"greengrocer's apostrophe" (was Re: Cam(pb)ell)

[Peter A. McGraw]

--On Fri, Aug 4, 2000 6:06 PM +0100 "Aaron E. Drews" <aaron at LING.ED.AC.UK>
wrote:

> Before the pervasive supermarkets, what were the people who selled
> fresh produce called?  Besides farmers.
>

If there was a time in the U.S. when there were separate stores for produce
and nonperishable foods, I'm not old enough to remember it, or didn't live
in the right parts of the country.

I AM old enough to remember when supermarkets were a new thing.  Up to that
time, stores that sold food were called "grocery stores" and those who
owned or managed them, "grocers."  These stores sold both fresh and
canned/packaged/frozen food.  The larger ones usually housed a separately
owned and operated butcher shop that sold only meats.  They did not sell
drug store items like medicines (though they may have sold a few Band-Aids,
some Aspirin and perhaps a few very basic cosmetics, like hand cream--that
I don't remember), nor toys, shoes, clothes, etc.

>
> --Aa "I'm feeling like a young whipersnapper" ron

I, on the other hand, can't believe that what I just wrote counts as
"history" instead of "the way it was about a couple of years ago."

Peter Mc.

****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu