These are always so weird to me. I grew up in the rural south, and I’ve never once heard Coke used to describe soft drinks generically. In my experience when someone asks for a “coke” they specifically mean Coca Cola and would be pissed if they got something else.
If you go to Georgia, ‘coke’ is whichever cola they have. At least that’s been my experience when visiting family down there. 99% of the time you get Coca Cola, but that 1% is a kick in the nuts.
Had the same experience when I lived in east Texas and visited rural Louisiana. But it wasn’t that way when I lived in Virginia. Coke meant Coca Cola, and if you asked for coke and they had Pepsi, they’d ask if Pepsi was ok.
These are always so weird to me. I grew up in the rural south, and I’ve never once heard Coke used to describe soft drinks generically. In my experience when someone asks for a “coke” they specifically mean Coca Cola and would be pissed if they got something else.
If you go to Georgia, ‘coke’ is whichever cola they have. At least that’s been my experience when visiting family down there. 99% of the time you get Coca Cola, but that 1% is a kick in the nuts.
Had the same experience when I lived in east Texas and visited rural Louisiana. But it wasn’t that way when I lived in Virginia. Coke meant Coca Cola, and if you asked for coke and they had Pepsi, they’d ask if Pepsi was ok.
In western Washington, it’s a hodgepodge.
Iirc when I lived there the reason is because the Cole bottling plant was there so it just came naturally as lingo
My spouse is from the deep south and grew up saying it.