The English language has its quirks depending on where you are in the U.S.
Some call them jimmies, others sprinkles; some say fireflies, others lightning bugs; and some say shopping cart, others buggy.
Another popular example is the word for carbonated drinks: soda for the Northeast and pop for the Midwest. In the South, some call it “coke” even if it’s not Coca-Cola.
You might think it’s just because of how the language evolved, but recently, a Minnesota-based TikTok creator shared another explanation.
Filming inside his vehicle, @daddyonthego0 theorized exactly why Minnesotans and other Midwesterners call it what they do.
“Here’s what happens if you leave soda in your truck in Minnesota when the temperature is that cold,” he says, while filming the roof of his vehicle. It’s got wet stains all over, as if someone spilled liquid on it. Then he pans the camera at his temperature reader: it’s -8° Fahrenheit. The culprit can is right there on the floor.
“That’s why we call it pop,” he continues, implying that the can exploded inside his vehicle.
Why Did The Can Explode?
Local media reports that the Twin Cities area has seen below-zero temperatures on 12 of the last 14 days. In other words, it’s a usual cold winter in Minnesota.
The reason you shouldn’t leave an unopened can inside a cold car comes down to physics. As Food Republic explains it, it’s got to do with pressure.
Carbonated drinks freeze at around 30°F. When the liquid freezes, it expands by about 9%, leaving no room for the carbonation inside the can. That pressure buildup is what causes the can to burst.
While there’s no guarantee that this will happen every time, leaving a can inside a cold car or any other area where you wouldn’t want a mess is not recommended.
Why Does The Midwest Call It ‘Pop’?
While @daddyonthego0 shared a logical explanation, there’s also a widely accepted theory about why some people call carbonated drinks “pop.”
First Magazine reports that the original hypothesis came from the Journal of English Linguistics. The publication describes the nature of the term as being onomatopoeia, or the practice of naming items based on the sound they make.
Originally, the name is thought to have derived from the phrase “‘pop goes the cork’ when it is drawn,” written in an 1812 letter by English poet Robert Southey. He is believed to have used the terms because of the noise it makes when opened.
However, exactly why the term is so popular in the Midwest or Northwest is unclear.
Commenters Share Can-Explosion Stories Of Their Own
In the comments section, viewers said the other side of the weather may also cause a similar incident.
“Hey..so my sprite blew up in Missouri during July,” one user shared. “My car still has stains.”
Carbonated drink cans also explode in the heat. This time, it’s because the gas expands in extremely high temperatures, eventually making it burst.
“Happened to me too,” wrote another. “I left a 12pk of pop Diet Coke overnight my whole trunk every can exploded and froze in the trunk… in Michigan.”
“My 1st experience was in my snow fort as a kid,” shared a third. “I was saving my stolen coke for later but karma is a b—-.”
BroBible has reached out to @daddyonthego0 via TikTok messages for comment.