Re: 33-A in today’s Saturday Stumper and a question in a comment:
A 1958 note in American Speech investigates usage: “Five-and-Ten, Five-and-Dime.” The unidentified writer, who grew up in New York City, recalls the five-and-ten-cent store, the five-and-ten, and the ten-cent store as the terms in use in his youth. He thinks that ‑dime forms are latecomers, with their fortunes on the rise. But is he happy about that?
To my ear, the expressions dime store and five-and-dime (store ) have an air of affectation. Several other native New Yorkers to whom I have put the question feel that the dime-expressions have pretensions.That’s as far down that rabbit hole as I’m gonna go.
There’s also variety store. Did that term catch on when prices made five and ten and dime implausible?
[The article is available from JSTOR. Anyone without library access can create a free account to read a limited number of articles each month. I can’t type that sentence without thinking about the short, tragic life of Aaron Swartz.]
comments: 10
One of Nanci Griffith's best songs is called "Love at the Five & Dime." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GK462XnRjQ
She was from Texas. Where I grew up the usual term was "dime store."
That’s beautiful. I know that song, somehow, Chris — maybe from something on your blog.
Mmmm. Og sad. Og want share Nanci song. Og too slow. Og go back to cave now...
But seriously, for a year I had a cassette tape stuck in my car’s player... the one pictured in this link: https://youtu.be/cgGG61nQX0w
My commute was just long enough to listen to the whole cassette. I became very well acquainted with “Love at the Five-and-Dime” as well as every other song on it. There was only one song on it that would remotely consider “not good”.
Steven
https://dcmny.org/do/2cf93613-a78b-468e-b212-0502d60e488a
Happy fathers day
Another rendition of that song is welcome here — thanks.
And thanks, Anon., for the good wishes and the variety store. There’ll be a Woolworth tax photo coming next week.
The fellow dancing on the right might be familiar. Probably the first I'd ever seen him—even before I picked up his album "Pontiac".
https://extremegeographer.com/images/photos/news/2021_08/2021_08_18_my_tribute_to_nanci_griffith/album_icons/joined/1986-The_Last_of_the_True_Believers.jpg
one more variety store
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:0c483k66d
I didn’t recognize him — I had to look it up. It makes me think of Rickie Lee Jones on the back cover of Tom Waits’s Blue Valentines. In other words, who’s that?
Thanks for the variety store, Anon. I like the deodorant above the gift wrap.
wpa poster
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/cph/3f00000/3f05000/3f05500/3f05588r.jpg
That’s an evocative poster. Thanks, Anon.
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