I grew up calling it pop, as did everyone in the area I grew up. When I moved to a city about 90 miles south of here, I learned that everyone calls it soda down there. In the three years that I lived there they must have converted me because I now refer to it as soda, which gets me made fun of here in my hometown. Both towns are in Missouri.
I say Soda. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. That being said, I don't think its a coastal thing because the only people that I know who say "pop" are from Chicago. Other than my redneck relatives from Kansas who say "Coke", people from Chicago are the only ones I've heard say anything other than soda.
Soda, from pretty fucking far to the east. Did you know you can make your own non-alcoholic carbonated beverages? Do you know what the ingredients are? Flavored syrup and SODA water. Notice it isn't POP water, you goddamned hayseeds. Who the fuck names their drinks after the sounds they make? Do you hear anyone calling Budweiser *retch*? Or that old McDonalds suing hag calling her coffee AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHITSFUCKINGHOT!!! ?
Notice it isn't SYRUP water either, you crazy Oz. When you mix everything together you get a magical combination of fizz, sugar and cold that deserves its own name, greater than the sum of its parts. POP.
Pop in Cleveland, Soda in Hawaii. Though for some reason in early high school I got into a habit of calling things by their proper names. For instance, I would never really say pop or soda, I'll say what I want. i.e. "I'll have a Coke" "I'll have a Dr. Pepper" "I'll have a Mountain Dew (just kidding, that shit is fucking terrible)". I don't think I've used the term soda or pop for awhile. I don't really attend functions where a question like, "Would you mind bringing some soda?" would be thrown out there. ...on a fairly similar note: I also call gum either chewing gum or bubble gum, depending on which kind I want, never just gum. I do all these things subconsciously, and have been made fun of for it.
I live on the left, but I used to live on the right, and I even spent two years in the middle, and three where-there-be-dragons...and I call it soda. Personally I think anyone who refers to soda as pop has thinly veiled daddy issues, as they frequently seem to refer to taking a refreshing swig of their father. Not to mention the fact that they all wear stovepipe hats and eat at Domino's.
I went to Mississipi for military training and they call it pop. I currently live in California and they call it soda. I came from Asia and they call it softdrinks. I call it diabetes.
Coke. Ohio (Midwest Coast?) I never understood the big deal, if I want whatever you have I'll say coke, if I want something specific I'll ask for it because I can use my words like a big boy. Soda, soda pop, pop, carbonated beverage, who really gives a shit?
My dear fellow, that is Southern for, "I should consider doing this thing in question." It's been beaten into my head for 28 years like Ike beat Tina- it's all Coke, just different flavors. Southern-born, Southern-bred, when I die, I'll be by-God Southern-dead!
As the rest of the Aussies have already pointed out, we say "soft drink". Why? If you're drinking it, you're drinking it in place of beer, wine or straight liquor. Therefore, you are soft. Hence: soft drink.
It is pop! I just moved from Southern Michigan to Northern Indiana. And Coke is that nasty shit people try to give me when I order a Pepsi.
Everything is a Coke. I don't get how people get confused by this. The wife, despite having lived down here for a long time still says soda and I laugh at her every time. There is one category missing from the poll and that is the term "col'drink". All one word, slurred together into only on syllable. (Not to be confused with "col'beer".) Possibly these are only relevant in Appalachia.
There is a term I like to use use for people who call it pop, or coke, or whatever the fuck other than soda. Fucking Hoopleheads. (Deadwood? Anyone?) East Coastin till this shit is toastin son. Thas how a nigga eat.