What is a Soda Called?

This winter, as the snowbirds and tourist return to Southwest Florida keep your ears open and listen to how people ask for a soda. This map will give you a good indication of where their home is located in the country. The above map outlines the different way and locations that we as a nation call a soda a soda, pop, coke or other names. I think our problem is that so many of us have moved around the nation that we pick up different parts of the regional language. As an example, I was brought up in Philadelphia, Pa, but have spent 3/4 of my life in the south and a "soda" has become a "coke". However, I still get, "No Coke, Pepsi!"

And to give you an idea of volume of people you can listen to, from just the Southwest Florida International Airport, here is their press release from July 2007 about the number of passengers using the airport...

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 24, 2007) – Passenger totals at Southwest Florida International Airport have increased for the 12th straight month. During the month of July, over 535,000 passengers traveled through the airport, an increase of 6.5 percent compared to July 2006. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 7.5 percent over the same period last year.

“Almost 5.3 million passengers have used our airport this year,” said Robert M. Ball, A.A.E., executive director of the Lee County Port Authority. “We have had a solid year of record traffic at Southwest Florida International Airport and I am very proud of our accomplishment.”

The traffic leader for the month of July was Delta with 72,985 passengers traveling to and from Fort Myers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (67,032), US Airways (55,596), Air Tran (55,094) and JetBlue (50,194).

There were 5,895 aircraft movements (takeoffs and landings) recorded, marking a 5.5 percent increase compared to July 2006. In addition, over 2.9 million pounds of air freight moved through the airport in July 2007.

Southwest Florida International Airport served more than 7.6 million passengers in 2006 and is one of the top 50 busiest U.S. airports. No ad valorem (property) taxes are used for airport operation or construction.