# Incredibly common products which the store clerk never heard of **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225 "2021-09-23T21:29:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/21 "2021-09-24T15:29:17Z")
Growing up in the deep south, that’s what we always called a sling blade or swing blade. In fact, there’s a Billy Bob Thornton movie from 1996 by that very name. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/22 "2021-09-24T15:37:10Z")
Is that also called a scythe? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/23 "2021-09-24T15:57:00Z")
Sort of. But isn’t a scythe characterized by a curved blade? [![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0478/9073/products/foam_scythe_700x700.jpg?v=1585035301) ](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0478/9073/products/foam_scythe_700x700.jpg?v=1585035301) ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/24 "2021-09-24T16:01:48Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Recently I went to a store with a large lawn care section and asked where I could find a grass whip. Apparently that doesn’t qualify as incredibly common nowadays because no one had ever heard of such a thing and they don’t carry them. “Some people calls it a grass whip but I calls it a sling blade, uhn huhn”. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/25 "2021-09-24T17:25:31Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Is that also called a scythe? No, a scythe’s a little different. @ThelmaLou’s picture has a scythe blade; but I’ve never seen a handle like that on a scythe. [ETA: you hold them differently than you would a weed whip, and your body moves differently using one.) I’ve seen either this style: > **[vidaXL Scythe with Grinding Stone 56.3" | vidaXL.com](https://www.vidaxl.com/e/vidaxl-scythe-with-grinding-stone-56.3%22/8718475885177.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkbyfu4-Y8wIVu8mUCR3gkgdiEAQYAiABEgJywPD_BwE)** > > vidaXL Scythe with Grinding Stone 56.3" from vidaXL ► Free shipping on all products ✓ Great deals ✓ Live it up for less or this type: > **[Home](https://scythesupply.com/)** > > Scythe Supply offers European style scythes, scythe blades, snaths, whetstones, hammers, anvils and equipment. We are scythe enthusiasts and want others to discover the rewards of using this elegant tool. Light, sharp and effective this scythe will... Also, while there are weed scythes (the blades will be shorter and sturdier), they’re very often harvest tools, designed to cut a sizeable swath of hay or grain with each sweep of the tool. People cut whole fields with scythes, and a few people still do; would take you forever with a weed whip, which is designed for small areas. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/26 "2021-09-24T18:25:40Z")
For the record, I blame all the years I spent cleaning ditch banks with a sling blade for my inability to play golf worth a plugged nickel. When using a sling blade you want to consistently have the blade moving just a little bit above the ground to make a nice clean cut with a neat appearance. Hitting the ground with the blade is a VERY BAD THING. It rattles your arms and pulls your shoulders, not to mention dulling the blade. Therefore, when I try to play golf I am almost completely incapable of getting the club head all the way to the ground and under the ball. I will invariably lift the club about 1/4" or so and strike the ball firmly around its equator. On a flat course I can drive a worm-burner 200+ yards, but introduce any hills or depressions or other variations in the terrain and I may as well go home. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/27 "2021-09-24T19:08:28Z")
I was once hunting for parsnips in a local supermarket and couldn’t find any, so asked the staff, assuming I was just missing seeing something right in front of my face, because that happens to me sometimes. They’d never heard of them, both the man I spoke to, his manager, and another staff member they called over. Parsnips are a staple in British cuisine and this was a major chain supermarket in London (in the right season, too). It was really really odd. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/28 "2021-09-24T19:40:38Z")
I’ve had to tell the checkout clerk the names of vegetables they’ve never heard of. The only one I can remember right now is a rutabaga (which you Brits call a Swede, I believe), but there have been others. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/29 "2021-09-24T19:48:05Z")
When I was younger and drinking, I encountered many bartenders that didn’t know the difference between a margarita and a frozen margarita. I can’t count the times a bartender told me they couldn’t make a margarita because they didn’t have a blender. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/30 "2021-09-24T19:48:25Z")
This was basically the same as having to explain what a potato is. They’re really really common, basic veg in the area I was shopping. FWIW rutabaga is a swede in England, and a turnip in Scotland. Turnips in England are very similar, but white in colour rather than purple. I’d find it weird for staff in England not to know at least what a turnip is too (it is used in a lot of winter stews and the like), but the different terms would make it a little more understandable. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/31 "2021-09-24T19:51:05Z")
I’ve been on the other side of this when I worked at a grocery store in my teens. I frequently got asked for things I’d never heard of : sanitary napkins (she first asked for napkins, so I pointed her to the paper goods aisle, but then she corrected me and said , ‘no, I meant the sanitary kind’.) Being asked where he could get ‘package goods’, which confused me, because everything we sell comes in some kind of a package for the most part (apparently it referred to alcoholic beverages, but I have no idea why) Being asked for ‘dressing’ and finally figuring out that what she wanted was Miracle Whip, which I had never heard referred to that way. And I worked there for seven years (although not in the produce department), and never encountered ‘dried mushrooms’. Never stocked them, never got asked for them. And then there were the people who asked for things that, to this day, I haven’t encountered, like the man who wanted ‘rabbit repellent’ and was furious that I couldn’t tell him where it was. He insisted he’d bought it here before, but I have no idea what he was looking for. No one else I worked with had heard of it either. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/32 "2021-09-24T20:17:26Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > I’ve been on the other side of this when I worked at a grocery store in my teens. Me too. My first job, at age 16, was in a huge suburban supermarket. That was almost 50 years ago, but I can still remember my confusion at being asked about things I had never heard of, or how customers would get irritated when I didn’t have the entire store inventory memorized. Hell, I haven’t even heard of some of the products mentioned in this thread. I imagine that some of our customers later laughed to their friends about the stupid kid who didn’t know where the parsnips were. Fortunately there was no Internet, so they couldn’t tell the whole world. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/33 "2021-09-24T20:18:36Z")
Did you encounter dried mushrooms? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/34 "2021-09-24T20:19:13Z")
Nope. In fact, I didn’t know that dried mushrooms existed until today. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/35 "2021-09-24T20:23:16Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > No, not a power tool; at least, I’ve never seen the term used for one. > > [Google image: lots of pictures.](https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=grass+whip&client=firefox-b-1-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijkcD-4ZfzAhV8QzABHZaeBxQQjJkEegQIFxAC&biw=594&bih=311&dpr=3) Ah, yes-an idiot stick. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/36 "2021-09-24T20:30:11Z")
The OG margarita, from Hussong’s, is so different than what the new set drinks, they have almost nothing in common. [The story of the original margarita, as told by Hussong’s Cantina - Las Vegas Weekly](https://lasvegasweekly.com/nightlife/cocktail/2012/sep/05/story-original-margarita-told-hussongs-cantina) **Ingredients:** _2 oz. Clase Azul reposado tequila_ _1 oz. triple sec_ _1 oz. agave nectar_ _1½ oz. lime juice (from half a lime)_ _Kosher salt (for rim)_ Note this is also wrong. They almost certainly didn’t use Clase Azul reposado tequila, just whatever they had. Nor agave nectar. Note no ice. This is a simple, hard drink. I have had a couple there, in Ensenda, in that true dive bar. Mind you, the one in a blender, with all the ice and sweetness is much more refreshing. But this will lay you out. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/37 "2021-09-24T20:30:34Z")
I bought a grass whip a few years ago. Around here you ask for a “lawn scythe.” ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/38 "2021-09-24T20:32:41Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Nope. In fact, I didn’t know that dried mushrooms existed until today. Dried mushrooms are a thing … but at least around here, they are much more a niche product than they are a cooking staple. Nicer groceries will have them, many places won’t. … As far as grass whips go: I’ve seen the ones that look like short-toothed rakes and thought they were simply a type of rake. Around here (SE Louisiana), I doubt one in 1,000 adults would know what a “grass whip” is. First I’ve ever seen or heard of that term was ten minutes ago in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/39 "2021-09-24T20:35:52Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > I imagine that some of our customers later laughed to their friends about the stupid kid who didn’t know where the parsnips were. Fortunately there was no Internet, so they couldn’t tell the whole world. I really cannot overstate how common parsnips are. If I’m asking for something unusual, I don’t expect all the staff to know what I’m talking about, but these are literally as common as potatoes in winter in England. You know, like the thread title was asking for. Also neither the staff member, the manager, or their colleague were kids. But in England it would be a very unusual kid, as in 7 years old, who didn’t know what the word “parsnip” meant. I wasn’t being a difficult customer and kinda resent the suggestion that I was. A few times I’ve asked if they had slightly more uncommon items (cous cous and pak choi are two of them) and they didn’t know what I meant, but although they really are pretty common, and usually in stock at the supermarket I was asking in (and they actually had multiple varieties of cous cous, they’d just re-shelved them), I could understand an individual staff member not knowing what I meant. Parsnips are basics where that shop is located, though. It’d be like working at a clothes shop and being baffled by the word skirt. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225/40 "2021-09-24T20:40:53Z")
Goodness! I’m surprised about dried mushrooms. I use them at least once a week, and dehydrate shiitakes and portabellas at least once a month. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incredibly-common-products-which-the-store-clerk-never-heard-of/951225.md?page=3)