<p>Pop
(Grew-up Mich, now NJ)
male
45</p>
<p>UMdad,</p>
<p>I also grew up in SE Michigan (born in Detroit, raised in Wyandotte and Pinckney), I never though of “Fords” but you’re exactly right, that’s how I’ve always said it and still do. Never thought of it. I wonder if it’s a derivation of “I work for the Ford’s,” as in the Ford family? Thanks.</p>
<p>Pop
Ohio
female
43</p>
<p>Woodwork,</p>
<p>I am sure that is how it started, but you never hear GMs, Chryslers or Dodges, although you do hear Kmarts.</p>
<p>It is very strange, but, as I said, a dead give-away for someone from SE Michigan.</p>
<p>If anyone has any insight into this phenomenon, please chime in. Thanks.</p>
<p>pop
northwest (from WA state, but everyone here in Idaho calls it soda)
female
under 40</p>
<p>Coke, of course, I’m from the South.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what a “dope bottle” is?
“Kmart” is “Kmarts” down here, too, so is “Walmarts”, but a car dealership would be “the Ford place”</p>
<p>
lol, renotse! :D</p>
<p>pop
San Francisco Bay Area
female
47</p>
<p>Raised in Las Vegas and Omaha. Coke meant Coke, not Pepsi, and “pop” meant grape, black cherry, or lemon/lime flavored. Soda was something you put in a mixed drink.</p>
<p>Soda
New Jersey
46
female</p>
<p>Woodwork: all the time I lived in Ann ARbor, I could never get used to that “pop” thing.</p>
<p>By the way, growing up in NJ, we were “proofed” not “carded”. That seems to have faded, as my kids both say carded.</p>
<p>UMdad–here is Chicago I have heard both:
Marshall Field’s or Marshall Field.</p>
<p>I think that the original name was The Marshall Field’s Company.</p>
<p>garland–I was “carded”–and when I went to buy a beer in a cup I asked for a “draw.” Moved to Chicago and the first time that I asked for a “draw” I got a funny look. Learned to call it a “draft.”</p>
<p>I usually say soda or soda pop (I live in the SFBay Area), but it used to be pop when I was growing up in South Dakota. My H asked for a “pop” at a cafe in Berkeley when we first moved here, and got the most puzzled look from the waiter who was an immigrant. </p>
<p>Age 48. Female.</p>
<p>Grew up a tonic drinker, married a pop drinker. Living in soda land.</p>
<p>Age: 48
female</p>
<p>pop</p>
<p>Age:46
female</p>
<p>Raised in Colorado; live in Midwest</p>
<p>pop
Age:47
Raised in Oregon/Washington
Parents both from the midwest
female</p>
<p>Female
Orig from the north, now in the south
old</p>
<p>soda</p>
<p>If you are in a restaurant or bar and you order a Coke, if they do not serve Coke, they are supposed to tell you that and ask if the other brand (Pepsi 99% of the time) is ok. I assume Pepsi has the same expectation. It is misrepresentation, and the beverage companies do not take this lightly. In reality, I doubt there are too many “soda gun police” out there, ready to confront the manager if the error is not corrected, (and if there are, they probably need to get a life) but market share is not looked at lightly.</p>
<p>pop growing up, Western New York
soda last 22 years, NYC
age:48
female</p>
<p>soda for me
raised in CA, 50ish, female
pop for D
raised in PNW, 19</p>
<p>A generational thing as well as geographical??</p>
<p>Coke
Texas
over 40
female</p>
<p>Never heard of “soda” or “pop” until I went to college (Midwest). People say, “Do you want a Coke?” Or, "Do you want something to drink? - all meaning do you want a carbonated drink.</p>
<p>Maize n Blue: it’s not generational; my kids and all the easterners I know still say soda. You sent your kids to school in the Midwest, hence pop. :)</p>
<p>Here’s my family statistics:</p>
<p>Soda
CA now, grew up in NJ
50
female</p>
<p>Soda now, coke until a few years ago
CA now, grew up in TX
54
male</p>
<p>Soda
CA now, lived in NY until age 10
18
male</p>
<p>Soda
CA now, lived in NY until age 7
15
male</p>
<p>Soda
FL now, grew up in PA
83
male</p>
<p>UMDad and Woodwork,</p>
<p>Grew up in Grosse Pointe and one day a friend and I took a picnic lunch on our bikes and ate at the bottom of the Fords VERY long driveway just so we could say we had lunch at the Fords. And, yep, we took pop with us :)</p>
<p>Coke, growing up in Mississippi “what kind?”)
Drink, or just say the specific name, “Sprite” “Barqs” now, Louisiana
old baby boomer
female</p>
<p>My parents and in-laws in Mississippi say “Walmarts”, by the way 
My kids think it’s a hoot.
My theory on that: so many stores have an “s” like Sears, Penneys, that they just added the s to Walmart as well.</p>