Bodega v. Mercado and Tienda

[Beth Lee Simon]

Here in Fort Wayne there are mercados, supermercados, and at least one groceria.
No bodegas.

beth simon

martinezg wrote:

> "Bodega", to my South Texas ear, refers to a warehouse or storage facility of
> some kind. The word for grocery store most commonly used in South Texas (Rio
> Grande Valley) is "abarroteria" although "tienda" "(super)mercado" and
> sometimes "groceria" are used.
>
> The "bodega" in NYC first turned up in the first quarter of the 19th century
> refering to grocery stores in the Puerto Rican barrios. I am not sure whether
> that is the most common term on the island though. I do know that in the
> Dominican Republic the most common word is "colmado". I suspect that the word
> "bodega" is the most common one in Cuban Spanish, though. My Cuban father used
> to ask me and my South Texas friends to go the "bodega" and pick up some
> whatever. My friends would invariably ask why we had to go the storage.
>
> At any rate, in the historical development of New York's barrio the "bodega"
> is reported to have played a crucial role in defining the parameters and
> extension of the community. Sanchez Korrol argues that "it was precisely in
> the proliferation of commercial and professional establishments - small
> businesses, bodegas, botanicas, restaurants and boarding houses - that the
> physical characteristics of the Puerto Rican community were most sharply
> defined" (Virginia Sanchez-Korrol _From Colonia to Community_ 2nd ed.
> Berkeley: UC Press, 1994, p. 62. See also all of Chapter 3 for a more
> extensive discussion). Marqueta, on the other hand, was used in the early days
> of the Puerto Rican community to refer to an outdoor market where fresh fruits
> and vegetables were sold. This is the same meaning that we give to "mercado"
> in South Texas. Additionally, I would argue that "bodega" made its way into
> the NYC lexicon largely due to social significance that it has in the barrio.
> Really, a bodega was much more than a simple grocery store, it was place for
> gossiping, playing dominos, etc. It had become a social institution and a
> symbol of the Puerto Rican community. Ortiz Cofer makes this clear in her
> childhood memories of "la bodega". "... my mother insisted that she could cook
> only with products whose labels she could read, and so, during the week, I
> accompanied her and my little brother to La Bodega - a hole in the wall
> grocery store accross the street from El Building ... We would linger at La
> bodega, for it was there that mother breathed best, taking in the familiar
> aromas of the foods she knew from Mama's kitchen, and it was also there that
> she got to speak to the other women of El Building" (Judith Ortiz Cofer,
> Silent Dancing). In short, then, I believe that the presence of the word
> "bodega" is largely or perhaps better originally due to Puerto Rican
> influence, and a term like Hispanic/Puerto Rican Grocery Store really doesn't
> capture the meaning of what a bodega really is or was.
>
> Glenn
>
> _______________________
> Glenn Martinez
> Visiting Instructor of Spanish/Kenyon Dissertation Fellow
> Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
> Kenyon College
> Gambier, OH 43022
>
> >
> >Question then, does bodega make it into the New York's lexicon and the
> >pages of the New York Times because the majority of Spanish-speaking
> >immigrants are from Peru and Venezuela (Central America)? I would guess,
> >therefore, that bodega is not the Mexican word for "grocer's" or that's
> >what we'd call it in Texas.
> >
> >Has there ever been a study or comparison of what things are called in
> >different regions due to immigrant influence?
> >
> >Kathleen E. Miller
> >Research Assistant to William Safire
> >The New York Times