Soda Pop or Cokes?

Is it soda pop, or do you say coke? My dad always called it soda pop, no matter what the brand name. Today many people call the bubbly refreshment coke, no matter what the brand name. The only time in my early youth I was able to get Dr. Pepper, created in Waco, Texas, was when the family went to visit my Grandmother in Quanah. It was only distributed in a small area then. The bottles were tall, smooth, light green glass with a round red and white label that had 10, 2, and 4, at the appropriate points like a clock. I tried to convince my mother that meant it was ok to enjoy this treat three times a day, to no avail, of course. But my grandmother always had a few on hand when we arrived, and I thought they were just for me.

At summer camp near Kerrville, we had grape NiHi, and a wonderful lemonade sodapop, the name escapes me. The bottles were smaller then, and Coca- cola bottles had the name of the city where they were bottled in raised letters on the bottom. When you finished a coke, you always held it up and looked to see if it was from some far away place. When you were sick - tummy sick, your mom would buy 7-up, and chicken noodle soup. That was about the only time you had soda pop at home. It was a treat to go downtown to the drugstore and have a soda. Another summertime treat was to go to the A & W drive-in and get a rootbeer float in a big frosty glass mug. They even had small mugs for the little people. Those glass mugs weighed a ton and must have really built muscles on the carhops. Today people don't think twice about bringing home a refrigerator full of different kinds of soda pop, but no one calls them that anymore.