Creative Supermarket Signs

[Mona Williams]

My friend and I just got back from the supermarket, where we saw very small watermelons being advertised as "Personal Watermelons." We thought that was so funny--somehow, "personal watermelon" doesn't have quite the ring to it that "personal pizza" does. Does anyone else have examples of funny/overly enthusiastic supermarket signs?

[buttertart]

"FRESH PRINCE" - label on packages of those big cylindrical oyster mushrooms called prince mushrooms in Chinese, HK Supermarket, NYC.
"PATRICK" - label on frozen partridge, meat market, Chinatown, NYC. I love this.

[visciole]

And a Pa-tri-ick in a Paul tree!

[buttertart]

Indeed. Seriously cute.

[escondido123]

When there is an Express line, the sign her in So Cal usually reads "!0 items or less." When I was back in New England, I noticed the sign read "10 items or fewer." Obviously at least one of them has a grammarian on staff.

[uwsister]

And god bless grammar geeks!

[ttoommyy]

A bit off topic, but in the same vein%3

On two separate occasions at two different restaurants, our group of friends found these abbreviations on checks that were printed with a POS system: "ass cheese" and "fag bowl." The first was the abbreviation for "assorted cheeses" and the second wass the abbreviation for a "bowl of pasta fagioli." This happened a number of years ago, but we always refer to these menu items in their abbreviated forms whenever we see them on a menu. :)

[buttertart]

ttoommyy - I love your sense of humor. Too funny.

[RUK]

Snapped this one with my cell phone at Hmart a few months ago.

[LindaWhit]

LOL! Flying out of the freezer, I see. ;-)

[uwsister]

Which H-Mart was it? I love this - and "teenage spinach"!

[RUK]

I think it was the one at the Little Ferry/NJ circle. (Had to think because I also go to the store in Fort Lee.)

[Cheese Boy]

I'm still laughing about this. I guess it should have read "Bass"? It's very funny.

[sunshine842]

I think it's short for "assorted"

[kattyeyes]

No, maybe it was REALLY, REALLY frozen...like, "That was some frozen ass fish!" or as one of my friends used to say, "I'd like a big ass glass of water!"
KIDDING. ;P These are great--esp. priceless visciole's "sooo embarrassed by you that it wilts in your cart!" Love it!

[Unraveled]

I frequent the Korean supermarkets in the DC area. This is too common (though most are spelling and grammar errors). Whoever does the copyediting is clearly not proficient in English.

[Sharuf]

In my home town many years ago, there was a grocery store in a funky part of town that had a unique feature. The guy who did the neon sign got it wrong when he installed it . The store left it like that (guess they thought it was amusing) and ever after they were known as "Tony's Upside Down Market".

[FishTales]

A few decades ago I was standing in a store so that one of the building's upright posts blocked part of the 'Frozen Foods' sign, turning the aisle into 'Zen Foods.'

Cheers!

[ChiliDude]

I dig it! However, I follow the teachings of Christopher Hitchens.

[ChiliDude]

Here's another one that is incorrect all over the US where sandwiches are made and sold. The use of the Italian word for a roll is not 'panini' because that is the plural of 'panino.' A sandwich made with a roll is a 'panino imbottito', a stuffed roll. As you can see, having a little knowledge of Italian can be a dangerous thing. When I order a sandwich in a deli that lists panini, I ask for a panino.

We have a supermarket that has an electronic device for ordering sandwiches at the deli counter. It requires that the prospective diner give her/his name which appears at the end of a printout that automatically appears at the sandwich board. I like to use my 'nom de sandwich' which is Affamato, an adjective translated as 'starving.'

[LindaWhit]

As do I, Chilidude (use the word panino instead of panini). And I also don't say "panino sandwich" - that belongs in the Department of Redundancy Department. :-)

"Carmel" for Caramel also drives me bonkers when I see it on signs or menus.

[ChiliDude]

Caramella is the generic word for 'candy' in Italian. I think that I'm starting to sound like Michael Constantine, the actor, who played the father in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?"

[LindaWhit]

If you pull out the Windex, I'm leaving. ;-)

[gaffk]

But if you pull out the ouzo, I'm staying ;)

[BobB]

I was in my local Whole Foods last week and noticed that there was a sign on a pile of cheddar cheese wedges. At first glance it looked fine: "Two Year Old Cheddar, $12.99/lb." But the description of the cheese on the same sign was of some soft cheese, "similar to Fourme d"Aumbert" or some such. I took it to the cheese person behind the counter and pointed this out. She said "that's weird," then went and placed it right back on top of the pile of cheddar.

[Jenny Ondioline]

Close to 20 years ago, the supermarket in the small New Mexico town where I went to college got their first shipment of some fancy-ass Asian fungi, and proudly hung a sign over them in the produce department: "SHITTAKE MUSHROOMS."

[smartie]

I loved the chalk board outside an off-licence (liquor store) in London a few years back.

"Amazing offer, 11 bottles of Champagne for the price of 12".

[LoBrauHouseFrau]

I've seen some pretty strange ones, but my favorite was a produce bin labeled "Plumcot; Flavor Grenade"

[rockycat]

Back away from the fruit, people...slowly now.

LOL

[ttoommyy]

Looks like Flavor Grenade is a variety of Pluot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluot

[LoBrauHouseFrau]

Oh! I'd not heard of that one before... sometimes I wonder where they come up with these names, lol.

[rockycat]

Not the supermarket, but yesterday i was reading the posted sandwich menu at a bagel store. The sandwich I was considering came with "grilled opinions (sic)."

No thanks. I get grilled on my opinions enough at work.

[smartie]

I remember seeing a photograph of a sign at a meat counter advertizing a baked ham that would be a 'great idea for Jewish New Year' (or something very close to a great idea). Which of course it wouldn't be since many Jews don't eat ham.

[Jenny Ondioline]

Star Market here in Boston had an unfortunate juxtaposition in one of their sale flyers a couple years ago: HAPPY RAMADAN directly over a picnic ham.

[BobB]

That's a famous photo on the Web - if I remember correctly it was taken at Balducci's in NYC about three years ago.

And... a quick google shows that my memory is not as far gone as I thought: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/...

[ChiliDude]

I have an agricultural education altho I grew up in a city. The overuse of the breed name 'Angus' with reference to beef tickles the hell out of me. Angus is the shortened name of a black Scottish beef breed known as Aberdeen Angus, and altho the breed produces good quality meat, so do the other beef breeds like Hereford, Shorthorn, Charolais, and Santa Gertrudis to name a few. It's all a marketing scheme. I am not afraid to ask a shopper staring at beef in the supermarket if the shopper knows to what the term 'Angus' refers. Ninety per cent of the shoppers that I interrogate admit that the term is not part of their culinary knowledge.

[sunshine842]

you'd have a blast in a French supermarket, then -- no joke, the beef in a supermarket is displayed by breed -- Charolais, Blonde d'Aquitaine, Salers, etc., etc., etc.

And people *argue* about which one is the best.

[Atahualpa]

Yes, and much of the classic French system assumes that terrroir is more important than varietal in vinting.

[nofunlatte]

I got enough of a chuckle out of the "teenage spinach" at a local supermarket that I snapped a picture of it.

[Mona Williams]

That made me laugh out loud.

[LindaWhit]

ROFL! Now THAT is creative marketing. Wonder how many people actually read it. :-)

[BobB]

Those baby spinach, they grow up so fast!

[Isolda]

What makes it teenage spinach? Does it slam doors and cost a lot?

[onceadaylily]

Or throw a fit when forced to pair with barely ripe tomatoes, or have to go to school in generic 'dressing'?

[visciole]

It's sooo embarrassed by you that it wilts in your cart!

[ttoommyy]

What's next, Tweener Spinach?