Date:  Fri, 28 Oct 1994 16:07:38 EDT

From:  Terry Lynn Irons <t.irons[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSUACAD.MOREHEAD-ST.EDU>

Subject: Re: buggy vs. cart



Growing up in Ohio, I always heard people use the term "cart" or "grocery

cart." I lived in Missouri for ten years and all I heard was the same term

"cart" or "grocery cart." I lived in Georgia--northeastern corner a stone's

throw from the Alabama border--for two years, and it was there that I first

heard the expression "buggy" to refer to what I always called a grocery cart.

Of course, I pay some attention to language choices people make, but I

remember that this term really stood out when I first heard it. I at first

thought the term had some semantic difference associated with it--what

people called a "buggy" at this one local store--with lots of local poor

working class people (not the shopping mall types)--was a huge plastic

shopping cart (on wheels of course). But I soon determined that the term

"buggy" extended to include wire carts as well. Having heard the term in

no other regions where I have lived (Except I do hear it some now in Kentucky)

and hearing no reports of such use in other regions, as indicated in

responses so far to the list, I think it may be safe to conclude that

the use of "buggy" to refer to a shopping cart is a distinctive southern

feature. Which was the original query, I believe.



P.S. I was a Yankee living in the South, and I felt the sort of exclusion

others have mentioned--this is in the rural areas. I realized I would

probably never be truly accepted, even if I joined the Baptist Church

and married a local gal. SO I left.



Terry



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Terry Lynn Irons    t.irons[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]msuacad.morehead-st.edu

Voice Mail:       (606) 783-5164

Snail Mail:       UPO 604 Morehead, KY 40351

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