Which word do you typically use for carbonated soft drinks?

[angus]

Why do some people call it coke? Wouldn't that be confusing

depending upon what kind of party it is, calling for a coke can cause confusion.

I voted other.  I think I probably say "soft drink" more than anything else, but I say "carbonated beverage" or even "fountain drink" when it seems appropriate (for example, at Burger King where it's always from a self-serve fountain.)  The only one that I ever drink is Coca-cola, and I always say Coca-cola when I want a Coca-cola.  I have been restaurants where the waitress says, "Is Pepsi okay?"  (really?  that's like asking if whitefish is okay when I just ordered filet mignon.)  I've noticed this in all parts of the United States, by the way, and not just in some regions, so I don't buy into the notion that waitresses in only the South try to substitute all sorts of other soft drinks for "coke."  This has happened to me in California, in Massachusetts, and in many places in-between.  If I order a coca-cola and they don't have coca-cola, then I always drink water, because I don't much care for any of the other brands.  But most of the time I don't order a Coca-cola anyway.  I usually drink alcohol with my evening meal and water with my noontime meal, except when I drink a Coca-cola.

Soda sounds okay as well, and I know what people mean when they say it, although I don't think I regularly call it soda.  Most of my relatives say Pop.  It's very annoying.  And most of them are from Minnesota so they have that long Minnesota drawl way to say it (Paaahp).  My sister does that all the time.  When I lived in Iowa, I noticed that the markets actually had the label POP on the soft drink aisle.  Like it wasn't even slang there, but actual, formal usage.  I studiously try to avoid ever calling anything pop except maybe when I'm looking for the onomatopoeia for the sound of an over-inflated bicycle tire exploding.  

Of course, it's christmas day, so there have been no burger king trips.  So far today, I've had only coffee, sparkling wine, red wine, and a bit of tequila.  No need to worry about what I might or might not call a soft drink on such a conspicuous and festive day.  Happy Christmas, by the way.

 

[angus]

"fizzy drinks"

I've heard that here as well, along with "fuzzy drinks."

[angus]

the idea of having my mtn. dew referred to as coke

Now that is a bizarre idea, but I've never heard any one do that.  I've yet to order a coca-cola and hear the waitress ask, "is Mountain Dew okay?"  It seems that Pepsi is mainly what they're pushing.  Someone earlier in the thread said that any cola might be called "coke."  I think that's what I've heard as well, but I've not heard the term applied to Fanta, Mountain Dew, Mellow Yellow, etc. 

[angus]

The thread made me curious, and the map certainly looks suspicious.  (For example, 80% of the residents of all those south Texas counties calling un refresco anything other than "un refresco" is especially suspicious.)  Sure enough, it's just a silly straw poll skewed by whatever factors cause people to respond to them as they do.

I really haven't heard anyone call a Mountain Dew or an orange soda a "coke".  (The myth of the South?  I lived in columbus, MS for three years, and in the DFW area for several years, and I have no recollection of anyone saying coke for those types of drinks, although I have several times heard waitresses ask me about Pepsi when I have explicitly said "Coca-Cola.")

Anyway, here's a map compiled from US Census data:


For most of the US, there's either insufficient data, or no dominant form.  Soda seems to be in the plurality, which is not surprising.  But it's important to note that this was compiled with a leading question "pop or soda?" rather than a more honest, open-ended questionnaire.  Still, apparently it is true that there are a few spots where people use the term "coke" as a generic one.  Those spots do not seem to be concentrated in any one region, but are rather spread out geographically.

Here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, soda wins out.  That seems to be the case all along the BosWash corridor, except in some northern New Jersey counties.

[angus]

Why don't you just call it by the brand? Can I have a coke?

I assume that most do, what is surprising is having the food service worker immediately asking, "Is Pepsi okay?"

"No, it's not okay.  A coke would be okay."
"We don't have coke."
"You don't have coca-cola?" 
"No, we have other stuff, not coca-cola."
"Okay, then, just bring me water.  You have water, don't you?"
"Yes, we have water."
"Okay, then one water please."

That's pretty typically how it goes here.

[angus]

> mfw when Americans call bubblybubblysugarjuice "soda"

My guess is that it is shortened from "soda water" (kinda like we shorten French-fried potatoes to "fries" in restaurants) from the latin word sodium, which is what we call the alkaline earth element that the Egyptians called Natrium, and it stands for sodium bicarbonate, which is a very misleading name for a compound that should be called, and that the IUPAC suggests that we call, sodium hydrogen carbonate, which is the source of bubbles.  

When it's just straight-up sparkling water ("fizzy" water), we usually call it "soda water" although that stuff has a fairly unappealing taste and look, so most folks would rather have something with artificial colors and artificial flavors, as well as a liberal amount of high-fructose corn syrup.  Saying "soft drink" seems to be the main vernacular in the United States, in my observation, and it invariably implies all these things (artificial color, artificial flavor, corn syrup, and a bit of carbonic acid, which is what you get when you mix phosphoric acid with sodium hydrogen carbonate, and, of course, water, which is the main ingredient.)  "Soda" and, in some regions, "pop" are also acceptable homonyms.

Oddly, "Soft Drink" wasn't an option in this poll, even though it was used in the thread's title.  That alone makes me think that the OP probably agrees that it is the main term used, though why it wasn't a choice is not entirely clear to me.  Presumably the phrase "soft drink" is used in places where if you said that you'd like a "drink" it might render you a bit squiffy.  At least when I say drink I mean a drink.  Qualifying drink with soft sort of means that you don't want a regular drink, which might make you crash into the back wall of your garage if you don't stop drinking soon enough, but rather one that makes you fart and burp.

[angus]

"Tonic" used to be popular around here but now I think it's mostly old people who still use it.

I think that this term specifically refers only to the UV-fluorescent, bitter, carbonated beverage that folks often mix with gin or vodka. 

Here's one, for example: