Maybe a year ago I was listening to a comedy podcast. At the end of the episode they mentioned their web page and urged listeners to check out the merch they had for sale.
I remember listening to the sentence several times, assuming I misheard, or maybe “andise” was inadvertently edited out, but he definitely said “merch”. Since then I’ve heard it more and more. It’s used on the Uhh Yeah Dude podcast webpage, under “Categories”.
So, anyone know when “merch” became a thing? (or has it always been, and I missed it)
Well, on the off-chance that they were selling the fatty, vascular substance contained in the cavities of bones, then this isn’t a new coinage at all. “Merch” is an old word, meaning “marrow”, dating from the middle ages.
Wow. We go to a lot of shows. I just texted my gf and asked her if she knew what the word “merch” meant. She replied that it was the table where bands sold their stuff. I feel like a moron.
When I worked in retail in the late 70’s “Move the merch” was a pretty common expression, particularly in reference to what sales and promotions were supposed to accomplish.
Yeah, I’ve heard the term for a very long time, and I think primarily in retail. Seems inevitable that a long word like ‘merchandise’ would get shortened in an environment where it was frequently used. There must have been a point more recently where the term would get recognized in a less obvious content.
If you look for written instances of it instead of spoken it goes back much further than that. It’s a logical abbreviation for the word. I don’t know when MDSE was established but I find uses of merch. as an abbreviation for merchandise going back to the early 1900s with a rudimentary search.
I first noticed it when I started listening to comedy podcasts several years ago. I assumed it was insider jargon that was surfacing because of the way entertainers were now interacting more intimately with their broader audiences.
