Is It "Pop" or "Soda"? (And What's a "Party Store"?)

If you order a “soda” at a Michigan gas station, you might get a funny look. Here, a carbonated soft drink is a pop. Always has been. The word is thought to come from the sound a bottle cap makes coming off. Michigan sits squarely in the big “pop” region of the country that covers most of the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, while the coasts say “soda” and much of the South says “Coke” for everything.

It’s not a deep mystery, but it’s a genuine regional marker — say “pop” and you sound like a local; say “soda” and you sound like you’re from somewhere else. (There’s a soft internal divide, with a bit more “soda” usage in parts of southeast Michigan, but statewide, “pop” wins handily.)

While we’re translating Michigan to newcomers, here’s the other one that causes real confusion: a party store is not a place that sells balloons and streamers. In Michigan, a party store is a small shop that sells beer, wine, liquor, snacks, lottery tickets, and convenience items — what other places might call a corner store, packy, or bodega. So if a Michigander says “I’m running to the party store,” they’re getting drinks and chips, not planning a birthday.