"Foodstore" (was Re: Eggcorn?)

Wed May 18 18:48:10 UTC 2005

Fritz, I think this is probably just another indication of how your speech
became hopelessly corrupted during your sojourn in Minnesota.

I've always said I'm "going to the store," and the place where I was going
was, specifically, a "groshry store."  Like Wilson, when I say I'm "going
shopping," I'm probably going to buy clothes--at any rate, not groshries.
I don't think I've ever called a groshry store a "food store," and I'm sure
I've never gone "food shopping."

Peter

--On Wednesday, May 18, 2005 10:40 AM -0700 FRITZ JUENGLING
<juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US> wrote:

> Yes, we do say foodstore and we go food shopping. I would never say
> grocery in either (btw, pronounced groshery). I don't claim, however,
> that this is widespread or that anyone else in Oregon says it. Poll of
> students: most say groshery store, some supermarket, none foodstore. Fritz
>
>>>> wilson.gray at RCN.COM 05/18/05 10:17AM >>>
> Hm. You guys say "foodstore" and not "grocery store"? Interesting. How
> about shopping? Do you also say "go foodshopping?" FWIW, for me, going
> to the grocery store to shop is simply "going to the store" and "going
> shopping" means going downtown or, nowadays, to the mall.
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
> On May 17, 2005, at 5:12 PM, FRITZ JUENGLING wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US>
>> Subject:      Re: Eggcorn?
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> Yes, some people DO buy morning glory seeds.  That reminds me of when
>> my wife and I were in the foodstore shortly after we moved to
>> Minnesota. We were in the fresh produce area and saw, to our great
>> disbelief and amazement--blackberries!! The price was ridiculous--
>> several dollars for a a large handful--but the fact that they were
>> there was enough to make my wife laugh.
>> Fritz J
>>
>>>>> wilson.gray at RCN.COM 05/17/05 11:07AM >>>
>> An excellent question! I was hurt to see my beloved Southern
>> honeysuckle derided in a Northeern news article as an "invasive weed."
>> On the other hand, I was shocked to see that no less a company than
>> Burpee sells morning-glory seeds. There are people willing to pay for
>> *morning-glory* seeds?! What's next? People buying jimson-weed seeds?!
>>
>> -Wilson Gray
>>
>>
>> On May 17, 2005, at 12:17 AM, James C Stalker wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> nder:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: Eggcorn?
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -
>>> --------
>>>
>>> Some pop culture impetus to "spreading like wildflowers."  Dolly
>>> Parton does
>>> a song in which she maintains that "wildflowers don't care where they
>>> grow,"
>>> suggesting moving on, spreading out, etc.  As I was engaged in the
>>> manly
>>> ritual of taking out the garbage tonight, I took stock of my yard and
>>> decided that I was going to have to do something about the
>>> forget-me-nots,
>>> phlox, and buttercups, which/that are taking over my garden.  They are
>>> all
>>> native to Michigan and love the cool weather.  They don't care where
>>> they
>>> grow, especially given the fertilizer and watering I've provided.  In
>>> fact,
>>> they are spreading like wildflowers.  There seems to be a definition
>>> problem.  What constitutes a "wildflower"?  A delicate thing that
>>> needs a
>>> very specific enviornment, or a hardy flower that's cute in the woods
>>> but is
>>> a weed in our garden?
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>>
>>> Jonathan Lighter writes:
>>>
>>>> The good news is that Google as yet provides no hits for "spreading
>>>> like wallflowers."
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>>
>>>> Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>>> Poster: Laurence Horn
>>>> Subject: Re: Eggcorn?
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> -
>>>> ---------
>>>>
>>>> At 12:33 PM +0100 5/12/05, Michael Quinion wrote:
>>>>> A subscriber has e-mailed me thus: "I am a college instructor, and
>>>>> the other day I was grading papers when I came across this: 'In the
>>>>> early 1960s, rock and roll was spreading like wildflowers.' I found
>>>>> it oddly apt and a little poetic, if totally wrong."
>>>>>
>>>> It may be wrong, but it's spreading like...well, let's see:
>>>>
>>>> "spreading like wildfire" 42,200
>>>> "spreading like wildflowers" 352
>>>>
>>>> Larry
>>>>
>>>> __________________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> James C. Stalker
>>> Department of English
>>> Michigan State University
>>>
>>

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