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Comment by rosser | Hacker News Reader

I'd always taken "dialect" to refer more to idiomatic differences than pronunciation differences in regional language usage. The canonical example in the US being the variation in what people call a carbonated beverage, whether it's "soda", "pop", "coke" (note the lower case: in parts of the South, "a coke" is a carbonated beverage, regardless of brand; if you want a Coke, and don't want to clarify, you should ask for a "Coca-cola"), or anything else.

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FWIW, I always considered "dialect" to imply slightly different grammatical structures, vocabulary, idiomatic expressions.

Then again, I am italian, to me most of the english speaking world appear to be just "accents".

Anyway, wikipedia appears to agree that pronounciation only does not make a "dialect".

""" A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (phonology, including prosody). Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation (including prosody, or just prosody itself), the term accent is appropriate, not dialect. """

I actually have a map for that bookmarked; here it is:

http://i.imgur.com/bGYaa.gif

This is another fun map: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7wbbZeG9jwI/S1uUPYQCImI/AAAAAAAAAF...

This is similar http://www.popvssoda.com

My objection to that map, as someone who was born and raised just north of Dallas, is that no one I've ever met in Dallas County has ever used "coke" to mean carbonated drinks generically without prompting (I will admit some people claim to do so; a claim belied by their use of "soda" in casual speech.)

I lived in Dallas for several years, and this was my observation, too. In some of the outlying counties around Dallas (e.g.-Hunt), "Coke" is definitely prominent, but inside the urban sprawl that is DFW, "soda" is used first and foremost. I think it speaks to just how much of an influx there's been to DFW from the coasts in the past decade or so.

>in parts of the South, "a coke" is a carbonated beverage, regardless of brand

I'm curious, is something like Fanta or (carbonated) Ice Tea ever considered a coke?

To me—not a native english speaker—coke means Coca Cola Coke, Pepsi Coke, or Dr Pepper. That is, it's synonymous with the French word 'coca' or the Dutch word 'cola'.

In the South, iced tea is not carbonated. :) It is also very sweet, unless you ask for unsweet.

But yes, a Fanta or Sprite could be a coke. A Pepsi could be a coke.

>>It is also very sweet, unless you ask for unsweet.

I noticed that in Wisconsin tea is sweetened or unsweetened; whereas, when I was in Florida the tea was sweet or unsweet.

I also noticed that they make Old Fashions with whiskey rather than brandy. And if you order a brandy sour, it can take the bartender up to 5 minutes to find some Brandy... While attempting to be polite I learned they do not know what gesundheit means either.

I've literally never heard anyone order brandy either by itself or in a drink in a bar in the US.

You might find this interesting: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/case-study-the...

Oh, there is a variant made with Squirt. That reminds me of my Michigan upbringing, drinking lots of Squirt. (Not with brandy, mind you.)

I can't answer your original question, but I can say that there does exist the word "cola" in English. This is the "correct" word for the sort of drink that both Coca Cola and Pepsi are.

Fanta is one kind of coke that I didn't see much growing up.

My brother and I used to argue about whether Orange Fanta counted as a coke. He thought it wasn't, because it was orange soda and not cola. I thought it was, because it was sugary carbonated soda.

My wife refers to them all as soda or pop. The industrial name for them all is "soft drink", which I think means they don't have alcohol in them.

It's a very regional, kind of random thing.

there are two types of iced tea in the south and this is how you order them: (sweet) tea where the 'sweet' is optional and: tea, unsweetened where the waitress gives you a funny look.

I remember I was 10 or 11 the first time I ordered iced tea and it came sweet- I thought their machine had broke in the most disgusting manner possible.

I would refer to it as a "drink" or a "drank"

"Do you want a drink?" "yes" "What kind?" "Fanta"

"Yall want a drank?" [see above]

Wait- If they use drank to mean drink, what to they use for the actual "drank" (that is a drinking in the past)?

Interesting. I thought drink (n.) refered to alcoholic beverages!

Where in the US is this?

Alabama.

You are right, its used for alcoholic beverages and non alcoholic beverages so context is key. Ive never encountered a problem with any confusion. Usually when its used, its clear whether alcohol is meant.

Alcohol: "Were going out for drinks" "We have a few drinks with dinner"

Non-Alcohol (Coke/Pop/Soda) "We got some drinks at the gas station on the way over" "Will you get me a drink while you are in the kitchen?" "We have drinks in the fridge"

I think most people that use it would answer "Coke" if asked because thats what southerners are supposed to say, but informally "drink" gets used quite often.

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