QandO: Idiomology of the South

May 29, 2004

Idiomology of the South
Posted by Jon Henke

As a Southerner, I should reflexively call them all “Cokes” as I did in my youth. Sadly, I’ve been calling them “sodas” for years, displaying wanton disregard for my heritage. If I ever start calling them “pop,” please shoot me.

Sadly, it's true. When you leave the South, you stop using "Coke" as a all-purpose term for carbonated beverages. It's inevitable. In the South (Georgia, in my case) everybody knows "Coke" means "whatever soft drink you serve here". You can ask a waitress for a "Coke" and she'll ask "what kind"? Or, she may just hand you a Pepsi without a second thought. And you'll drink it without a second thought.

If she hands you an RC, instead, you're really in The South.

I live in Richmond, Virginia, and while many people consider Virginia "The South", it's not really. I suppose a Southerner (which, despite growing up in Georgia, I do not consider myself) would not feel completely out of place here, but Virginia is only incidentally southern.

Moving to Virginia (from a brief stay in Alabama) finally crystalized the one sure way to discern "South" from "Not South". It takes a bit of time to figure this out, but I think most Southerners could agree that this is a good rule of thumb. It is this:

If you can get sweet tea at almost every restaurant, you are in The South. As you get further from the heart of The South, the percentage of restaurants serving sweet tea declines. When the percentage of restaurants serving sweet tea declines to less than 70%, you are no longer in The South.

As I see it, North Carolina is the last place in which one can definitively be said to be "in The South". Come Virginia, you're lucky to get sweet tea at 40-50% of restaurants.

Note: Florida is an exception. While you can generally get sweet tea in Florida, it is most certainly not The South.

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