# Do Car Boot Sales exist in the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2004, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789 "2004-01-05T11:25:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/1 "2004-01-05T11:25:36Z")
The BBQ pit about yard sales started me wondering: In the UK, yard/garage sales are very uncommon; instead, people tend to dispose of their stuff at organised ‘Boot Sales’ - the seller turns up with a car boot (or sometimes a van) full of junk, pays for a pitch and sets up a junk stall (usually on a walpaper pasting table) - half the day will be spent selling items. Do organised Boot Sales exist in the USA? (I was going to post this in GQ, but it is probably more of a poll, since things might vary from one region to another). ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/2 "2004-01-05T11:31:22Z")
Here such a thing would be called a “flea market.” (I might add that selling stuff out of the trunk of your car (by yourself) is usually considered shady, but flea markets are perfectly respectable.) Usually flea market sellers have a whole van full of stuff, or sometimes a trailer. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/3 "2004-01-05T11:32:17Z")
What’s a car boot? And how much stuff fits in one? Flea Markets are very common, especially in the 'burbs and the midwest. These are organized events, usually lasting a day or two, at which people selling all manner of things can come and set up a table in a big convention hall or similar venue for a nominal fee to hawk their wares. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/4 "2004-01-05T11:34:06Z")
we call the trunk the boot in the uk. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/5 "2004-01-05T11:38:34Z")
Ah, OK. You guys and your boots and lorries and lifts and chips and fags and bloody wankers confuse the hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/6 "2004-01-05T12:05:00Z")
If a flashlight is a torch what’s a torch called over there? I’m seriously wondering. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/7 "2004-01-05T12:17:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clayton\_e \* > \*\*If a flashlight is a torch what’s a torch called over there? > > I’m seriously wondering. \*\* You mean a flaming torch of the sort that the villagers wave when they arrive _en masse_ to destroy the laboratory of the evil scientist? We don’t use them anymore. It is also becoming quite uncommon to see people wearing armour. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/8 "2004-01-05T12:21:35Z")
The only things I have seen people selling out of the back of their car are some Kahuku sweet corn they grew on their family farm, some sea food they recently caught or some flowers they’ve grown. When I’ve seen people sell their used items it’s always been at a garage sale or flea market. I agree that doing so would seem very seedy. The only references I can think of doing so are all from TV or movies and involved selling stolen TVs or VCRs. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/9 "2004-01-05T12:25:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*You mean a flaming torch of the sort that the villagers wave when they arrive _en masse_ to destroy the laboratory of the evil scientist? > > We don’t use them anymore. It is also becoming quite uncommon to see people wearing armour. \*\* But we would call them torches. Or brands. Or “No, no, flaming lit things, nt _electric_ torches.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/10 "2004-01-05T12:59:14Z")
Quite right; on those extremely rare occasions when it is necessary to describe a flaming torch, the extra word (‘flaming’) isn’t an unacceptable overhead. Incidentally, can anyone tell me whether ‘flashlight’ predates ‘torch’(in the electric, battery operated sense) and whether the term ‘flashlight’ existed and gave way to ‘torch’ in the UK, or vice versa in the USA)? ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/11 "2004-01-05T13:47:46Z")
**Mangetout** , apparently, _torch_ in the UK as a word for a handheld illuminating device originated in the 13th c. and simply carried forward from flaming brands to the electrical version. _Flashlight_ seems to be a later American word. [Online Cite](http://www.etymonline.com/t5etym.htm) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/12 "2004-01-05T14:05:17Z")
It’s not too rare to see someone in northeast Florida sitting in a deserted lot at an intersection selling their yard sale junk from their car or van. I’ve seen goods arrayed on the vehicle and spread on blankets on the ground. Some of the better prepared sellers have tables. Lots of people sell litters of dogs this way too. I’ve never stopped at one of these sales, but I’ve roamed many a flea market, and rented space myself on a couple of occasions to unload my junk. I think it cost all of $12 for a day. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/13 "2004-01-05T14:46:10Z")
Well the inventer, an American, called it [“an electric hand torch.”](http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story014.htm) Provided of course the site is reliable. Apparantly we switched to a more descriptive name, so says [Energizer batteries.](http://www.energizer.com/products/faq.asp?q=42#42) You’re just lucky you guys don’t call it a Hubie. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/14 "2004-01-05T14:51:33Z")
Or was it [David Misell](http://www.geocities.com/~stuarts1031/flashlight.html)? I can’t imagine you folks calling it a Misell though. Oh well, joke go poof. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/15 "2004-01-05T15:06:26Z")
Are stolen items fenced in the UK with the phrase “it fell off the back of a truck?” That shows a bit of a sleaziness associated with such activity here, as if the seller may have a reason to shut the trunk and move along in a hurry any second. I’ve only seen produce and fireworks sold this way. We have more houses with driveways, too, and one person selling things scattered around their driveway or yard for a day is called a yard sale; some city people use their stoops if they have them. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/16 "2004-01-05T15:24:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mehitabel \* > \*\*Are stolen items fenced in the UK with the phrase “it fell off the back of a truck?” \*\* “Fell off the back of a lorry” is indeed the popular UK idiom to describe an item of dubious, probably illegal origin. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/17 "2004-01-05T15:29:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mehitabel \* > \*\*Are stolen items fenced in the UK with the phrase “it fell off the back of a truck?” \*\* “It fell off the back of a lorry” is genuinely the UK version of that. And boot sales are jam-packed with hot merchandise and knock-off merchandise, as well as legit householders shifting their excess junk. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/18 "2004-01-05T15:33:27Z")
Car boot sales arent dodgy they’re mostly people trying to sell they garbage that they found in the attic(sp?) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/19 "2004-01-05T16:28:10Z")
Or indeed trying to sell stuff that they bought at a boot sale the previous weekend - these places have a culture all their own. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789/20 "2004-01-05T16:29:54Z")
So, where people in the UK DO have front yards and driveways, do they have yard sales to get rid of their junk? And how big can the boots in those little Yurpeen cars anyway? d & r [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-car-boot-sales-exist-in-the-usa/222789.md?page=2)