In the US, people often sell their excess "stuff" by holding garage sales, also called rummage sales or yard sales. In some parts of the country, these are called tag sales.
Is this also a custom in England, and if so, what do you folks call these events?
I didn't find an old thread on this topic, so I hope it really is a new one.
They're also called "house sales" and "estate sales," though the latter are a little more hoity-toity (at least in the way they sound. ) than a "garage sale."
We have estate sales too, but they are for a recently deceased possessions. The usage is the same as in "estate tax".
Of the others, I hear garage sale most often, although yard sale is almost as frequent. Typically, if the stuff is set out on tables in the garage, it is a gargage sale. If the stuff is set out on the lawn or on tables on the lawn, then it is a yard sale. I'm not entirely sure of how rummage sale is used, since I hear it rather infrequently. My mother uses garage sale as a blanket term to describe them all.
We have garage sales but far more common are "car boot sales" where many (sometimes hundreds) gather to sell items that they have brought in the boots of their cars.
So common has the expression become that the advertisments now often omit the word "sale" and simply refer to them as a "Grand Car Boot".
The trouble is, whenever I go to one I seem to end up bringing back everything I've taken - plus more junk that I've chosen to buy!
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
Originally posted by Richard English: We have garage sales but far more common are "car boot sales" where many (sometimes hundreds) gather to sell items that they have brought in the boots of their cars.
So common has the expression become that the advertisments now often omit the word "sale" and simply refer to them as a "Grand Car Boot".
The trouble is, whenever I go to one I seem to end up bringing back everything I've taken - plus more junk that I've chosen to buy!
At the boot sales, do the sellers set up their wares on tables, under tents? And do you also have flea markets over there?
I know what you mean, Richard! I avoid garage sales because I always find some treasure to add to my collection of treasures, also known as "junk."
At the boot sales, do the sellers set up their wares on tables, under tents? And do you also have flea markets over there?
It depends on the sale. Some will charge extra if you bring more than will fit in the boot of the average car (if you have a van or a trailer, for example).
Flea markets are, as far as I know, a French name and invention. We sometimes have them but more often they will be given some other name. Most country shows will have some kind of secondhand sale connected with it - for vehicle shows this would normally be referred to as an "autojumble".
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
Not in the Chicago area. People with big homes in the suburbs who move to condominiums in the city have "estate sales."
Uh..., not in the South Side and southern suburbs. I've never heard estate sale in Orland Park, Tinley Park, Oak Lawn, suburbs around where I live. Of course, no one from Orland Park moves into the city who isn't a recent college graduate. This is actually pretty strange, since living in the suburbs of Chicago my whole life I've never heard this usage of estate sale.
We do have flea markets. They are typically in big warehouses/small convention type centers, which is really just a garage sale except hundreds of people bring their stuff to a communal place which isn't a garage. I imagine the etymology of this term is interesting. Typically the people at these are not just normal people trying to sell their stuff, but vendors who sell their goods frequently.
Uh..., not in the South Side and southern suburbs. I've never heard estate sale in Orland Park, Tinley Park, Oak Lawn, suburbs
I am talking about the North Shore...Lake Forest, Winnetka, Kenilworth, etc. They have estate sales. Again, I think it is a matter of semantics so that they can charge more money for their items.
BTW, I was recently in Orland Park, if that is where you are. It was beautiful!
Shucks, I try to avoid getting fleas, and you BUY them! Kalleh, there's something wrong with one of us! I agree, though, that "estate sale" is just a yuppie garbage sale for the most part.
BTW, My Dear Sunflower, remember that moving van charges by the pound!!! KISSSSSSSS!!!!!
Dear Word Detective: Why are flea markets called "flea" markets? How did they get their name and why? -- Danny Sayer, via the Internet.
Well, you've brought your question to the right place. My relatives, especiallythe ones in Ohio, seem to be obsessed with flea markets and their suburban cousins, yard sales. You could be fleeing an erupting volcano with these people (unlikely in Ohio, I know, but one can always hope), and they'd insist on stopping the car to optimistically peruse two broken toasters, three boxes of Reader's Digest Condensed Books (just add verbs, I suppose), and the ugliest collection of white vinyl pocketbooks this side of Las Vegas. To me, visiting Ohio means saying "I'll wait in the car" at least ten times per day.
There are two theories about the origin of "flea market," and although I'm fairly certain that one of them is actually a case of linguistic coincidence, we'll take them both for a spin. According to etymologist Christine Ammer, the first "flea market" may have been New York's raucous Fly Market, a fixture in Lower Manhattan from before the American Revolution until around 1816. The "Fly" came from the Dutch name for the market, "Vly" or "Vlie," which meant "valley," and was pronounced, you guessed it, "flea." Voila, "flea market." Maybe.
However, while the Fly Market certainly existed, and its name was evidently indeed pronounced "flea market," the actual origin of the term most probably lies in Paris, where Le Marche aux Puces (literally, "market of the fleas") was a popular shopping venue. Le Marche aux Puces took its name, as you might have guessed by now, from the semi-humorous (and probably at least partly accurate) popular perception that the market's ragtag goods were more than likely to be infested with fleas.
In any case, "flea market" first appeared in English in the 1920's and is most likely a simple translation of the French market's name. If "flea market" had gained currency from the Manhattan "Fly Market," it almost certainly would have appeared in print much earlier than it did.
The original flea market is likely to be the Marché aux puces of Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, a large, long-established outdoor bazaar, one of four in Paris, that earned their name from the flea-infested clothing and rags sold there. From the late 17th century, the makeshift open-air market in the town of St-Ouen began as temporary stalls and benches among the fields and market gardens where ragpickers exchanged their findings for a small sum. In modern days, the largest "flea market" for antiques is still that at Saint-Ouen.
OED says, "flea market colloq. [cf. Fr. marché aux puces, in Paris]", and it gives the first English citation thus: "1922 G. S. DOUGHERTY It is called the ‘*Flea’ Market because there are so many second hand articles sold of all kinds that they are believed to gather fleas."
The New York Times archives list three earlier usages (1876, 1890 and 1904), but with only the abstracts available, I cannot verify that they are relevant. However, this from the same source in 1925 is clearly on point:
FLEA MARKET" HAS TO MOVE; Housing Shortage in Paris Drives the Picturesque Ragpickers' Exchange Outside the City Walls PARIS. ONE of the landmarks of Paris, the ragpickers' mart, has for the second time in its life picked itself up bodily and moved across the city to a new site outside the gates. The famous Marche des Puces, to see which generations of tourists have piously journeyed, has now gone to the Plaine St. Denis.
Yes, I'm in Orland Park, at least until tomorrow morning, when I'm moving.
Anyway, I guessed that "estate sale" was used on the North Side. There is a world of cultural difference between North and South of Chicago, much more so than the difference between Cubs and Sox fans. I've run across people who live an hour away from me, around near the North Side, and they are constantly criticizing the way I talk as being different. The Super Fans from SNL(Da Bears Da Bears Da Bears), are a somewhat exaggerated example of the South Side. The Suburbs are less likely to stand out, as they are sort of blended, but my father is from closer to the city, and is father is from the south side, so I've sort of picked it up.
Yes, Sean, there are North side/South side differences in Chicago. I remember once we were going to get a gift for someone in our department. I wanted to buy something, but 2 other faculty members wanted to give cash. When I objected, saying we could at least give a gift certificate, they sniffed at me and said, "Kalleh, it is surely apparent that you are not from the South Side! We on the South Side like the cash!"
Speaking of a South side/North side rift...I see the Cubs took the series from the Sox today.
Interesting to learn of this north/south divide since there is a similar one in London.
North Londoners (north of the Circle Line) will rarely travel south and south Londoners will rarely travel north. Nothing to do with the public transport, which is fine. It just that, so far as I am concerned, it's Tiger Country north of Euston.
There's a similar east/west divide, too, and has been one for hundred of years. The "artisans" have always lived east of The City* and the "clerks and nobs" west of it.
(*The City is the orginal square mile of London and is still the financial district. Few tourists visit the City and many do not even realise that it exists as a quite separate entity from the rest of London).
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
North Londoners (north of the Circle Line) will rarely travel south and south Londoners will rarely travel north. Nothing to do with the public transport, which is fine.
Some might say that Chicago's is due to a racial divide, but I don't think that's the only factor. I'm not sure that I'm knowledgeable enough to analyze it because I am not originally from Chicago, but to me, the "hard core Chicagoans" are those who come from the South Side. That's why those faculty members so proudly said, "We know what she'd like because we are from the South Side." I'd have never thought about it in that way.
) than a "garage sale."
I agree, though, that "estate sale" is just a yuppie garbage sale for the most part.
