An empty bottle of soda would still be called a bottle of soda, which makes me suspect that the actual meaning is closer to “bottle for soda.”
Glass of water = vaso de agua
Pot of potatoes = olla de papas
Truck of pigs = camión de cerdos
Some defenders of the “glass of water” team argue that the peculiarity that makes the phrase valid is not the preposition, but the noun vaso (glass), which must be understood as a unit of measure, just like “spoonful of sugar.” But I don’t agree that that’s the reason why “glass of water” is the right form. Nobody thinks a “truck” is a unit of measure (though some regional forms of Spanish do have a word for truckload, “camionado”).
Bottle of soda = botella de gaseosa
An empty bottle of soda would still be called a bottle of soda, which makes me suspect that the actual meaning is closer to “bottle for soda.”
Glass of water = vaso de agua
Pot of potatoes = olla de papas
Truck of pigs = camión de cerdos
Some defenders of the “glass of water” team argue that the peculiarity that makes the phrase valid is not the preposition, but the noun vaso (glass), which must be understood as a unit of measure, just like “spoonful of sugar.” But I don’t agree that that’s the reason why “glass of water” is the right form. Nobody thinks a “truck” is a unit of measure (though some regional forms of Spanish do have a word for truckload, “camionado”).