mcsnee

We all still call it a supermarket here in your old region of New England. Young and old alike. At least EVERYONE I KNOW does...

what am I supposed to be calling it?

ok, I guess I do refer to it as the grocery store too. Is that acceptable?

Grocery store? Whatever the store's name is? I'm not too clear on that part either.

(though I think we could make a concerted effort to bring "the mercantile" back)

Obama says we need to eat less food so the French will like us, so we might as well just close all these places.

I just say I'm going to "the store," or sometimes "the grocery store." I suppose occasionally I say I'm going to "Safeway" (assuming I AM going to Safeway). Never ever "the supermarket." Sometimes when we are being facetious we call it the Mini Super, which is what storefronts say in Mexico. :)

I would totally lol if Code Red referred to it in all seriousness as the supermarket.

DON'T YOU GIVE ME THAT LOOK JUST BECAUSE I'M OLD AND NEW ENGLANDY!

I still say 'supermarket' or 'grocery store' when referring to the place that most of my food comes from. ::shrug::

Of course, I am super New Englandy. But since New England was here first, I contend that whenever dialect differs between New England and the rest of the country, the rest of the country is wrong.

New England was here first, I contend that whenever dialect differs between New England and the rest of the country, the rest of the country is wrong.

That is fantastic! I'm whipping that one out the next time I get made fun of for saying, "wicked awesome." Obviously anyone who doesn't say it is wrong.

Yeah... I'm beginning to think it's a New England/East Coast thing.

I'm older than you, but I'm not a NE/EC person, so I guess I have different insight. :)

I've never heard that "supermarket" is out, and I use it once in a while. I prefer "the store" or the name of the store, though.

I still call it the supermarket. Or grocery store. I didn't know we weren't supposed to call it supermarket anymore :(

I always say "the store," which, oddly enough, confuses my boyfriend. He'll only understand me if I say "grocery store." "Supermarket" is okay too. I wouldn't call it a pretentious term.

However, I love "the mercantile" and want to start saying that instead.

Old, young, whatever. Everyone around here calls it the Grocery Store.

And by defining it as passe, you have now opened the gates for hipsters to adopt and overuse the term ironically. I fully expect a band called The Supermarkets to form and play at a dive in Brooklyn somewhere within the next two weeks.

For sure, I think at least one person from Liars or TVOTR was in that group and they've already broken up.

I say supermarket, grocery store, the name of the store, or store. Almost interchangeably, I don't even think about it.

But, I did spend many of my formative years in New England, so I am not to be trusted.

grocery store is fine, just dont call it Walmart.

I'm around the same age as you and from NJ. Everyone back home said supermarket. Either that, or "going to the Acme". Out here I usually hear grocery store or just "food shopping".

I'm guessing that supermarket is a more New England term since I don't think I ever use it. I don't think of it as an old person term or pretentious though - just I don't hear it much out loud so I'm not in the habit of saying it.

I say "grocery store" or that I'm going "Kroger-ing" if the shoe fits.

I DO love saying "supermarche" - as in French for supermarket. Marche is more fun to say than market. lol

I enjoy the word "mercantile" but for some reason, when I hear it in my head, it is being spoken by Montgomery Burns.

I think it depends on whether you wear your slacks and carry your pocketbook when you go there.

What??? I mean, I don't tend to use that word(1) but I'm young, and I wouldn't think someone was old or pretentious for calling something a supermarket. That's...baffling. I'm pretty sure it's a word that my (similarly-aged) colleagues use pretty regularly.

1. I usually say "the grocery", which I've been told is totally weird if you don't put "store" at the end of it, so what do I know?

I say "grocery store," unless I'm going to Trader Joe's, in which case I say "Trader Joe's."

You don't just say "Trader's"?

Huh... then Singapore's full of old people. Or pretentious people.

Is "restaurant" still okay?

The last time I heard someone under the age of 70 call it a supermarket was in 1979. It's called the grocery store, the store, or the proper name of the store.

If I wanted to sound pretentious I'd call it 'the grocer' or 'the green grocer'

I usually say grocery store. I don't think that it's old person or pretentious just regional. The freaks here in Wisconsin call water fountains bubblers.

I say supermarket, although I have been feeling pretty old lately. But everyone I know says supermarket, too.

Obviously, mercantile beats any name for that place where one purchases food. You should definitely stick with that. It will in no way make people think you are a pretentious dick. You should probably say it a lot and loudly as you make your way down the aisles. You know, something like, "How delightful it is to be able to procure fresh produce in the local mercantile. Ooh, shallots! How delicious!"

Here in the UK, it's definitely a supermarket. Grocery or grocer's would be considered archaic.

I use "grocery store." Unless it's the Community Mercantile, which I call the Merc (as does everybody). If I called somewhere else the mercantile it would confuse anyone who lives in this area, but maybe it's different other places.

I'm from the South, young (23), only slightly pretentious, and I say "supermarket".

However, I also say I'm "makin' groceries", which is definitely a Louisiana thing.

This not-old plains-stater still finds "supermarket" acceptable, though students under the age of 24 or so rarely use it; small-town kids are more likely than big-city kids to say it.

But I learned to pronounce the "wh" sound differently than the "w" sound, which is archaic, so what do I know?