# That thing you put the food in at the store . . What do you call it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131 "2006-02-12T18:47:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dryfreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@Dryfreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryfreeze)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/1 "2006-02-12T18:47:14Z")
This qualifies as a great debate in my household; however, I am not sure here. When you are at a grocery store, supermarket, one of those _fancy_ all in one stores like Walmart, what do you call that metal thing with wheels that you put your items in? I am from central Indiana as is my wife; we call it two different things. I am of the shopping cart school of thought while she insists it is a buggy. I constantly tease her that there are no horses pulling it around. 😛 Just a simple question, what do you call it? P.S. I hope I did post this in the right place . . I almost made it a pit. . . ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/2 "2006-02-12T18:49:20Z")
Ummm it is OF COURSE a shopping cart. You are SO right!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/3 "2006-02-12T18:52:42Z")
That’s a cart. Show the missus the signs in the Wal-Mart parking lot asking you to put your own carts away to help them keep costs down (which really piss me off, but that’s for another thread). Tell her Sam agrees with you. I’ve only heard “buggy” used ironically, when I was younger and used to go grocery shopping with my buddies. It was one of many humorously ill-suited near-synonyms we would use to amuse ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/4 "2006-02-12T18:52:50Z")
In my area it’s as often a cart as it is a buggy. Some stores even cheat and call them bascarts. What’s sad in my neighborhood is that they’re scattered about the sides of the roads blocks away from the stores that provide them. Homeless or carless shoppers is all I can figure. Eyesores, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/5 "2006-02-12T18:55:16Z")
I call them “shopping carts” or just “carts.” I’ve heard Brits call them “trolleys,” which is the American English word for what the Brits call “trams.” ---
**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:** [February 12, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/6 "2006-02-12T18:55:17Z")
Buggy? BUGGY? Basket, maybe. Cart, definately. But buggy? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/7 "2006-02-12T18:55:32Z")
I’ve always called it a buggy. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/8 "2006-02-12T18:55:41Z")
A cart or a trolly. ---
**Author:** ![Dryfreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@Dryfreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryfreeze)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/9 "2006-02-12T19:00:26Z")
Finally people on my side here. Her family agrees it is a buggy. HA I have proof now!!! It is a shopping cart. Thanks Uncle Sam (Walton) ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/10 "2006-02-12T19:00:44Z")
It’s a buggy, of course. People will understand you if you call it a cart but they will look at you a little funny. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/11 "2006-02-12T19:02:26Z")
Shopping cart. I’m from Wisconsin, but have lived in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Maryland for extended periods of time, and never heard any term used except for ‘cart’. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/12 "2006-02-12T19:05:38Z")
Shopping cart or grocery cart. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/13 "2006-02-12T19:06:50Z")
When I lived in the South, they were called buggies. When I lived anywhere else, they were called carts. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/14 "2006-02-12T19:07:54Z")
If you want the results of a survey asking this very question, [click here](http://cfprod.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_75.html). ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/15 "2006-02-12T19:08:27Z")
Was always a cart until I moved here. Of all the weird words I’ve had to relearn, trolley has been the easiest by far. I catch myself saying “trolley” and think… Wow, that’s weird! But you’d have to have me on my deathbed before you’d hear me call it a buggy. I hate that word, for no good reason at all. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/16 "2006-02-12T19:10:10Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I hate that word, for no good reason at all. Drives you buggy, does it? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/17 "2006-02-12T19:11:51Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Drives you buggy, does it? Heh, I resisted the temptation 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/18 "2006-02-12T19:11:57Z")
Well, that would be a shopping cart. ---
**Author:** ![Dryfreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@Dryfreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryfreeze)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/19 "2006-02-12T19:13:09Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > If you want the results of a survey asking this very question, [click here](http://cfprod.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_75.html). After taking a look at that survey, I can not possible think what the “other” choices might be . . . ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/20 "2006-02-12T19:13:26Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Heh, I resisted the temptation 😉 I’ve found the best way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131.md?page=2)