[Ads-l] BOGO (when the second item is not free)

[victor steinbok]

I've been monitoring this issue for several years now and this broader
interpretation of BOGO has been in use in *advertising* for well over a
decade. Several stores, such as Target, Payless and Kohl's, use the "BOGO
Sale" promotons so specifically to identify the use of "buy one, get on at
X% discount", where the discount varies by the category of item but never
reaches 100% (that is, tge second item is never free).

Worse, Staples and others have used the initialism to describe promotions
where one has to buy multiple items to get a free one (e.g.,
buy-two-get-one-free or buy-three, etc.). I haven't seen this in use at our
local supermarket that uses "buy-one-get-two-free" occasionally. But I have
heard it described in casual interpretatation as "buy one get [discount]
off [another]".

VS-)

On 1:47pm, Sun, May 31, 2015 ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: BOGO (when the second item is not free)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Apologies to Barry for not examining the very valuable entry that he
> has about BOGO,
>
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/bogo_or_bogof_buy_o=
> ne_get_one_free/
> <http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/bogo_or_bogof_buy_o=ne_get_one_free/>
>
> A 1992 citation that Barry listed revealed that the meaning
> encompassed a second item at half price.
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> 11 November 1992, Florence (AL) TimesDaily, =E2=80=9CBargain hunters scout
> stores for new deals=E2=80=9D by Martin Sloane, pg. 1C, col. 2:
> If you shop at the Farm Fresh supermarket in Virginia, you probably
> know what a =E2=80=9CBOGO=E2=80=9D sale is.
>
> If you live in Princeton, Ill., you may have shopped in a new grocery
> store called BOGO=E2=80=99s. If you are a smart shopper who enjoys a
> bargai=
> n,
> then you defnitiely look for BOGOs.
>
> What is BOGO?
>
> The letters literally stand for =E2=80=9Cbuy one, get one.=E2=80=9D What
> do=
>  you get?
> Well, in many cases if you buy one product, you get a second for free.
> Other times the second product is available at half price.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Sun, May 31, 2015 at 12:34 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------=
> ------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      BOGO (when the second item is not free)
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > In April I saw the following sign at the entrance to a store in an
> > outlet mall in northern Florida.
> >
> > [Begin excerpt of text on sign]
> >
> >          BOGO
> > BUY ONE T-SHIRT
> >  GET ONE 1/2 OFF
> >        --- MB ---
> >       SPORTS
> > Officially Licensed
> >
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > This sign did not accord with the definition provided on Wikipedia
> > because the second item was not free.
> >
> > Bogo
> > (disambiguation page on Wikipedia; viewed May 31, 2015)
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogo
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > BOGO or BOGOF, an initialism for buy one, get one free, a common form
> > of sales promotion
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> >
> > Yet, the definition at the Urban Dictionary website allowed for the
> > possibility of "some lesser value". Has the meaning shifted over time?
> >
> > BOGO: urbandictionary (viewed May 31, 2015)
> > http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=3DBOGO
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > BOGO
> > Buy One, Get One (free or some lesser value)
> > that sale in produce, is it BOGO?
> > by stu f. May 04, 2004
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> >
> > The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for BOGOF but there is no
> > entry for BOGO.
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > BOGOF, n.
> >
> > Etymology:  Acronym < the initial letters of the advertising slogan
> > buy one get one free.
> >
> > 'Buy one get one free': a retail offer whereby a customer who
> > purchases a particular item receives another such free of charge; an
> > item obtained in this way.
> >
> > 1985   Progressive Grocer June 91   A recent buy-one, get-one-free
> > (BOGOF) promotion.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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