Parental failure

Ack! I have failed as a parent! It's all because I had to move to Oklahoma and then Texas with my children when they were in their impressionable Wonder Bread years. They were born in Omaha where people know what is what and how to say so. There is only so much a mom can do in the battle against peer pressure in a clearly misguided, and perhaps dilusional state like Texas.

I can accept that the national beverage of Texas is Dr. Pepper. Any Yankee knows that Dr. Pepper is really fizzy prune juice, but some people unaccountably seem to enjoy it. You offer them a pop, and they request a DeePee. I'm not a Pepper, (Don't you want to be a Pepper, too?), but I support the Constitutional right of any American to be a Pepper. That's what makes this country great.

My grown sons have lived too long in this silly Lone Star state. Against my wishes and advice, they have taken to calling all non-alcoholic carbonated beverages "Coke", even when they are referring to the Anti-Coke, Dr. Pepper. I could almost stand it when they stopped saying "pop" and started saying "soda". Their father tended to use unnecessarily formal terms for common items, so I blamed it all on him and assumed I could correct the situation over time. It would be a fight, I knew, since the Plano school district and the Dr. Pepper corporate headquarters were more than just kissing cousins. Plano school concession stands can only sell Dr. Pepper-bottled soft drinks.

Trouble is , nobody in this red state even knows about soft drinks and sodas. Even though they all mean Dr. Pepper, they ask for a "Coke". Would I ask for an iced tea if I really wanted lemonade? Would I ask for a "Bud" if I wanted a Shiner Bock? This is the fuzzy kind of thinking and intelligence that landed us in a new "Viet Nam" called Iraq.

My sons argue that all facial tissues are "Kleenex". Okay, maybe. They say, therefore, furthermore, and ergo, all sodas are "Cokes". That is SO WRONG! How can we turn our country over to a new generation that can't even discriminate and differentiate between pops? Never mind the No Seven-Up Left Behind exit exams and Nehi school vouchers. Get these kids competent to order from the carhop at the A&W drive-in. I'm going to say "curly fries" when I really mean brains!

Naming conventions
Pop vs. soda vs. coke in North America
In North America
North America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 9,355,000 square miles (24,230,000 square kilometres). In 2001 its population was estimated at 454,225,000.
..... Click the link for more information. , "soft drink" commonly refers to cold, non-alcoholic beverages. Carbonated beverages are regionally known in the Midwest
The Midwest is a common name for a region of the United States of America. The term originated in the 20th century, along with 'Middle West' and 'Heartland', and referred to generally the same areas and states in the middle of the country. The heart of the Midwest is bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, the 'Old Northwest' (or the 'West') referring to the states..... Click the link for more information. and most of Canada as "pop." In Quebec Québec(In Detail) (In Detail)National Motto: Je me souviens (I remember)
CapitalLargest city Quebec CityMontrealArea - Total - % fresh water 2nd largest(1st lgst prov.)1 542 056 km²11,5%Population - Total (2004) - Density Ranked 2nd..... Click the link for more information. they are called soft drinks. In the Northeast, parts of the South (near Florida) and Midwest (near St. Louis), and California, they are known as "soda." In Atlanta and some other parts of the South, they are generically called "coke". (Atlanta is home to the Coca-Cola Corporation). The Pacific Northwest, being a melting pot of America, uses both "pop" and "soda," however, for most people, "pop" comes in a bottle, and "soda" comes from a fountain or can. Elsewhere they are called "soda pop." See The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy for maps and geographical trends.
Internally, the Coca-Cola Company (and probably other such corporations) uses the term "non-alcoholic carbonated beverage".