From Twitter:
答えは? Fill in:
A: What're you drinking?
B: Cola.
A: You mean seltzer? Root beer? Ginger ale?
B. No. Pepsi.
A. Nobody likes Pepsi; all __ is trash, but if we drink it, we get Coke.
B. What's '__?'
A. What you WANT--not "Cola." No one says "cola."
a. pop
b. soda pop
c. soda
日本語訳
Twitterより。A「何を飲んでいるの?」B「コーラ」。A「炭酸水? ルートビア? ジンジャーエール?」B「違うよ、ペプシ」。A「ペプシは嫌いだな。飲むならコークにする」。B「炭酸飲料全般は何と呼ぶの?」。pop / soda pop / soda から選んでください。
Explanation:
Though it is true that "cola" refers to carbonated drinks, it generally comes from "Coca Cola", a brand. The actual definition is:
(from Dictionary.com):
a carbonated soft drink containing an extract made from kola nuts, together with sweeteners and other flavorings.
'Soda' is more correct as a reference to carbonated water--thus we say "soda water." As you can see it is not a product but a condition or state-type of water itself. So actually, it would be more correct to say 'I'll have a cola', but, alas, language is not always sensible and maybe not all sodas are made with the extract of cola nuts.
解答・解説の日本語訳
原文の答えは c. soda。cola はもともとコーラナッツの抽出物を含む炭酸飲料の名前で、Coca-Cola に由来する印象も強い語です。soda は soda water のように炭酸の入った水・飲料を指します。地域によって pop や soda pop も使われますが、原文では soda を選んでいます。言葉の使われ方は必ずしも定義どおりではありません。