"store" 'restaurant'

[Herb Stahlke]

I've heard it from corporate officials of other sorts of chains,
including McDonald's and one of the payday loan chains.  I found it
odd too, but it seems to be corporate speak.

Herb

On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 10:21 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      "store" 'restaurant'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> yesterday i overheard staff of the local Gordon Biersch restaurant
> consulting about managing their website and referring to the three Bay
> Area restaurants (S.F., Palo Alto, San Jose) as "stores" throughout.
> later i asked the manager about this, and he said that was the way
> they referred to the locations in-house -- because, after all, they
> sold things.  i noted that people generally didn't refer to
> restaurants that way, and that there were other places that sold
> things but were not referred to as stores (in general, places that
> sell services are not referred to as stores).
>
> NOAD2 says "a retail establishment selling items to the public".  that
> excludes places that sell services, and also wholesalers, but there's
> still a fairly big gray area, turning on what counts as an "item".
> what about art galleries, sandwich shops, ... and restaurants?  (i see
> that NOAD2 treats delicatessens as a type of store.)
>
> has anyone experienced "store" referring to a restaurant?
>
> arnold
>
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