# Market

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/market/161176>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 13, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/market/161176 "2003-03-13T21:17:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![danblack99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@danblack99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danblack99)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/market/161176/1 "2003-03-13T21:17:49Z")

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Why Do they call a flea market a flea market.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/market/161176/2 "2003-03-13T22:23:41Z")

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It’s a direct translation from the French term _marche aux puces_. The fleas were thought to be in the goods, because they were of the kind to attract vermin. The earliest English use we have found dates from 1922.

> **[Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](https://languages.oup.com)**
>
> Explore Oxford Languages, the home of world-renowned language data.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/market/161176/3 "2003-03-13T22:25:07Z")

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Welcome to the boardss, by the way. A good fisrt question.