In the old Elvis Presley song, “Let’s Have A Party”, part of the chorus goes, “Send to the store, let’s buy some more, Let’s have a party tonight.”
But that doesn’t make sense. Send who to the store? The houseboy named Kato?
It could mean sending a delegation of revelers to buy more beer, but that doesn’t sound right either. Wouldn’t they say “go out for more beer” rather than send to the store?
Is “send to the store” a regional (presumably Southern) expression for “call up the store and order a delivery”?
AFAICT, this is just a trivial variant of the extremely common usage “to send out for something”.
Yes, such expressions date back to the days when the usual way of obtaining commercial goods was to literally send a household servant, or business employee, to a supplier. The person sent was tasked either to purchase and bring back the goods or simply to carry a message requesting that the goods be delivered by the supplier.
Yes, in the old days there were such things as “delivery boys” who brought the groceries right to your door. In fact, self service groceries are a relatively recent invention. At one time you went to the store, gave the grocer your list and he assembled the package of goods which you could take home with you or have sent out to the house.
The song was written by Jessie Mae Robinson. I can’t find out much about her, but she’s credited with songs as far back as 1950 so she probably grew up in the days before supermarkets were standard in the south.
