"store" 'restaurant'

[Dave Wilton]

Yes, it's a very common usage in the chain restaurant industry. Just Google
"McDonald's" and "store."

In a similar vein, a few years ago I noticed that airlines stopped referring
to "passengers," using "customers" instead.

In both cases, it shows a shift in corporate priorities--away from food
quality or responsibility for comfort/safety and toward the financial
transaction.



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Herb Stahlke
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 7:57 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "store" 'restaurant'

I got over a million hits for "payday loan store," although many
didn't include "store."  There is a payday loan franchise called The
Payday Loan Store, and one hit was a newspaper head "Armed robber
holds up Slidell payday loan store."

Herb

On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "store" 'restaurant'
>
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>
> 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:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
>> Subject:      "store" 'restaurant'
>>
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>>
>> 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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