Pop or Soda?

I did some research for work and was scanning some bulletin boards on the topic and I ran across some guy who said something to the effect that he’d heard people in Oregon use the word “pop” to refer to soft drinks and he was always sure to correct them to use “soda” — like he’s been appointed the vocabulary police. Anyway, turns out there is a whole controversy about this. Can this be true that people have nothing better to worry about than whether sugar water is referred to as “pop” or “soda?” Check the map for yourself.