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These are shops?

10/5/2016

1 Comment

 
Since working in a junior school, I have discovered something that I find quite sad: fewer and fewer children know the generic names of shops.
 
I was taking a group of 10-year-olds through a literal comprehension question that asked them to list the four shops you would find in a high street that sell bread, shampoo, magazines, and fruit and vegetables. The answers I got were: Tesco, Budgens, Martins, Boots and various other brand name stores. They are right of course, and two of them are grocers and would sell all of the above (not that they knew what a grocer was), but obviously that wasn’t what the question meant!
 
So, the ensuing conversation went something like this:
 
Me:        “So, at what type of shop, other than Tesco or any other supermarket, can you buy                   bread, cakes, and sandwiches from?”
Child:    “Dorringtons.”
Me:        “Yes, but what kind of shop is Dorringtons?”
Child:    “A shop that sells bread, cakes and sandwiches” (Said with rolled eyes!)
Me:        “It’s called a bakers.”
Child:    “Really? Are you sure? I’ve never heard it called that before.”
 
I decided to try a change in tack …
Me:        “What do you think you might buy in a chemists?”
              Blank look from child.
Me:        “It’s somewhere you can buy shampoo, makeup, creams …”
Child:    “Oh, you mean Boots.”
 
Me:        "What about a newsagent?”
Child:    “What is a newsagent? Never heard of one of those.”
Me:        “Somewhere you can buy newspapers, magazines, sweets …”
Child:    “Oh, you mean Martins.”
 
Me:        “Ok, how about a greengrocer?”
Child:    “A WHAT?!” 
 
I suppose it is inevitable with today’s convenience shopping. I wonder how much longer these words will exist in our language?
1 Comment
Nicholas Beltran link
23/11/2023 06:20:17 pm

Interesting read.

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    Mary's musings ... 
    (Mary Bate)
     

    Freelance proofreader, copy editor and teaching assistant.

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