Why English is Tricky for Foreigners

"may i have a coke" means something entirely different than "may i have some coke" -- one will get you arrested and the other implies you're from the South...

Map of words used for "carbonated beverage" in USA, by county

from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin

"Using the World Wide Web to gather and process data from across English-speaking North America, I intend to plot the regional variations in the use of the terms 'Pop' and 'Soda' to describe carbonated soft drinks."

Link, via this post on Gadling. (Thanks, marilyn terrell)

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Summary only...