7-Eleven

[Victor]

The Davis&Izenberg 1990 parody on Stairway to Heaven has no article in
it for "7-Eleven". So, at the very least, this is nothing new.

I don't know if 7-Eleven is generic now, but it certainly was ubiquitous
in the mid-1980s both in Chicago and Boston that I've heard it used as a
generic reference to "convenient store", which, in itself, was already a
generification. Store 24 and White Hen Pantry just don't roll off your
tongue like "seven-eleven". Then, of course, there all the ethnic jokes
that involve 7-Eleven. I see nothing shocking here.

    VS-)

PS:

"7-Eleven"
(Lyrics by Mark Davis and Rob "Iceman" Izenberg (c) 1990 Screwball
Productions and Earthquake Entertainment)

There's a lady who goes to the store that won't close
and she's shopping at 7-Eleven
Down the aisle she sees Ding Dongs, beer, and Friskies
and a Snickers really satisfies her
Oooh oooh oooh
Oooooooh, make my Slurpee


Charles Doyle wrote:
> The most recent _Newsweek_ contains an article "Stealth Health for Kids"; quoting "behavioral economist" David Just of Cornell U:  "Removing food choices is a good solution until they [school children] graduate or until they go to 7-Eleven on Saturdays" (p. 46).
>
> I was unfamiliar with "7-Eleven" being used generically and abstractly (without "the" or "a" or a pluralizing "-s") for 'convenience store'.  Is that usage common somewhere?  (The phrase "go to 7-Eleven" gets a couple of thousand Google hits.)
>

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