They seem to be just like us. They laugh at the same jokes. They like the same music. They, too, extol the virtues of bacon.
But then when they refer to a soft drink, you instantly know: They ain't from around here.
I'm talking about folks from other states who call soda “pop,” or even weirder, “Coke.” (Coke is a brand, people!)
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The linguistic variation is one of the clearest regional differences in the U.S., says The Atlantic, which produced an incredible mapping project called The Invisible Borders That Define American Culture. On the soft drink map, people in the green areas say “soda,” while those in the turquoise areas say “Coke” and those in the black areas say “pop.”
See all the maps here.
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