Yesterday, a radio personality said he misunderstood someone's reference to Grandpa Pidgeon's after he'd moved to St. Louis.
Thinking this person was referring to her grandfather, he asked, "Is that a nickname? Is he a bird?"
He didn't realize that she was referring to a discount store. That reminded me of how quickly you can get used to a store name that sounds odd to anyone who doesn't have that store in their area. We don't have Piggly Wiggly stores here, for example, and if they ever opened stores in St. Louis, I'd feel awfully silly calling the store by its name--at least early on. Over time, if I heard everyone else using it, I'd likely get used to it.
Similarly, my brother mentioned Schnucks, a grocery chain here, to a former co-worker who was based in Philadelphia.
She asked, "There's a grocery store called Schnucks?"
Yes, there is. I've shopped at Schnucks frequently and had never thought about how strange that name must sound to outsiders--especially if you think it's spelled Schnooks.
