# How Common is the word Trade? As in I trade at that Store all the time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932 "2012-05-14T22:30:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/1 "2012-05-14T22:30:16Z")
I suspect this is an older regionalism. I often heard relatives say “I trade at that hardware store.” Meaning of course they shop at that hardware store. They aren’t literally trading their shoes for a garden hose. 😃 Are you familiar with the terms usage? Do you use it often? Where are you from? I use the term “trade” interchangeably with “shop”. I’m from the deep South. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/2 "2012-05-14T22:39:45Z")
I’m from the DC metro area and I’ve heard phrases like “I got to that store to trade”, but only with reference to stores where trading cards and the like are a big part of the business. I’ve never heard “trade” as a synonym for “shop”. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/3 "2012-05-14T22:55:20Z")
Webster has a close example. \*did a good trade in small appliances \* Meaning commerce. He’s selling small appliances. Not trading beaver pelts for them. 😉 > [@](#): > > a obsolete : dealings between persons or groups b (1) : the business of buying and selling or bartering commodities : commerce (2) : business, market \ \ > **[Definition of TRADE](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trade)** > > the business of buying and selling or bartering commodities : commerce; business, market; dealings between persons or groups… See the full definition Oxford is similar. It’s a synonym for commerce. > [@](#): > > 1 [mass noun] the action of buying and selling goods and services: a move to ban all trade in ivory > **[Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](https://languages.oup.com/)** > > Explore Oxford Languages, the home of world-renowned language data. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/4 "2012-05-14T23:36:20Z")
Outside of literature, I have never heard it used. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/5 "2012-05-14T23:44:12Z")
I know some people use it that way, but I’ve never heard anyone actually say it. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/6 "2012-05-15T00:31:00Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Webster has a close example. \*did a good trade in small appliances \* Meaning commerce. He’s selling small appliances. Not trading beaver pelts for them. 😉 I have only heard the term used in this fashion, in the sense of commerce, not in a regular consumer going shopping. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/7 "2012-05-15T04:17:27Z")
My dad and his brother both say it, even for a gas station. Southwest Arkansas, born 1920s. But when they were boys, the trading did sometimes go both ways, I think. Folks sometimes sold eggs to the grocer, that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/8 "2012-05-15T11:26:54Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Outside of literature, I have never heard it used. Yeah, it sounds old-timey to me. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/9 "2012-05-15T14:11:22Z")
That’s my grandparents region of Arkansas too. 😃 You make a good point that originally there was trade or barter with the stores. Back then even doctors would take farm goods in exchange for delivering babies. People didn’t always have money in the depression. I guess my grandparents continued to say “I trade with such and such store”" even when bartering had ended. They had a local grocer they traded with for over 40 years. They had credit at his store. Every month grandad paid the grocery bill. It was matter of pride that he never missed a payment in 40 years. > [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > My dad and his brother both say it, even for a gas station. Southwest Arkansas, born 1920s. But when they were boys, the trading did sometimes go both ways, I think. Folks sometimes sold eggs to the grocer, that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/10 "2012-05-15T14:28:13Z")
I’m also from the deep South and I’ve never heard that. ETA - I do, however, every so often hear a new regionalism that’s local that I’ve just never heard before. When I started working retail ten years ago I was surprised by “case quarter”, meaning an actual quarter instead of two dimes and a nickel. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/11 "2012-05-16T00:00:01Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Outside of literature, I have never heard it used. Yep. I voted “No - never heard trade used like that before” but I mean in real life. I _have_ read it in historical novels. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/12 "2012-05-16T00:24:59Z")
Yes, I know the term and have heard it used especially among older black people where I grew up (Northern Louisiana). Younger people don’t usually use it. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/13 "2012-05-16T00:55:16Z")
My grandparents both used the term. My grandfather was originally from Poland, but grew up mostly in northern Indiana. My grandmother was from Pennsylvania but lived most of her life in Indiana as well. I’ve also heard it from some of the folks to whom I used to deliver meals on wheels here in the mid-south. ---
**Author:** ![MrDurden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@MrDurden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDurden)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/14 "2012-05-16T04:34:59Z")
Never. Seems like either a very local thing (as in confined to a small town) or a couple people trying to sound unique. Probably a hold over from extremely old timers who actually used to barter for goods with success. I mean, could you imagine trying to barter at 99 percent of retail stores today? It just wouldn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-the-word-trade-as-in-i-trade-at-that-store-all-the-time/621932/15 "2012-05-16T09:15:51Z")
Yay, it is is another of those threads where the OP doesn’t seem to realise that there is a world outside of the US. Or does Europe count as East coast? You also probably should have gone with just “no” or given a “no - but I do hear it from other people” option.