So is it a buggy or a cart? I am not sure why but in the south a shopping cart is referred to as a buggy. Sure I had heard the term back home but not in common usage like it is here. I have actually had people correct me when I called it a cart. When you look up the term buggy as a quick internet search, you end up with things horses pull, things you put babies in and fun machines you drive on sand dunes. In comparison when you look up cart it shows thing obviously intended to be used to carry items not people in.
Interestingly more research shows that the original shopping cart was named a "Folding Basket Carriage for Self-Service Stores" in the late 1930s and early 1940s when the patent was applied for. Men didn’t like them because they were girly and women did not like them because they seemed to mimic a baby “buggy”. Ahhh there is that buggy thing again. No matter that they were not received well at the beginning, they have obviously caught on since they are at just about every store in some form or fashion these days.
To me the comparison to a baby buggy seems to make sense and is a very acceptable reason to call it a buggy rather than a cart. I do find it interesting though that even Wikipedia lists the South as the only region other than Pittsburgh in the US that calls it a buggy. Either way I really have no preference one way or the other as long as people take the time to put them away when they are finished using them!
Carts are something you pull and buggies are something you push. Anyway, that is what I was taught.
ReplyDeletei worked at a grocery store when i was in highschool, met one of the designers of the modern buggy or shopping cart....know what he called them?
ReplyDeleteBeing a "northern" immigrant to the south I, too, call it a "cart." I do thank you for your history lesson and agree with you....call it what you want....but PUT IT BACK where it belongs. I don't need another ding in my car or drive to several parking spots because "whatever you call it" was not put back. :( ..Keep writing!
ReplyDeleteGlad you got your site going and will be anxious to see what's next. You have a great start.
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