Pop or Soda? Missouri & Illinois In Middle of Beverage Civil War

In Missouri and Illinois, we live in the middle of an epicenter and no, I'm not talking about the New Madrid earthquake fault. I'm referring to the eternal argument about what you call carbonated beverages. Is it pop or soda? Let's decide this once and for all.

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Before I share my personal opinion and family situation, know there's a website dedicated to the Pop vs Soda "discussion". Look at their map and notice that the Hannibal, Missouri/Quincy, Illinois area is right in the middle of the pop vs soda conflicts. On the map they created, yellow stands for those that (wrongly) believe that carbonated drinks are "pop" while blue represents the righteous "soda" crowd.

Notice I'm ignoring the pink because we're not gonna allow the "coke" people to fracture this discussion further especially since we live in Pepsi country here. Touché.

The Mason-Dixon Line of carbonated drinks goes straight through the Hannibal/Quincy area. Go a little bit north and it's pop. Head down 61 south and it's soda. Will the real carbonated drink name please stand up?

Now for my personal dilemma. I grew up referring to carbonated drinks as "soda" like any great American would. My wife who grew up in Keokuk is firmly in the "pop" camp. I now have to call them "pop" because I lost a bet. (*sad face*)

Can you decide this once and for all? Hit the message us button in our app and either say "pop" or "soda". I'll let digital science decide which camp is the definitive carbonated drink name king.