We just can't seem to use that somewhat prissy yankee expression "soft drink"

My aforementioned new engineer still says 'pop'. I was brought into the 'coke' speech not long after moving from Illinois.

As for prissy, I think that's a little harsh. Yankees just fashion themselves as being more 'enlightened' than us rednecks. They, like some on this board, feel as though the number of syllables one uses to describe something is a direct representation of their smarts. They thinks theys better than us!!