We all grew up drinking those sugary carbonated beverages that came in such a weird, yet wide variety. Sugary beverages can be considered a global phenomenon, especially as children. But while we all have in common the consumption of the beverage, the names that we give it differentiate. Some people call it soda, others call it pop, heck some people call all of the drinks just 'coke.' To discover why we have so many names for this drink, first we must look into the history of that sugary and fizzy beverage.

While carbonated water was invented around 1766 by Joseph Priestley, the invention of the first soda/pop was not until 1886 when Dr. John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola became a kind of revolutionary beverage. From that point on, beverages such as Pepsi and Fanta were created with extremely similar recipes -- the base of each drink was the same, with the flavors being the only difference. While the drink had similar formulas, the names soda and pop originated through the bottle they were sold in. But there is a debate for which bottles actually created the names. Charles Hutchinson designed a bottle for the soft beverages to be sold in that was opened by pushing down on the wire loop attached. When doing this, the bottle would make a popping noise which coined the term “soda pop”. Another belief is that a store called Mehls started business in 1868 and sold bottles that had the word 'pop' embossed on them, and these carbonated beverages thus coined the term “pop”. Since then, soda and pop have each become slang for soda pop, but come from a unique and creative history.

Soda and pop have mostly become regional words, i.e. certain areas are more likely to use a certain term. Personally, I call my beverages soda, or by their manufacturing name. This debate of what we call carbonated soft drinks actually has a website dedicated to taking polls to geographically depict the different beverage names. Basically, the northeast and the southwest say "soda." Up north, the drink is called "pop." Then from about Tennessee and down, people call it coke. Of course, not everyone in those areas will use those terms but the majority will.

Honestly, it is a drink. This debate can basically be compared to that of Coke versus Pepsi. It is a beverage, drink it. Call it whatever you want. In the long run, it does not matter because you would not drink it if you did not like it. But for those of you who are interested in how things acquired the names they have, you have been informed. So, what do you call it?

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http://popvssoda.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/soda-vs-p...

http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/when_was1006.htm

http://www.hutchbook.com/Industry History Soda...