Culture and Acceptability

Is it 'soda pop,' 'pop soda,' or just 'soda?'  Crackers or biscuits?  Thongs or flip flops?  Maybe it's crocks!  In my day, a crock was a clay pot.  Words and their meanings for idioms and for items change according to regions of the country and according to cultures of the world.  The generic term for carbonated beverages in the South and in Central Indiana is 'coke,' whereas other parts of Indiana call it 'soda pop.'  North Carolina says 'cocola' and 'soda' dominates New York City, the Northeast, greater Miami, Missouri, Illinois, and parts of Northern California.  In New York City, if you said "pop," you'd be laughed out of town; whereas "pop" (as 'pop goes the cork') dominates the Northwest, Great Plains, and the Midwest.  'Soft drink' in New Zealand and Australia arose to contrast carbonated beverages with hard alcoholic drinks.  South Afrians say 'cooldrink' (as one word), and the United Kingdom uses 'pop' or 'fizzy drink.'  In and around Boston, it is called 'tonic' although that is fading in popularity.  No one term prevails and sometimes a person who is 'out of state' needs an interpreter.  Some terms change regionally; other terms change generationally.  Although there are weightier issues in life and linguistics than the preferred terminology of the 'meanings of words,' there is nothing worse than being personally attacked for using the wrong word--whatever the right word is.  "Pepsi," anyone?