7-Eleven

[Wilson Gray]

The first 7-Eleven that I ever came across was in Davis, CA, back
in1971 - thought that it was just a local mom&pop operation (thought
the same thing when I saw my first McDonald's in 1957). From then till
now  is enough tie for the the name to become generic.

-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain





On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 6:23 PM, Victor <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Victor <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: 7-Eleven
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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.
>
> Â  Â 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: Â "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'. Â Is that usage common somewhere? Â (The phrase "go to 7-Eleven" gets a couple of thousand Google hits.)
>>
>
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