Hat tip to Strange Maps for introducing me to this map that represents the responses of 120,464 Americans when asked what slang term they use for soft drinks. The most popular were coke (used to describe any type of soft drink), soda and pop. The color coding shows that the terms have regional popularity. Coke is used mostly in the South, with a minor appearance in Indiana. Soda dominates the Northeast, some parts of Florida and the areas around St. Louis. Pop is in the Midwest, Northwest and Great Plains regions. 

I’m from south Florida and I grew up calling all soft drinks “coke”. Eventually, I got tired of Northerners being confused by that (thinking that I wanted a Coke) and I incorporated soda into my vocabulary. My family in Ohio and Kentucky calls it pop. 

It isn’t the most important issue of our time, but I think its fascinating how linguistics work even on really basic levels. For example, the use of the term coke is probably more prevalent in the South because Coca-Cola started in Atlanta.