Depending on what part of the South you visit, the Coke or Pepsi question can get complicated pretty quickly when you order a soft drink.
When you sit down at a restaurant, which do you choose when it’s time to order a soft drink: Coke or Pepsi? (Or do you choose something else?) But for some parts of the South, people will order a “Coke” without caring whether they get a Coca Cola or a Pepsi.
For the record, my soft drink of choice is Diet Coke. I’ve always liked the taste of it. I don’t hate Diet Pepsi, but if I had a choice between the two, I’d grab the Diet Coke every time.
When I go to a restaurant, I always order a Diet Coke. Whenever I happen to find myself in a restaurant that contracted with Pepsi products, I get an amusing reaction. The server sheepishly asks, “Is Diet Pepsi OK?” Their tone seems to show fear they’re afraid of sparking World War III.
If that’s what they have, I’ll take it. As a Type 2 Diabetic, a diet drink that ditches all of that sugar is always the better of the two “evils.”
Both Coca Cola and Pepsi are Southern-born
Atlanta Pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented an early version of the drink we’d come to know as Coca-Cola on May 8, 1886. Pemberton was a Confederate Civil War veteran and suffered a sabre wound. As the story goes, he became addicted to morphine and experimented with creating tonics to help ease his own pain.
As for his “Coca-Cola,” Pemberton said it was a “valuable brain tonic.” Among his claims: It would cure headaches, relieve exhaustion, and calm nerves. I don’t know that I can say it lives up to either of those claims, although I wouldn’t drink a Coke to relieve any of those conditions, anyway.
Pharmacist Caleb Bradham Pepsi created “Brad’s Drink,” the drink we’d come to know as Pepsi, seven years later, in 1893. He first sold it in his New Bern, North Carolina, drug store.
Bradham renamed his creation as “Pepsi-Cola” in 1898 because of “its supposed digestive benefits,” Wikipedia tells us.
Both drinks now are most commonly known by their shorter names, Coke or Pepsi.
Since both drinks are “Southern sons,” you might think they’d be equally embraced across the region. But the Coke vs. Pepsi crowd can be as determined as the Chevrolet vs. Ford crowd.
Honestly, I’m not that determined. Given a choice, I will always take a Coca-Cola or a Diet Coke over a Pepsi or Diet Pepsi. But in the absence of Coke products, I’m not going to do without. I’ll take what I have to.
The word ‘Coke’ has a life of its own
In some parts of the country, the preferred word for a soft drink is “soda.” In other parts of the country, people prefer a “pop.” There are curious pockets of “pop” people in the South but they’re surrounded by “soda” people.
I always found it strange that on The Andy Griffith Show, which was set in North Carolina, everyone referred to getting a “pop” when they were looking for a soft drink. I grew up in South Carolina, but no one I know from North Carolina ever referred to a soda as a pop.
But I know plenty of us who’ll use “Coke” generically for a soda, even if they want a Diet Coke, a Sprite, a Dr. Pepper or a root beer. They get into specifics, of course, when they order. But when talking about getting one, they’ll say “Coke.”
It’s the same way people might say, “Let’s go grab a coffee,” when they want a latte or a Frappuccino.
I even found a Reddit discussion on the use of generic terms for soft drinks. One gave this example:
If you came to my house and I offered you something to drink, it would go like this:
Me: “Can I offer you a drink? I’ve got coffee, tea, sweet tea, water, coke…”
You: “I’ll have a coke please.”
M: “What kind? I’ve got Pepsi, Mt Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Grape Fanta. Do you want ice?”
Y: “I’ll take a Mt. Dew. Ice is great, thanks!”
Another clarified a key point about the generic use of the term: While one might say they want a Coke, they wouldn’t actually call a Sprite a “Coke.”
We have to have our priorities, right?
