WotD: hardware store

[muckefuck]

1. der Eisenwarenladen
2. de ijzenwinkel
3. la ferreteria
4. la ferretería
5. le magasin à ferraille, le magasin de quincaillerie
6. y siop nwyddau haearn/metel
7. an siopa crua-earraí
8. sklep z narzędziami
9. 철물점 (鐵物店)
10. 五金店 wǔjīndiàn

Notes: Been meaning for over a week to make it to Clark-Devon Hardware for some drain cleaner but circumstances have conspired against me. Finally I decided a weekday morning trip would be most foolproof. I was in and out in a jiffy--which frankly is a bug rather than a feature. Next time I'll try for a Saturday morning, when the...ahem...browsing is at its most rewarding.

Comments

Fun figuring out what "this" item is...

[geargail.livejournal.com]

Have to admit --- at least I feel better knowing that someone "knows" what it's like to have to buy cleanser and is unfortunately stuck at a location where there's a different take on it. (( Usually, I feel so intimidated at the hardware store... because the guy had XXX amount of experience and I lack that.))

Yes, I do realize that you've got a career in Foreign Languages --- that's all wonderful.

Somehow have you ever talked to someone at length, at a hardware store - other than in English ? Did you feel more confident, or less so ? Did you have to return an item... and unfortunately, you couldn't get the person working there to understand why...

It kinda tears my heart out --- how difficult it is to just be understood.

At least somebody cared enough that you found the aisle with the cleanser.

... have a good weekend.

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

Ooo - a timely one! I saw the Ferreteria in Barcelona and wondered aloud if they sold ferrets. Or wrought iron. Looks like the second guess was closer. %)

I saw the Ferreteria in Barcelona

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

There is more than one hardware store in Barcelona.

You can find ferrets (hurones) for sale on Las Ramblas.

"Ferretería" comes from the Latin word for iron: ferrum. The "tería" means a place where that product is offered. Like cafetería.

Chuck

Re: I saw the Ferreteria in Barcelona

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

In Catalan, fura. So a place that sells ferrets could conceivably be a "fureteria". (Cf. La Fureterie, a French forum for the discussion and appreciation of ferrets.)

Re: I saw the Ferreteria in Barcelona

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

I doubt that you would find a shop that just sold ferrets. The biggest "pet shop" I know of is called "Mr. Guau Center" on C/ Aribau. (They do sell ferrets.) It is a small chain with stores in Barcelona Province. Unfortunately their website is only in castellano, despite the fact that the proprietor's first name is "Jaume".

Most who live here are bilingual. Even my partner, whose first language is Catalan, mixes the languages in conversations. So despite all the "language purity" you hear from politicians here, the reality is that most people on the street mix the two. If you go into a shop and say "bon dia" and the seller replies with "buenos días", you know to switch to castellano.

Chuck, records des de Barcelona

[chinesestudio.livejournal.com]

Do you know anything about the etymology of 五金店, or I guess more specifically the compound 五金? A Google search for 五金 on its own makes its meaning fairly clear, but the compound itself is a bit obscure seeming in terms of how it got formed, so I hoped you might shed some light.

(PS Hi, I found your blog via linguaphiles and you're an interesting-seeming guy, so I decided to follow you. Hope you don't mind!)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

You're familiar with five phase theory? Each of the five "elements" is associated not only with a particular directions and animal but also a colour, a smell, a taste, a sacred mountain, a race of barbarians, a fruit, a grain, and so on and so forth. So "five" comes to express "all sorts of". (Cf. "seven seas" in English.) Thus 五金 or "five metals" really covers all the sorts of metal known to us and--by extension--objects made from them.

drain cleaner...

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, the best way to clean a drain is pour about a cup of table salt in it, top off with a cup of white vinegar, wait a minute, and then chase with boiling water. Also it cleans your sink at the same time, leaving more freedom to drink tea (as long as the water is boiling, you might as well get a cup of tea out of it.) Gwyn

[mollyc-q.livejournal.com]

When I worked at the bookstore there was one fellow clerk who had at least 4-6 young men who would come into the store when she was on shift and at the counter buying the equivalent of a pack of gum just so they could get a few minutes at the register with her. She was significantly othered and I do not know whether she realized what was going on or not . But I have to say as a spectator - it was really really sweet and hilarious - none of these guys were stalking her, they could barely keep from tripping over themselves in her presence and we sold, I would guess 20-30 notebooks, a bunch of pens and lots and lots of postcards - and that's just when I happened to be at the front of the store....

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

I don't think you can buy drain cleaner in an Eisenwarenladen. What you mean here is called der Baumarkt. :-)

[areia.livejournal.com]

I couldn't think what the correct usage was in Dutch, but reading your comment I think it's very close to the German. There's de ijzerwarenwinkel, where you're more likely to find tools, doorhandles, letterboxes; and then there's the de bouwmarkt, which is closer to an American Lowe's or Home Depot, in that it also sells everything from chemicals to entire kitchens.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's just because it has narrow aisles and knowledgeable staff, but Clark-Devon has always impressed me as a traditional hardware store writ large rather than a non-chain Home Depot or Hornbach. The clientele is more career handymen and builders rather than DIYers, and it shows.