"Bodega". There's another frou-frou word that seems to have shown up out of nowhere. It's a grocery store, or market. The big ones, the Safeways and Superstores, are supermarkets. Super-markets.
It's as irritating as "barista". You're a coffee waiter. First time I heard that word, I assumed it was something foreign for "female bartender".
I always assumed a bodega was a grocery store without the hygiene or safety standards, run by an immigrant of some type, because that's what they've all been.
Nobody calls the markets with clean floors, clean walls, decent lighting, and no flies a bodega.
It's been used by city-dwellers for quite a long time.
"And she said, "Honey take me dancing"
But they ended up by sleeping in a doorway
By the bodegas and the lights on
Upper Broadway
Wearing diamonds on the soles of their shoes"
Paul Simon, "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," 1986
And yeah it pretty much means shitty, dirty corner-mart. I mean, any port in a storm, and many stock fresh foods and are cared for as well as a little family can, but they don't come anywhere near the cleanliness, safety, and stability of an actual grocery store.
I have a hard time bagging on bodegas, because they're pretty much all that's left of the Mom&Pop. Supermarkets are a marvel--so much cleaner and better laid-out than when I was a kid. But I don't buy shit like General Mills, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, RJ Nabisco, Nestle, etc. and I don't like that buying food has become so centralized and homogenized.
Wal-Mart has the best bakery within 50 miles of where I live, and it is very good. The bakery is run by a lady who just happened to bounce all over the Country her whole life, spending her time baking, and her goods are fresh and great. But I find it sad that running a small business has become so onerous and punishing that she doesn't really have any options other than baking out of a Wal-Mart.
See, I'm old enough to remember what corner variety stores were before 7-11 came into the country and pretty much changed ... Americanized? .. everything. Gas stations used to be just that - gas stations. Maybe they sold smokes and had a pop machine, otherwise, they just sold gas, and maybe also had a garage for servicing (and you didn't have to mess with pumping your own damn gas.)
Now-People would probably call the little variety store on the corner a "bodega", as it was run by an Italian immigrant couple, but we just called it "the corner store"/variety store. (And yeah, he also had a little butcher shop in the back and sold a few veggies that he probably bought off the local old "babushka ladies" of the neighbourhood.) And since there were a few small mom and pop variety stores around, we just called it by the name of the owner if we wanted to be specific ... I think we only made trips to a supermarket maybe once a month back then.
Or calling dust storms in Arizona Haboobs or naming winter storms. It is white people looking for diversity points for 'cred'. Bodega is a latin american word that New York exclusively has adopted.
"Bodega". There's another frou-frou word that seems to have shown up out of nowhere. It's a grocery store, or market. The big ones, the Safeways and Superstores, are supermarkets. Super-markets.
It's as irritating as "barista". You're a coffee waiter. First time I heard that word, I assumed it was something foreign for "female bartender".
I always assumed a bodega was a grocery store without the hygiene or safety standards, run by an immigrant of some type, because that's what they've all been.
Nobody calls the markets with clean floors, clean walls, decent lighting, and no flies a bodega.
Oh, so it's a stealth insult. Good to know. :)
It's been used by city-dwellers for quite a long time.
"And she said, "Honey take me dancing"
But they ended up by sleeping in a doorway
By the bodegas and the lights on
Upper Broadway
Wearing diamonds on the soles of their shoes"
And yeah it pretty much means shitty, dirty corner-mart. I mean, any port in a storm, and many stock fresh foods and are cared for as well as a little family can, but they don't come anywhere near the cleanliness, safety, and stability of an actual grocery store.
Ehh, they're not exactly a Circle-K, or a 7-11.
I have a hard time bagging on bodegas, because they're pretty much all that's left of the Mom&Pop. Supermarkets are a marvel--so much cleaner and better laid-out than when I was a kid. But I don't buy shit like General Mills, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, RJ Nabisco, Nestle, etc. and I don't like that buying food has become so centralized and homogenized.
Wal-Mart has the best bakery within 50 miles of where I live, and it is very good. The bakery is run by a lady who just happened to bounce all over the Country her whole life, spending her time baking, and her goods are fresh and great. But I find it sad that running a small business has become so onerous and punishing that she doesn't really have any options other than baking out of a Wal-Mart.
See, I'm old enough to remember what corner variety stores were before 7-11 came into the country and pretty much changed ... Americanized? .. everything. Gas stations used to be just that - gas stations. Maybe they sold smokes and had a pop machine, otherwise, they just sold gas, and maybe also had a garage for servicing (and you didn't have to mess with pumping your own damn gas.)
Now-People would probably call the little variety store on the corner a "bodega", as it was run by an Italian immigrant couple, but we just called it "the corner store"/variety store. (And yeah, he also had a little butcher shop in the back and sold a few veggies that he probably bought off the local old "babushka ladies" of the neighbourhood.) And since there were a few small mom and pop variety stores around, we just called it by the name of the owner if we wanted to be specific ... I think we only made trips to a supermarket maybe once a month back then.
Or calling dust storms in Arizona Haboobs or naming winter storms. It is white people looking for diversity points for 'cred'. Bodega is a latin american word that New York exclusively has adopted.
"haboobs" lol