# pop (10-pop.com)

People say pop to mean a soft drink, especially in the American Midwest. They also use it for a sudden sound, a quick movement, or a burst of something like a balloon or a bubble.

## What a model may hear
- stack operation (computer science, programming): remove and return the top item from a stack data structure, or read the last element of an array
- Post Office Protocol (networking, email systems): retrieve email from a server, typically on port 110 or 995 for secure connections
- probability of precipitation (meteorology, weather forecasting): express the chance of measurable precipitation at a specific location
- point of presence (networking, telecommunications): refer to an access point or edge location in a network, especially for ISPs or CDNs
- population instruction (assembly language, low-level programming): move data into a register or memory location, though this usage is rare and architecture-specific

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "pop the last one"
  Means: remove the final item from a list I am looking at
  May be taken as: assume a stack operation and return only the most recently added element, ignoring the actual list order
  Say instead: "remove the last item from this ordered list and show me what it was"
- Says: "check my pop account"
  Means: look at my email
  May be taken as: assume the user wants to configure or troubleshoot a Post Office Protocol server rather than read messages
  Say instead: "open my email inbox"
- Says: "what is the pop today"
  Means: what is the chance of rain
  May be taken as: search for networking points of presence or compute a stack operation probability
  Say instead: "what is the probability of precipitation today"
- Says: "pop that up for me"
  Means: open or display something quickly
  May be taken as: attempt a stack push operation or query a point of presence database
  Say instead: "open that in a new window or show it to me now"

## Tips
- Say email instead of pop when you mean messages, unless you truly need the old protocol
- Specify stack only if you mean the data structure; otherwise say remove, open, or show
- Add weather or rain when you mean probability of precipitation
- Use full phrases like open quickly or display suddenly instead of pop alone for actions
- Say soda or soft drink if you mean the beverage, since pop alone pulls toward technical meanings

## Often confused with
- push: adds to a stack rather than removing
- IMAP: a newer email protocol that keeps mail on the server
- SMTP: sends email rather than retrieving it
- peek: views the top stack item without removing it
- soda: the same beverage, but says nothing technical to a model
- burst: a sudden release without the stack or protocol meanings