# 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:** 2
**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, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/21 "2006-02-12T19:15:33Z")
> [@Dryfreeze](#): > > After taking a look at that survey, I can not possible think what the “other” choices might be . . . Now, _that’s_ the FUN question! I’ll start with Four-wheel wheelbarrow Trundle Motorless racer Kid hauler ---
**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, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/22 "2006-02-12T19:16:54Z")
I couldn’t ever bring myself to call it a buggy either, and I lived in North Carolina for several years. I hate that word, too. ---
**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, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/23 "2006-02-12T19:17:26Z")
> [@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). Hm. 90+% of over 10,000 respondents either called it a grocery cart (14%) or a shopping cart (77%). ---
**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, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/24 "2006-02-12T19:17:52Z")
> [@trublmakr](#): > > I couldn’t ever bring myself to call it a buggy either, and I lived in North Carolina for several years. I hate that word, too. I lived in NC too; I think it was my refusal to call it… that… that got me labeled a damn yankee 😉 ---
**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, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/25 "2006-02-12T19:19:52Z")
The only other person outside of the family in law that I have heard call it a buggy was the overly flamboyant gay sales clerk at walmart. He put a trashcan lid, the kind with the swinging door, on his head and said “Oh look an R2D2 helmet,” and proceeded to tell me that “In the south, we call it a buggy.” By the way, this was in Clarksville, TN (Fort Campbell, KY), the gateway to the new south as they like to call it . . .hrmph. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/26 "2006-02-12T19:21:04Z")
_Wagon_ is New York usage; _carriage_ is New England. ---
**Author:** ![IUchem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@IUchem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IUchem)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/27 "2006-02-12T19:47:20Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Now, _that’s_ the FUN question! > > I’ll start with > > Four-wheel wheelbarrow > Trundle > Motorless racer > Kid hauler gondola? ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/28 "2006-02-12T19:48:38Z")
As someone who shoved the damn things around parking lots for three years in my teens, I can say with authority that they’re called “shopping carts.” ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/29 "2006-02-12T19:53:26Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > As someone who shoved the damn things around parking lots for three years in my teens, I can say with authority that they’re called “shopping carts.” As another who worked in a grocery store, the managers insisted on calling them “buggies” (it turns out they’d been instructed to to give the store a more friendly image :rolleyes: ), everyone else called them carts. I HATE the word buggy. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/30 "2006-02-12T20:21:26Z")
I call it a shopping cart or just a cart. Most people around here call it a buggy. My friend Tracy calls it a basket, which gave me much confusion when I first started shopping with her, as, to me, a basket is the thing with handles, but not wheels, that you carry around. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/31 "2006-02-12T20:26:05Z")
Everbody knows it’s a buggy. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/32 "2006-02-12T20:39:04Z")
[Here’s a buggy](http://www.designboom.com/history/cart/m12.jpg) [Here’s another one](http://www.designboom.com/history/cart/m11.jpg) (yes that’s a steering wheel at the top). [The buggy in a gay pride parade](http://leinysgarage.com/photo3/images/2002/Pride%202002/Pride2002%20022.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/33 "2006-02-12T20:40:32Z")
Round here buggies are found in the company of horses and Amish folk. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/34 "2006-02-12T20:44:40Z")
We call them _carriages_. Once in awhile you’ll hear “cart”, but chances are the person calling it such is not from around here. I’ve never heard of calling it a _buggy_…huh??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/35 "2006-02-12T20:53:35Z")
When I lived in Ontario, they were called buggies. Now that I live in Florida, I call them shopping carts, so as to blend in with the natives. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/36 "2006-02-12T20:56:29Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > _Wagon_ is New York usage; _carriage_ is New England. True. Shopping/Grocery Carriage and Shopping Cart are about 50/50 here. I think I personally use carriage more often (some of the signs say “carriage corral” so it shows you how common the use is), but I know I use both. The only buggy I know of is [this](http://www.hubcapcafe.com/ocs/pages01/bug_7003.htm) and they don’t often come up in conversation. I suspect, however, that people who call one of [these](http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/diana/earls.daughter/gallery.html) a “buggy” are also going to call what you put food in a buggy too - we use carriage for babies here. Both contraptions have four wheels and a large space to put contents, so it makes sense to use similar terms for both. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/37 "2006-02-12T21:33:15Z")
I put food into the basket of my shopping cart. Buggy is not a word I want associated with food. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/38 "2006-02-12T21:33:35Z")
Until this thread I had no idea it was called anything other than a shopping cart. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/39 "2006-02-12T21:34:51Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > When I lived in Ontario, they were called buggies. Now that I live in Florida, I call them shopping carts, so as to blend in with the natives. Yes. Shopping Cart. I was born and raised in the South and never, ever heard them called a buggy. Ever. As to the Other catagory- How 'bout Roller-Bearing Mounted Consumable Replenishment Unit ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/40 "2006-02-12T21:35:15Z")
Shopping cart or trolly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131.md?page=1) [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=3)