bodega

[Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM]

I'll weigh in with another, mostly duplicative, data point. Sallie speaks for
me, except that I would use the word *only* for a Spanish-speaking store of this
description, i.e., one catering to primarily Spanish-speaking custom. I find
Grant's writeup: Grant, does a small neighborhood grocery store have to be
Spanish-speaking for you to call it a bodega, or doesn't it? I suppose I could
speak of a "Korean bodega", but that would be clearly an extension, which I
could gloss roughly as 'a bodega, except that it's Korean instead of Spanish':
"instead of" marks the extension beyond the normal sense.

I would agree with Grant's first paragraph, below, insofar as *comprehension and
possibly use* of the word, rather than reference, extends beyond the hispanic
community (oy, let's not get into (L/latino/a)/(H/hispano/ic)!),

I also grew up (age 7-20's, late fifties to early seventies) on the Upper West
Side of NYC: 82nd, 79th, 104th, and 123rd Sts., the last being definitely
Columbia U. area, but also the shortest period; then East Village thru early
eighties.

Sallie Lemons wrote:
>>>
          [...]     from "street"
experience living in NY (and attending college/grad school on the upper west
side
near Harlem), a bodega is a small, grocery/convenience store. I think I've even
seen the word on the store fronts near school or on the very upper east side
(Spanish Harlem). There is nothing urbane about them (i.e., a place to drink
wine).
<<<

Grant Barrett wrote
>>>
That the Times article uses "bodega" freely indicates to me that the word
surpasses
the Latino community.

In my experience, bodegas surpass ethnic boundaries: they can be found (and
called
such) in every neighborhood I have lived and all I have visited, Latino or not.
I
would say that a "bodega" and a "Korean grocery" on opposite corners of the same
intersection serve the same customers--in non-Latino neighborhoods. Bodegas in
Latino
neighborhoods serve a non-commercial, social function as a place of gathering
and gossip,
unlike Korean groceries.

A definition I wrote of bodega for a newcomer a couple of years ago: Usually on
the
corner. Windows covered with promotional signs and stickers for cigarette
companies.
Spanish-speaking men standing outside telling tall tales and discussing sports
and
politics. An Optimo cigar sign, a Lotto machine and laundry soap in faded boxes
in the
window improves the odds it is a bodega.
<<<

   Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist and Manager of Acoustic Data
         Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Dragon Systems, Inc.
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
                     (speaking for myself)