# 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:** 3
**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, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/41 "2006-02-12T21:39:57Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > Yes. Shopping Cart. I was born and raised in the South and never, ever heard them called a buggy. Ever. Which part of the South? I was born and raised in Savannah and I’ve never heard it called anything other than buggy. ---
**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, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/42 "2006-02-12T21:50:09Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Which part of the South? I was born and raised in Savannah and I’ve never heard it called anything other than buggy. Florida with time all over the State and in Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/43 "2006-02-12T22:01:16Z")
“Buggy”? WTFFF? I’ve never heard that one before. They’re shopping carts, duh! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/44 "2006-02-12T22:07:07Z")
A cart. That is when I’m at the grocery store (or do you say, “supermarket?”). Now, if I’m at the Soapbox Derby, and I was discussing grocery shopping, I’d refer to it by the formal name “Shopping Cart” so as not to confuse it with “Go Cart.” ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/45 "2006-02-12T22:11:14Z")
Trolley. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/46 "2006-02-12T22:25:00Z")
> [@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. ‘Buggy’? In Ontario? Where? I’ve always called them shopping carts. Southern Ontario, within four hours of Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/47 "2006-02-12T22:25:39Z")
If you really want to rub in the snobbiness, call’em: _Premium Foodstuffs Caddies_ ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/48 "2006-02-12T22:31:33Z")
They’re called a trolley over here. ---
**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, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/49 "2006-02-12T22:40:15Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > ‘Buggy’? In Ontario? Where? I’ve always called them shopping carts. Southern Ontario, within four hours of Toronto. I’m from Hamilton, and maybe it was just the older people in my family who called them buggies. But I’m sure I heard other people call them buggies, too. ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/50 "2006-02-12T22:49:43Z")
In Ireland, they are… Shopping trolleys. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/51 "2006-02-12T23:16:25Z")
> [@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). That makes sense. The places in Michigan that use buggy appear to be metro Detroit and the Ypsilanti/Milan corridor (as well as can be determined from square pixels on a distorted map) which would be the location of a lot of folks who migrated up from Kentucky and Tennessee. Similarly, Ohio’s pixels are at Akron/Canton (strong West Virginia and Pittsburgh influences) and Columbus and Dayton (strong West Virginia and Kentucky influences). ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/52 "2006-02-12T23:46:21Z")
They’re called shopping carts here in Houston. ---
**Author:** ![eusta\_backhoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/aca169/32.png) [@eusta\_backhoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eusta_backhoe)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/53 "2006-02-12T23:54:43Z")
buggy? Sounds like something her humorous granddad said once to be funny that she picked up as real. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/54 "2006-02-13T00:03:57Z")
As the two ex-NC posters noted, it’s pretty common to hear “buggy” here. I call it basically anything, but now I am going to start calling it a carriage or a wagon. ---
**Author:** ![Dryfreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@Dryfreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryfreeze)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/55 "2006-02-13T00:35:32Z")
I think I’ll drop my usage as the shopping cart and start calling it a wagon just to iritate Mrs. Dryfreeze (the buggy user) ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/56 "2006-02-13T00:47:52Z")
> [@pendgwen](#): > > Until this thread I had no idea it was called anything other than a shopping cart. Neither did I, although I now remember hearing it referred to as ‘shopping carriage.’ Not by me - I call it a cart. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/57 "2006-02-13T00:55:01Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > I’m from Hamilton, and maybe it was just the older people in my family who called them buggies. But I’m sure I heard other people call them buggies, too. I have a feeling my English grandparents may have used that expression. Maybe it’s more common in England? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/58 "2006-02-13T02:35:40Z")
It’s a cart – a “shopping cart” if I need to distinguish it from something such as [this vehicle.](http://www.fluffytails.ca/COSTARIC/oxcart.jpg) > [@FilmGeek](#): > > Buggy is not a word I want associated with food. Guess you wouldn’t have been swayed to buy a certain salad dressing (I remember the brand name as “Pennsylvania Dutch”) by its commercials, which featured an Amish-looking man delivering the product to town in a conveyance [much like this one.](http://pjccmall.com/images/shop/mah_buggy65.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/59 "2006-02-13T16:38:31Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I have a feeling my English grandparents may have used that expression. Maybe it’s more common in England? Never heard them called that. We call it a trolly. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-thing-you-put-the-food-in-at-the-store-what-do-you-call-it/344131/60 "2006-02-13T17:20:51Z")
We call it a buggy or a cart. But, we call those handheld shopping baskets, buckets, because that’s what my son called them when he was little. [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=2) [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=4)