personal value underscored by internet survey

Here's the current results of an internet study trying to determine the most popular generic names for soft drinks in different parts of the US. You can represent your county by voting in this highly sophisticated, scientific study of great import. Please pay special attention to the "Conclusion" section that masterfully summarizes the fruits of this critical research. Two questions: Why can't the south understand that calling all soft drinks "coke" is comparable to calling all cars "buicks"? And secondly, regarding those wacky green people in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, etc., what do they actually call soft drinks?

Extra: My buddy John gave me the heads-up on Hendrik Hertzberg's talk this Thursday at the Barnes and Nobles in Georgetown. Hertzberg's work in the New Yorker has always struck me as incisive, witty journalism and it doesn't surprise me that he became the Editorial Director recently. Newsweek and The New Republic harvested his talents before this. Aside from all that useless journalism crap, he served as White House staff throughout the Carter administration, including chief speechwriter from '79-'81. All this with a BA. The Harvard Magazine's deputy editor lauded one of his own in this exhaustive, and exhausting, article about Hertzberg that i haven't finished yet because boondoggling can only persist so long.