Difference Between Soda and Pop
There's no product difference at all — a soda and a pop are the same drink, just called by different names depending on where you're standing when you order one. The genuinely interesting part is how those names came to exist in the first place, and it involves a British poet who'd probably be baffled by his own word's modern reputation on the other side of the Atlantic.
Genuinely Ironic

"Pop" Was Coined by a British Poet

In 1812, English poet Robert Southey wrote a letter describing a new fizzy drink he'd encountered, calling it "pop" specifically because "pop goes the cork when it is drawn." It's a purely onomatopoeic word — literally named after the sharp sound the bottle made when opened, nothing more elaborate than that. Today, "pop" is stereotyped as a distinctly American Midwest term, largely thanks to regional bottling companies who built the word directly into their branding and marketing over a century after Southey's letter. The word's own thoroughly British-born origin has been almost entirely forgotten in the process, buried under a century and a half of American regional identity built on top of it.

Documented via Etymonline and corroborated by research published in the Journal of English Linguistics.

Where "Soda" Comes From

"Soda" traces back further and more directly to the drink's actual underlying chemistry rather than any sound or coincidence. The term originates from "soda water" — carbonated water historically associated with sodium-containing minerals found naturally in certain springs, long before anyone was manufacturing carbonation artificially. We cover the fuller story of carbonation's accidental 1767 discovery, and how "soda water" went on to become a genuine commercial product in its own right, in our guide on what soft drinks actually are. "Soda" simply stuck as convenient shorthand once fizzy, mineral-associated water became widely and commercially available to the general public.

How the Vocabulary Actually Evolved

1798 "Soda water" enters common usage as a term for carbonated water.
1809 "Ginger pop" appears as an early flavoured compound term.
1812 "Pop" is coined outright by Robert Southey in his letter.
1863 The two earlier terms merge into the compound "soda pop."
1880 "Soft drink" emerges as the broader, more formal umbrella term.
1909 "Coke" begins its rise as a generic term, tied directly to Coca-Cola's growing regional dominance.

A Third Word Muddies the Picture Further

"Coke" adds a genuinely different kind of complication to this story, since it isn't a generic descriptive word at all — it's a trademarked brand name that simply became so dominant in one region that people started using it to mean any carbonated soft drink, regardless of the actual brand in the can. This happened specifically in the American South, where Coca-Cola originated and grew overwhelmingly popular early on, to the point that asking for "a coke" there might just as easily get you a Sprite or a Dr Pepper as an actual Coca-Cola, with the follow-up question "what kind?" doing the real work of narrowing things down.

America's Famous Regional Divide

Cambridge linguist Bert Vaux's well-known dialect survey mapped exactly where each term dominates across the United States, and the split turns out to be strikingly clean by region, closely tracking each area's own commercial and cultural history.

Soda Northeast & West Coast, tracing back to New Haven's early soda fountains
Pop Midwest & Great Plains, likely reinforced by regional bottlers
Coke The South, used generically regardless of actual brand

So Where Does the UK Actually Sit?

Neither word dominates British English the way "soda" or "pop" dominate their specific American regions. "Fizzy drink" is generally the most neutral, widely used default across the UK as a whole, appearing naturally in everyday conversation regardless of where you are in the country. "Pop" survives as a genuinely common informal term in parts of Britain, particularly associated with Northern England and often carrying a slightly nostalgic, homely feel to it. "Soda" is understood everywhere but tends to read as slightly American-influenced when used casually in conversation about a fizzy drink generally, more commonly appearing in specific compound terms like "soda water" or "soda stream" rather than functioning as a catch-all word the way "pop" or "fizzy drink" do.

Read the Full Guide

Are Juice and Soft Drinks the Same Thing? →

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is "pop" considered old-fashioned or regional slang in the UK?
It's more regional than old-fashioned — "pop" remains in genuine, everyday active use in parts of Northern England rather than being a dated or dying term, even as "fizzy drink" functions as the more universally understood default across the country as a whole regardless of region.
Why did Coca-Cola specifically become "coke" as a generic term in America?
Coca-Cola originated and became overwhelmingly dominant in the Southern United States specifically from its earliest years, so as the brand's popularity and market presence grew, its name naturally became the default way people in that region referred to any carbonated soft drink at all, regardless of the actual brand being served or requested.
Does "soda" always specifically mean a sweetened soft drink?
Not necessarily — "soda water" on its own typically refers to plain carbonated water without any sweetener added, while "soda" used alone as a standalone noun for a drink usually implies the sweetened, flavoured version most people picture, so the surrounding context genuinely matters here more than the word alone.
Did Robert Southey actually invent the drink he called "pop"?
No, he simply encountered and described an already-existing fizzy drink in a personal letter to his wife, coining a memorable, sound-based name for it in the process rather than inventing the beverage itself, which built on earlier carbonation techniques already in limited commercial use at the time.
Are there other English-speaking countries with their own distinct term?
Yes — Ireland and Scotland both commonly use "mineral" as a regional term for fizzy drinks, Australia frequently uses "soft drink" as the everyday spoken default rather than any shortened alternative, and various other regional terms exist across English-speaking countries worldwide, each reflecting the same kind of localised linguistic pattern seen across the UK and US.
Is there a "correct" term to use, linguistically speaking?
No — linguists generally treat this as a straightforward, well-documented case of regional dialect variation rather than one term being objectively more correct than another, similar to countless other regional vocabulary differences that exist naturally within English more broadly, from footwear to bread rolls.
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