Someone did an informal study showing the geographic distribution of generic names for soft drinks (pop, coke, soda), broken down by county. Here are the results:
Two interesting notes: 1) There are a handful of counties where "other" predominates. Who calls soda "other"? Actually, if you to know the specific answers, just go to www.popvsoda.com and look at the individual state results. It's only slightly more edifying that reading YouTube comments. 2) The most colorful want (i.e conflicted) states appear to be Nevada and South Carolina, with New Mexico running third. Nevada and New Mexico make sense ... western states are more likely to have an amalgam of cultures, and so differences will about. But S. Carolina? Apparently, it's the convergence point of New Englander "Soda," Southern "Coke," and Yankee "Pop." The real mind boggler is Missouri. What's with that pocket of "Soda" speakers on the Mississipi river?