     
  2. TGEempress says:

    Having grown up in KC and called it pop, then moving to the East Coast and learning to call it soda, I’m thankful to not have to unlearn or heaven forbid learn a third term for a carbonated beverage.

     
    • Mike says:

      I also grew up in KC. We called it “coke” in the area where I grew up (lived in Waldo area/attended Rockhurst High). Everything was “coke”: orange, strawberry, Coca-Cola, pepsi, root beer.  So you’d always have to ask:  “What kind of ‘coke’ do you want?” And the answer would be “orange”, “strawberry”, “Coca-cola”, “Pepsi” or “Root Beer.”

       
  3. Mike says:

    I also grew up in KC. We called it “coke” in the area where I grew up (lived in Waldo area/attended Rockhurst High). Everything was “coke”: orange, strawberry, Coca-Cola, pepsi, root beer.  So you’d always have to ask:  “What kind of ‘coke’ do you want?” And the answer would be “orange”, “strawberry”, “Coca-cola”, “Pepsi” or “Root Beer.”

     
  4. Justin says:

    I have used this piece as supporting evidence in many pop/soda debates! I find it funny that this has actually been documented. I find it even more interesting that our nomenclature follows that of the Northeast.

     
  5. Justin says:

    I have used this piece as supporting evidence in many pop/soda debates! I find it funny that this has actually been documented. I find it even more interesting that our nomenclature follows that of the Northeast.

     
  6. Jake says:

    Clearly soda is the correct term.

     
  7. Jake says:

    Clearly soda is the correct term.

     
  8. Sandy says:

    In St. Louis it is spoken as “sode”.

     
  9. Sandy says:

    In St. Louis it is spoken as “sode”.

     
    • Kevin B says:

      No it isn’t. Not really. No more than St. Louisans pronounce it “fahrty-fahr.”

      Seriously, where did that one start? I’ve never ever heard 44 with that particular accent, unless jokingly.

      We do say “Warsh” though. I’ve trained myself not to.

       
  10. Randy V. says:

    There is a reason St. Louis never took to the “pop” craze.  Detroit’s Faygo coined the term in the middle 20th Century and it was widely distributed and marketed throughout the Midwest.  But not in St. Louis, because our hometown Vess was a force to reckon with.  Faygo didn’t penetrate the St. Louis market, nor the major cities of the East Coast.  Hence, our island!

     
  11. Randy V. says:

    There is a reason St. Louis never took to the “pop” craze.  Detroit’s Faygo coined the term in the middle 20th Century and it was widely distributed and marketed throughout the Midwest.  But not in St. Louis, because our hometown Vess was a force to reckon with.  Faygo didn’t penetrate the St. Louis market, nor the major cities of the East Coast.  Hence, our island!

     
  12. moe says:

    A flood of fizz!  I’ll still take a real “Coke” any day, and sometimes a Cherry Coke.  But I have to either hit the international market or travel to Mexico to get it.

     
  13. moe says:

    A flood of fizz!  I’ll still take a real “Coke” any day, and sometimes a Cherry Coke.  But I have to either hit the international market or travel to Mexico to get it.

     
  14. Kevin B says:

    No it isn’t. Not really. No more than St. Louisans pronounce it “fahrty-fahr.”

    Seriously, where did that one start? I’ve never ever heard 44 with that particular accent, unless jokingly.

    We do say “Warsh” though. I’ve trained myself not to.

     
  15. Sixty years ago in the greater Boston area the term was “tonic.” When visiting my grandmother in Kentucky, the term there was Coca Cola (not shortened, but both words.)

     
  16. Sixty years ago in the greater Boston area the term was “tonic.” When visiting my grandmother in Kentucky, the term there was Coca Cola (not shortened, but both words.)

     
  17. Remiss63 says:

    I wonder if using the term ‘soda’ is perhaps more intelligent or highly cultured. We seem to fall in line with those bastions of higher education and breeding: northeast, west coast and Chicago.

     
  18. Remiss63 says:

    I wonder if using the term ‘soda’ is perhaps more intelligent or highly cultured. We seem to fall in line with those bastions of higher education and breeding: northeast, west coast and Chicago.

     
  19. Anonymous says:

    The correct term is “sodi-pop”.

     
  20. loki03xlh says:

    The correct term is “sodi-pop”.

     

Comment on this Article:

Advertisement



[custom-facebook-feed]

Archives

Categories

Advertisement


Subscribe