a cross the pond friend responded to some comments i made about candy to ask, by candy do you mean sweets, short for sweetmeats?
and i realized yes, i do, and there are some stores that sell candy; candy stores. (they might have the word 'confectioner' in the store name, but i realize i am likely to define them as candy stores. (when i was a kid, stores that sold candy, magazines, newspapers, fountain sodas and ice cream were generally called just candy stores.
what are now generally called bodega's- were then just called general stores or sometimes deli's (but deli's were really something different!)they were small neighborhood stores that sold common groceries, more expensive than grocery stores, but closer and more convenient, and more likely to offer short term credit-all of which bodega's now do!
fancy candy stores, were chocolatiers. (that might be spelled wrong!) there was only one in the extended neighborhood, Krum's. it also sold fountain soda's and icecreams. (as a young teen, it was considered a nice place for a date!-it had waitresses in uniforms and a general fancy air.) regular candy stores were everyday places, and there were spaced out just a block or two apart!.
my friend across the pond reminded me that sweets is short of sweetmeats- which again make me think of the past meaning of meat which was more general and show up in compound words like nutmeat, and mincemeat.
i can't think of any flesh words though.. (since there once was a distiction between meat and flesh!)
so how about you? where did you by your candy/sweets as kid? and where now? sweet shops? tobacco shops? confectioners? somewhere else?
and how about groceries? bodega is a spanglish term that is universal now in NY... what do you call small shops? deli's? something else?
a food post
