Linguistic Diversity

Yet again, an intended comment for M-schwa's blog became lengthy and transformed into my own post.

Tonight's inspiration: Pop.
Not Dad, not popular music, but soda.

I remember being 8 years old and visiting my cousins in Michigan.
They asked me if I wanted a pop and when I couldn't figure out what they were asking, it turned into a borderline discussion/argument.

I insisted that pop could stand for a lollipop or maybe a popsicle, but not a carbonated beverage, because that's soda.
They insisted that pop was the only word they ever knew for a carbonated beverage, so how could it be wrong?
Well, I'll tell you. Just look it up in the dictionary. I know that all dictionaries are not the same, but in my Webster Illustrated Contemporary Dictionary: Encyclopedic Edition, none of the definitions for the word pop include "a carbonated beverage." The word soda, however, very clearly means "a carbonated beverage." So who's the winner? Soda is!
Some people refer to carbonated beverages as soda-pop, so maybe those silly Midwesterners got it backwards and started calling it pop instead of soda, but that's just as silly as someone named Christopher calling themselves Topher instead of Chris. (My apologies to Topher Grace, and Topher in Tallahassee, and anyone else that goes by Topher. It's really a lovely name, but I was just making a point and it's the first thing that came to mind.)

When I was going through flight attendant training, the instructors spent a significant amount of time teaching us the various words and gestures that people from different cultures or even just different areas of the country would use to indicate what they wanted, like when an Indian person wobbles their head like they have shell-shock, it means "yes," or if a Japanese person moves their sideways hand back and forth in front of their nose like something is stinky, it means "no." Here are some other great examples of cultural differences within our own borders:

Soda: Yankees and Californians call it soda; Midwesterners, Great Plainsers, Great Lakesers, and Rocky Mountainers call it pop; Southerners call it coke. If a Southerner asks for a coke, you have to ask them what kind they want, because it could mean Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Diet Coke, or any other carbonated beverage.

Coffee: If a New Yorker asks for regular coffee, they want it with cream and sugar. Anyone else saying regular coffee just means regular caffeinated coffee, then you ask if they want cream or sugar. Latinos and Jews tend to want extra sugar, usually 6-10 packs. (Again my apologies if I sound politically incorrect, or if I'm being stereotypical, but stereotypes are based in truth and if you don't believe me, just fly from New York City to West Palm Beach and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.)

Iced Tea: If a Texan wants iced tea, they want it unsweetened unless they ask for sweet tea. If a Southerner wants iced tea, they want it sweetened unless they ask for an unsweet tea. If a Yankee wants iced tea, they want Nestea powder mixed with water. If a homosexual wants a tea bag, they want your testicles in their face.

That's your diversity lesson for the day.
Class dismissed.