Word for the Wise, August 18

[Uadzit]

Topic: Terms of retail

In case you haven't marveled recently at the rapidity with which the world is changing, consider this: it was on August 18th, 1872 that Montgomery Ward produced his first mail order catalog. It was only a single sheet, but it was a big hit among rural residents without the access to merchants enjoyed by their more urbanized American cousins. Within two decades, that page had grown into a five-hundred plus page catalog, and Montgomery Ward eventually opened his first brick-and-mortar store.

Now the heyday of mail-order shopping has ended and e-tailing—retail business conducted online via the web—is ascendant.

But between the first print appearances of the terms mail order in 1867 and e-tail in 1995, plenty of other retail oriented terms also have been born. Consider brick-and-mortar, a 1992 coinage for "relating to or being a traditional business serving customers in a building as contrasted to an online business." Then there's shopping bag, which dates back to 1886.

And although the term shopping mall made its first appearance in 1959 and strip mall in 1977, those expressions claim an ancestor in the 17th century mall. The original mall named an alley used for pall-mall, a 17th century game played with a mallet and ball. London's famous promenade mall was originally a pall-mall alley; its design of public areas with pedestrian walkways led naturally enough to its application to shopping areas used by the public.

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.  

[chessiejo]

that was fascinating!

so should we pronounce "mallet" to rhyme with "wallet" then, to match it's origin?

or should we make "mall" rhyme with "pal"?  

[Rosenfall]

eek  

[seaheartbb]

woah  

[Eggy-Egg]

8D Wow, that sure is fascinating!