27 April 2008

T, please

I think if I could only shop at stores that began with one letter for the rest of my life I'd choose "t".

Target
Trader Joe's
TJ Maxx
The Gap (It counts. I made the rules**.)

And I bet there are more...
But, really, who could need more than that?

The mall doesn't and would never count. I am mall-phobic. Too many people there. And, as my friend Marina told her husband about me, after he was protesting that she shouldn't say that they didn't like people, "It's okay. Kate doesn't like people, either." I pointed out that I greatly enjoy persons--many individuals. I just don't like people--a big group of them. (It counts. I made the distinction.) Actually, I like to be in FRONT of them, just not in AMONGST them.


Okay--choose your letter. What letter would you choose?

**"The" counts only if it is now or ever was on the store's signage for as long as I can remember. It does not count when applied in the (infuriating) midwestern tendency to refer to all places as "the + proper noun"--the Kroger, the Target, the Applebees, etc. And I really, REALLY wish people would quit saying "you welcome" instead of "you'RE welcome, but that's another post.

Yes, this flash of insightfulness came upon me all of a sudden last night...much like the time I decided if I could only eat foods starting with one letter it would be "p".

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

don't have a letter per se...hmmm...and I hve never heard others say you welcome...what the F &$% is that..wow...

Debi

MoscowMom said...

You crack me up! I'll have to think about that one... "T" is a darn-good candidate, though...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Kate, you're a pisser...

Anonymous said...

I think I'll go with B:

Borders
Barnes and Noble
BX
Baker's (grocery store)

P would be runner up:
PetSMart
Petco
(JC) Penney

I like Target a lot. Hear a lot of good things about Trader Joe's, but have never had one where I lived.

I wonder how you'd do with the open-air "malls" we're going to in the US. Not so crowded, like the indoor malls. But, really, in February in Omaha when it's 2 degrees out, who's going to walk waaaay across the parking lot to get to a store at the other end of the "mall"? I've seen open-air malls in more temperate regions where the parking is around the perimeter. Somebody didn't think our new "mall" through very well.

I'm another one who's never heard "you welcome." Can't say I've heard too much "the Target," either. Maybe it's a different part of the Midwest where they do that.

Oh, and BTW, one of your favorite "T" stores (Target) has a number of elephant garden statues right now. Very India-Indian looking. Reminded me of the elephant statue in front of the place I stayed in Edinborough, which I'd forgotten about.

Maggie said...

OK, Kate, the letter thing is getting a little weird. :-)

And I've never heard anyone say "you welcome" either. I do hate it, however, when someone says "thank you" and the other person responds with "no problem." I think it sounds so rude and dismissive.

Rachael said...

I think the T's have it on 3 of 4 counts. I never have much luck at TJ Maxx though. I think it's best to shop there when you aren't really looking for a specific item, just browsing for treasures. And, since I don't really like to shop that much at all, plus, I always seem to have a kid in tow, so I'm usually wanting to get what I need and GO!

Oh, if ONLY we had a Trader Joe's close by. Chicago is the nearest. Which I suppose is a lot closer than for you, so I'll just shut up with the complaining now.

AdoptaMama said...

All of my favs start with different letters, although Target is right up there with the best of 'em.

As far as "you welcome," I think I know what you mean. Not that people actually mean to say "YOU welcome" but that they're too freakin' lazy to put the "'re" at the end of the phrase? Is that what you mean, because I hear it ALL THE TIME and my grammar-obsessed self isn't liking it.

Oh, and on the midwest "the Target," etc.? Color me guilty. I don't say it in public, nor do I mean it as it sounds, but growing up in WI where I did, we had what we now call "Boston Store," but back in the day it was known as "THE Boston Store." This always struck me and my sisters as funny when our mom or grandmas said it. So, to this day, we refer to ALL stores as "The (fill in the blank)," hence The Target, The Old Navy, and so on (oh, and The Gap, for example is referred to by us as The The Gap). ;)

Holly said...

I: internet! Unless you want to refer to it as "the internet". T then.

I loathe crowds to the point that I won't go to the movie theater anymore unless it's the last showing or the first matinee in the middle of the week.