"Would you like a Coke?", asked the then-future-husband-guy.
"Sure!" I responded, never one to turn down a glass of the sweet stuff.
Rather than continuing on his way with his beverage mission, he asked"What kind?".
At that exact instant, I realized that we had encountered a cultural divide - one that could never be overcome. No amount of counseling could ease our differences when it came to the great "pop" vs. "soda" vs. "Coke" debate. Could we work through this? Would it be something that haunted us for the rest of our lives?
Little did we know that this conflict within our small cosmos, was representative of the same conflict that affects North America at large. In fact, this linguistic battle is being playing out on the internet
right now and you can get involved! Just go to
The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy and enter in your information to plot your point on the map. Thus far, it would appear that the term "Coke" is popular south of the
Mason-Dixon line, while "pop" rules the Midwest and Canada, and "soda" is the term of choice in California and the Northeast.
As for the Expat household, how did we solve this linguistic problem? We limited ourselves to buying
Coca Cola's many incarnations - Classic, Diet, Diet with Splenda, Zero, Vanilla, Lime, Cherry, Lemon, Caffeine Free, etc.
Thank goodness for a crisis averted. ;)
Expat Talkback:What do you call the sweet stuff?
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