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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 04:05:24 [Permalink]
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Gentlemen, this issue is easily resolved. Americans overwhelmingly say 'soda'. We Canadians overwhelmingly say 'pop'. Now I ask you, who is more the epitome of cool?
Thus endeth the lesson. |
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
 Posted - 05/10/2010 : 04:20:00 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Machi4velli
Are we sure they really mean "any soft drink" when they say Coke? I mean sometimes I say Coke expecting it's what the person/restaurant I'm asking has, but if they have Pepsi, that's my second choice, but I did actually mean Coke when I said it.
And in West Virginia, it's pop, I can verify that one.
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Yes, I am sure. A person can ask you if you want a "coke" and bring you back a root beer. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 05:22:23 [Permalink]
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It's TWUE! I was in Georgia when I heard someone order a "Pepsi-Coke"*, made me want to strangle an entire region.
*The person taking the order thought this was perfectly normal. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 06:07:53 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by H. Humbert
Well, the choices aren't unique enough to matter. They're pretty much interchangeable. |
A million advertisers would disagree.| If someone tells you to Xerox something, it's understood that they just want a copy made. They don't actually care if you use an actual Xerox machine to do it. |
But you might torque the boss if he tells you to replace the "Xerox machine" and you actually buy a Xerox-brand copier instead of sticking with the Ricoh that he likes.| If they ask for a Kleenex, they want a tissue to blow their nose. They don't actually care what brand of tissue you have to offer, since a tissue is a tissue is a tissue. |
Again: this goes against everything that Madison Avenue knows. There'd be no point in advertising if consumer choices were random.| Now, I've never heard of anyone call an erector set "Legos," so I don't know how common that is, but since those are mutually exclusive building systems, then that would be exactly the sort of incompatibility between terms I'm objecting to. Legos are not an erector set. Now, I know there are some knockoff plastic building blocks that look exactly like Legos but maybe have slightly different sizes. I've heard people call these blocks Legos, but I don't see the problem there because they are more or less the same product, one is just the generic. |
Erector Sets are the out-group. Nobody says "Lego" and expects Erector Set, just like nobody says "coke" and expects a Pabst Blue Ribbon. As you note, people do say "Lego" when they are expecting Megablox, which are built to integrate seamlessly with Lego but are made from inferior plastic, don't hold together as well and come in crappy colors. Thus, calling all such bricks "Lego" confuses the "flavor choice," just like asking for "coke" and getting a Pepsi.| I'm not saying there aren't different brands. I'm saying the difference between the brands is negligible. No one notices or cares if they're handed a Puffs when they asked for a Kleenex. |
I notice, because Puffs have moisturizers in them which make my hands and face feel unpleasantly greasy after use. Thus, for me, getting a Puffs when I ask for a Kleenex would be exactly like getting a Mountain Dew when asking for a coke, were I to dislike Mountain Dew more than I dislike all soft drinks (I wouldn't ask for one, by any name).
But I also try to avoid using genericized brand names in the first place, since I know it's confusing and it costs the companies in question money. Xerox lost their trademark because they didn't defend it well enough. The Lego Group ferociously defends their brand, since they know it's being "Xeroxed" by consumers, and if they were to get a look at this thread, might send us a note asking us to ensure that in the future that we call their toy "LEGO Brand building bricks" and not "Legos." |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 07:23:19 [Permalink]
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| I work for a company that used to be owned by GAF. Long after they sold the company we had a woman in the office who didn't make xerox copies, she made Gafax copies. I have no idea if GAF even made a copier, I assumed that they had at least sold them, and were trying to swim against the generic term tide. We didn't have GAF equipment in the office at the time. We didn't have Xerox equipment either, but they were xerox copies to me, and gafax copies to her. |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 07:24:43 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by The Rat
Gentlemen, this issue is easily resolved. Americans overwhelmingly say 'soda'. We Canadians overwhelmingly say 'pop'. Now I ask you, who is more the epitome of cool?
Thus endeth the lesson.
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Good point. What do the Inuit say? |
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 09:58:18 [Permalink]
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Well in Michigan it's POP.....not Soda.
And if I order a Coke at a restaurant (fast food or otherwise) and they don't have actual Coke brand they will always say "we don't have Coke we have Pepsi"......to which I respond, "Give me an ice tea then". |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 10:12:35 [Permalink]
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On some interest here. This is the place that SNL got the idea for one of it's famous skit from.
No Coke, Pepsi!
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 19:14:24 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Gorgo
Originally posted by The Rat
Gentlemen, this issue is easily resolved. Americans overwhelmingly say 'soda'. We Canadians overwhelmingly say 'pop'. Now I ask you, who is more the epitome of cool?
Thus endeth the lesson.
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Good point. What do the Inuit say?
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Apparently they have over forty words for pop. |
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2010 : 21:46:33 [Permalink]
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| I call it drug-laced sweetened carbonated dihydrogen monoxide. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2010 : 23:24:08 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Machi4velli
Are we sure they really mean "any soft drink" when they say Coke? I mean sometimes I say Coke expecting it's what the person/restaurant I'm asking has, but if they have Pepsi, that's my second choice, but I did actually mean Coke when I said it.
And in West Virginia, it's pop, I can verify that one.
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There is some confusion in this thread. In some parts of the south "coke" is used generically when speaking generally about this type of drink. It isn't used when asking for a specific drink.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2010 : 12:11:05 [Permalink]
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A typical exchange at a restaurant:
Me: "Diet cola, please."
Waiter: "We have Pepsi, is that okay?"
Me: ...
Apparently "cola" is often confused with "coke".
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tw101356
Skeptic Friend
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2010 : 14:00:13 [Permalink]
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Pop? Soda?
Are you guys talking about tonic? 
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- TW
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Machi4velli
SFN Regular
USA
854 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2010 : 01:59:04 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dude
There is some confusion in this thread. In some parts of the south "coke" is used generically when speaking generally about this type of drink. It isn't used when asking for a specific drink. |
This blows my mind  |
"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."
-Giordano Bruno
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge."
-Stephen Hawking
"Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable"
-Albert Camus |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2010 : 04:50:14 [Permalink]
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| I've always called them, either "soda pops" or "soft drinks." My dad, growing up in Missouri, Oklahoma Texas and Arizona, calls 'em "pops." |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 05/15/2010 04:57:52 |
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Determine whether or not you're cool
