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Bodega Poll - Page 2 — Brooklynian

Bodega Poll

2

Comments

  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    1. there is some discussion about whether smoking is actually forbidden by islam or only considered not so good. for more: http://www.alinaam.org.za/library/char/cigar_smok.htm

    2. what's so wrong with calling corner stores bodegas? it seems to me like a nice example of american speech absorbing words from the languages of the people who live here, and not only the ones who came here speaking english. (not to say that loanwords are a particularly american phenomenon -- that's just how language works and how people work too. man, i love to watch linguistic evolution in action!)
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    oh, I don't have a problem with corner stores being called bodegas. I'm reacting to someone (and I admit I don't know who the OP on this issue is) saying that it was a "dominican bodega".
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    i didn't mean you, alafairnadia -- i thought your point about spanish word vs. spanish slang was interesting. it's just that liftandcut said it was arrogant and annoying to call corner stores in non-Latino neighborhoods bodegas.

    and i don't see any practical distinction between the two shops closest to me, one of which is run by dominicans (known to me as "bodega hola baby", after the greeting i get there) and the one on the next block run by yemenis.

    and not that most here count it as PH, but hola baby (aka Brooklyn Deli on prospect and franklin) is my favorite, for the record. it's close, coke is $1 instead of $1.25, i like the greeting, and they're attached to a restaurant (cafe hola baby, or brooklyn heroes) with tasty hot food and a friendly cook from st. lucia.
  • candicissima
    candicissima
    sweet tea wrote: what's so wrong with calling corner stores bodegas? it seems to me like a nice example of american speech absorbing words from the languages of the people who live here, and not only the ones who came here speaking english. (not to say that loanwords are a particularly american phenomenon -- that's just how language works and how people work too. man, i love to watch linguistic evolution in action!)
    But all corner stores aren't bodegas. My rule of thumb is yellow awning thing, bodega. Any other kind signage, not a bodega.
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    i'm very attracted to your yellow-awning definition.

    but it does put me in a quandry:

    bodega hola baby = dominican, but new red and blue sign.

    the yemeni place = yellow awning, but not dominican


    is either one a bodega? both?
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    I first put it out there about Yelison being a Dominican spot because the original owners are Dominican and I think the current ones are. And please, absorbing terms? Ridiculous.
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    liftandcut wrote: And please, absorbing terms? Ridiculous.
    no, it's not.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loanwords

    when you eat a taco or a bagel or a croissant, when you go for a walk in the californian chapparal with a bandana on your head, when you act as a a yente over a cup of chai, setting a friend up for a date with some putz at a pizzaria, those are all terms "english" -- a term i use loosely -- has absorbed from other languages. without them, we'd still be gargling our way through anglo-saxon.

    so. please tell me what, beyond ownership and awnings, distinguishes a bodega from a corner store. what will i see/hear/buy at one and not another. it's not as if i've never been called arrogant or annoying, but i do like to know the details of my crimes.
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    liftandcut wrote: Ok, guys, let's get the terminology right first. The stores you have been mentioning are not necessarily bodegas. Yelison is a Bodega because it is owned, or was owned, by Dominicans. Yelison is actually not the technical name of that store anymore, as the family that owned it sold it to the new owners about two years ago. The previous owners named it Yelison in honor of their eldest son. Other Latino-owned stores are also called Bodegas. The stores on the two corners of Washington and St. Johns are not Bodegas. They are "Muslim stores." However, my friends and I usually refer to the smaller one as "Muhammad's," or sometimes, "Abdullah's." I call the renovated one "Sal's," and more recently it has aquired the tag of "corner store."
    wait, why isn't Yelison the "technical" name of the store anymore? that's the name on the sign. presumably that's the legal name of the store.
    and what do they give a fuck about legality? the owner has a fuckin' machete behind the counter which he whips out to threaten black customers who request services like lucy's. note a cute joint at ALL.
  • withachaser
    withachaser
    i'm old-skool when it comes to bodegas. they should have evreything one might need/crave on an emergent basis, such as a selection of beer and butts, ice cream, chips, cat and dog food and some manner of milk before expiration date. ice, postage stamps, advil -- also 'musts.' that being said, my favorites are on vandy and st marks (and they are always singing along to the merengue and salsa they pipe through the joint -- really great pleasant guys -- i wish they were open later). and, the one on underhill and bergen. they are usualy well-stocked and do a decent hero and are open better hours.

    i live yards away from the one on prospect and underhill and have no idea how they stay in business. they have very little on the shelves at any given time and close early. they are very nice, tho. and have suffered more than their share of community menacing and violence, of which i was the witness on more than one occasion.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    alafairnadia wrote: ...to threaten black customers who request services like lucy's.
    I thought they were "loosies" (like a loose cigarette rather than a whole pack).
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    lucy's.
    Yeah, it is "loosies." That's really hilarious. I remember when loosies were 10 cents on 110th St.
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    wait, why isn't Yelison the "technical" name of the store anymore? that's the name on the sign. presumably that's the legal name of the store.
    I seem to remember that when the ownership changed, so did the legal name, but I can't remember what it is.
  • vanilla
    vanilla
    sweet tea wrote:
    2. what's so wrong with calling corner stores bodegas? it seems to me like a nice example of american speech absorbing words from the languages of the people who live here, and not only the ones who came here speaking english. (not to say that loanwords are a particularly american phenomenon -- that's just how language works and how people work too. man, i love to watch linguistic evolution in action!)
    yes, this idea of "aborbing" is indeed the nature of both american language and culture. in terms of the the word "bodega":

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodega
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    Carnivore wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]...to threaten black customers who request services like lucy's.
    I thought they were "loosies" (like a loose cigarette rather than a whole pack).

    yeah, that's what I get when I post really late at night. oh well.
  • pensodyssey
    pensodyssey
    liftandcut wrote: "Bodega" refers to a grocery store located in a Latino or "Hispanic" neighborhood. They do not necessarily have to be owned by Dominicans. But to say that any corner store is a bodega is incorrect, and rather arrogant. It's a mistake often perpetuated by people who are not from New York and quite frankly, it's very annoying.

    Consider this thread...













    GENTRICONFRONTED(tm)!!!!!
  • isa
    isa
    I call all stores bodegas. I call Target a bodega.
  • pensodyssey
    pensodyssey
    Isa wrote: I call all stores bodegas. I call Target a bodega.
    YOUR NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT!!!!!11
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    pensodyssey wrote: [quote=Isa]I call all stores bodegas. I call Target a bodega.
    YOUR NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT!!!!!11

    per the gentribodegaconfrontation rules of engagement, only stores with yellow awnings are bodegas. unless you're trying to fight a guerillabodegawar.
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    I call all stores bodegas. I call Target a bodega.
    That's really funny. But come on people, is a Korean market a bodega? Many of us who grew up in the boroughs are accustomed to using different terms to describe these businesses, because there are often specific cultural identities associated with them.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    liftandcut wrote:
    I call all stores bodegas. I call Target a bodega.
    That's really funny. But come on people, is a Korean market a bodega? Many of us who grew up in the boroughs are accustomed to using different terms to describe these businesses, because there are often specific cultural identities associated with them.
    That's a little different because the Korean grocers traditionally carried a different product line, focusing more on fresh produce, flowers (more recently), and other higher-end type items. I think many of the middle-eastern store owners follow the bodega model more closely, and could rightly be called bodegas (especially if they have the yellow and red sign/awning thing going on).
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    well, my favorite part about the NYC bodega nomenclature is how WRONG it is. :) not one of these stores [in nyc] traditionally called a bodega is a WINE CELLAR. cripes. I love knowing Spanish. in any case, for those who don't comprehend, see below:

    http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dict_en_es/spanish/bodega
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    That's a little different because the Korean grocers traditionally carried a different product line, focusing more on fresh produce, flowers (more recently), and other higher-end type items. I think many of the middle-eastern store owners follow the bodega model more closely, and could rightly be called bodegas (especially if they have the yellow and red sign/awning thing going on).
    No, it's not any different. People use terms because they like to and that makes them reluctant to change. Black folks are addicted to using the term "nigger," or "nigga," because they can't imagine not using the term as a term of "endearment," when in fact it is detrimental to the culture. People use the term "ghetto" to describe something that is substandard because it is easy and makes them laugh, although it is offensive. Middle Eastern store owners aren't following the bodega model. They just own a stores that might happen to be similar. Ar you saying that a Korean market is called so because of the products they carry? That seems a tad ridiculous.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    liftandcut wrote: Middle Eastern store owners aren't following the bodega model. They just own a stores that might happen to be similar. Ar you saying that a Korean market is called so because of the products they carry? That seems a tad ridiculous.
    I think you're a little confused. "Korean" refers to the people. "Bodega" refers to the store. "Bodega" is not a race, and anyone can open one, regardless of their ethnic background.
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    I think you're a little confused. "Korean" refers to the people. "Bodega" refers to the store. "Bodega" is not a race, and anyone can open one, regardless of their ethnic background.
    Absurd. Why can't you accept that "bodega" refers to a specific kind of store? How can you debate that fact that the word "bodega" has a specific cultural denotation? How about admitting first that before this thread was started, perhaps you did not know that the word "bodega"refers to a specific kind of store?
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    liftandcut wrote:
    I think you're a little confused. "Korean" refers to the people. "Bodega" refers to the store. "Bodega" is not a race, and anyone can open one, regardless of their ethnic background.
    Absurd. Why can't you accept that "bodega" refers to a specific kind of store? How can you debate that fact?
    I'm not debating that fact. I'm just debating your assertion that a store run by people of middle eastern descent can't be one of them. It's the type of store, not the proprietor that makes the bodega.
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    Untrue. Is a Jewish deli a bodega? I've been to a couple that sell merch I've seen in bodegas.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    liftandcut wrote: Untrue. Is a Jewish deli a bodega? I've been to a couple that sell merch I've seen in bodegas.
    A Jewish deli is a specific, different type of store defined by a different type of product. Jewish delis don't have to be run by Jews either (although the good ones are).
  • whyfi
    whyfi
    4 words - Vietnamese. French. Pastries. Mmmm.
  • idlewild
    idlewild
    Laura B wrote: [quote=Idlewild]I like the one on Prospect and Underhill.
    Really? What's the appeal? They seem to have almost NOTHING except for lottery tickets and a few stray peppermint candies.

    The owner's a nice guy, always says "good morning", he gives me quarters when I ask no hassles ans his Poland Springs are ice cold. If personality and cold water don't make for a nice bodega then I don't know what does.
  • idlewild
    idlewild
    Carnivore wrote: [quote=liftandcut]Untrue. Is a Jewish deli a bodega? I've been to a couple that sell merch I've seen in bodegas.
    A Jewish deli is a specific, different type of store defined by a different type of product. Jewish delis don't have to be run by Jews either (although the good ones are).

    What about Katz's? It's mostly Puerto Ricans behind the counters. And they make mean sandwiches.
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