I realise that yes, this is very political. I may be crossing a line here.
Meanwhile, in England, we do actually call them fizzy drinks.
Meanwhile in Scotland… a work colleague asked me to get him a juice, as I was going to the canteen. “What flavour? Orange? Apple?” “Irn-Bru.” Seriously, any fizzy drink is juice. Coke is juice.
If you trace the ingredients back far enough, they came from a plant. Or were within sight of one.
In the south of Scotland you can also hear the term “ginger” to mean juice
https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/id/6518
Personally I say fizzy juice, fruit juice, or squash (diluting juice) to distinguish between them and I think that roughly holds amongst most northern Scots.
Ginger, I haven’t heard that one! Describes the look of Irn-Bru at least.
How about “soft drinks”? Sometimes (in the US) I see that as a catch-all term for sodas (to contrast with “hard drink,” i.e. a drink with liquor in it.)
Other non-US anglophones, is that a common term where you live?
In France we actually also use the English word « softs » for non-alcoholic beverages.
The thing is, like you also seem to understand it, it doesn’t have to be fizzy.
in india, we use soft drinks as the prefered word, but some older folks just directly refer to brand names they remeber from their child hood
Imperial sattelite states don’t count as actual England
I was born and raised in England. I moved out here in 2019
Ah. Your Canadian is very good!
Minnesota is going through hell this month, and here you are trying to start another war.
You’re my soda pop 🍾
Meanwhile, in Germany: Limo
To add oil to the fire, “Limo” is a shortened “Limonade”, the German equivalent of “lemonade”. “Limonade” is understood to be any carbonated soft drink, including colas.
That means that in Germany lemonade does not have to contain lemons and American-style homemade lemonade typically wouldn’t be considered lemonade in Germany since it’s not carbonated.
Ahh, clarity of language…
Still beats the Dutch “frisdrank”
Literally “chill drink”. Technically, it doesn’t include juice, water, nor beer, chilled or not. Although most menu’s do put juice/water in the same category.
In Germany we have “Erfrischungsgetränk” (= “refreshment beverage”), which works similarly, although it’s a bit more specific about juice: “Fruchtsaft” (“fruit juice”) and “Nektar” (“nectar”; watered down juice from fruits where the pulp content is so high that straight juice would be undrinkable) are excluded, while “Fruchtsaftgetränke” (“fruit juice beverages”, fruit-based beverages without alcohol that aren’t Nektar or straight juice) are included.
Most people don’t worry too much about the specific differences, although they can be relevant to conscious buyers: Something might taste like actual juice but is really watered down with added sugar; that’s a Fruchtsaftgetränk, not a Fruchtsaft.
In Germany we have “Erfrischungsgetränk” (= “refreshment beverage”)
That’s basically what it is, and the distinction is usually for regulatory reasons.
“Limonade” in Dutch is essentially non-cola soft drinks. In general, carbonated or sweetened drinks are all frisdrank, unless they are juice or plain water. Cola, lemonade, tonic, … it’s all the same category.
If I want a lemonade, as in the lemo juice+water+sugar combo, what exactly do I ask for?
Zitronenlimonade, which translates to lemon lemonade
I for sure won’t end up with Sprite?
I’m not sure, actually. It’s not a common drink in Germany; we like our fizzy water and there’s a certain expectation that even house-made lemonades have at least some carbonation. I don’t know if any place I’ve ever been to serves it. You might have to describe it.
A less unheard of version would be water + a small amount of lemon juice but that would be “water with lemon juice”.
And what if I want the same thing, but carbonated?
My grandparents called it tonic
Older people from the US South call it all coke
Commercially they’re called soft drinks
I usually refer to whatever specific one applicable by its approximate brand name ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Most all people in the deep south call everything Coke, as Pepsi products might as well not exist. Everything are literally Coke products regardless of what type of soda they are.
Most people in the far north call everything pop
Everybody in the middle and off to either coast call it soda, with some small pockets of people saying soda pop
Commercially theyre soft drinks since they dont have alcohol, but Ive never met anyone that orders a “soft drink” when they want a soda
Commercially theyre soft drinks since they dont have alcohol, but Ive never met anyone that orders a “soft drink” when they want a soda
Techically water, tea, coffee, etc. are also soft drinks
Can confirm the US South one… “I’ll have a coke”, “sure, what type?” “Sprite”
I think tonic was a really local dialect. Were your grandparents from New England by any chance?
Sody Pop!
In Mexico, in the north they’re called sodas, in the center and south it’s refrescos, and there might be a few weird, heathen pockets where they call them gaseosas.They’re just called fizzy water, or dizzy drinks here. Although the shops call them ‘sparkling’
So… coke is a sparkling drink? Gotta say that sounds weird to me. Which country is this?
UK. Although they don’t usually specify ‘sparkling’ in the shop if it’s a brand name thing like Coca Cola or Ribena or Appletiser or whatever
They’re all Coke!
Everyone knows if it’s dark its a coke if it’s light it’s a sprite.
And if it’s yellow, let it mellow.
It’s pronounced gif
Here, you’ll love this post
https://piefed.social/c/nonpolitical_comics/p/1654859/smbc-jpeg
Oh yeah, that’s a great one, although why anyone would say anything other than jfeg is beyond me
Here, have a gift in return
Gotta pronounce the J like a Y. So it becomes yayfeg
Polish creativeness rises and if it’s specifically fizzy soda… “napój gazowany”, aka carbonated drink.
…thus, most of poles I know just say what they actually want - cola, mountain dew, fanta etc.
I’m reasonably sure the context there is gender neutral, though. At least, based on the 5 partial watch-alongs and multiple impromptu karaoke sessions I’ve experienced courtesy of my wife.
In Australia we usually call them soft drinks (even when alcohol is not even remotely relevant) or kids call them fizzy drink.
Excuse me, I’m from the south and we call it Coke.
What kind of coke would you like? We’ve got Dr pepper sprite Pepsi and coke
Carbonated liquid candy
I’d prefer a vanilla phosphate, but I haven’t seen a proper soda fountain in about 20 years.
![Soft Drinks [Gator Days]](https://media.piefed.social/posts/OL/Sn/OLSncxvH7RhRAaX.webp){kind=link}