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Grocery store "specials"

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aster
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Post by aster » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 1:02 am

BedokAmerican wrote:I worked in a grocery store almost 20 yrs ago when in college in the US and the machines automatically adjusted and they still do today. If something is 3 for $5 and someone buys 1, it would ring up as $1.67.
I have never seen this in the last 20 yrs across multiple countries. If you see something like "3 for $X" then you cannot just get one at 1/3 of the price. In most places there will be a 'per piece' price shown next to this which would make it very evident that you want to buy in multiples of three... :)

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Post by JR8 » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 1:18 am

^ same same for me.

If it's $1.66 each however many you're buying, you'd have to be a fool to take any notice of a sign saying '3 for $5'.

I've seen SGn locals in NTUC picking off like 0.5 grams of tiny leaves from a stem of broccoli before having it weighed. To people as price aware as that, what would be the point of 'an offer' that isn't offer at all. They're going to see through it from 1000 yards, and then make damn sure they somehow beat it and hence 'win'.

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Post by zzm9980 » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 11:16 am

aster wrote:
BedokAmerican wrote:I worked in a grocery store almost 20 yrs ago when in college in the US and the machines automatically adjusted and they still do today. If something is 3 for $5 and someone buys 1, it would ring up as $1.67.
I have never seen this in the last 20 yrs across multiple countries. If you see something like "3 for $X" then you cannot just get one at 1/3 of the price. In most places there will be a 'per piece' price shown next to this which would make it very evident that you want to buy in multiples of three... :)
Every store in the US I've regularly shopped at operates in the way which you apparently have not seen.

JR8, I forgot to mention in my anecdote, what made it more interesting, was the cashier and whoever she called over (manager?) expressing amazement I didn't want the third item at the full price.

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Post by nutnut » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 1:39 pm

Only way I'd expect it is that you buy 1 for x 2 for y and if you want 3 you have x+y.

In the UK, you can normally buy less than an offer, if you can't they tend to pack them together (in a bag/wrapped/taped together etc) so for instance the 5 Dragon Fruits would be in a bag and you'd buy two bags, or you'd have individual prices that were discounted for 5.

Think of it this way - less packaging! ;)
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Post by Brah » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 2:15 pm

x9200 wrote:
Brah wrote:We're not puzzled.

But locals continue to dazzle themselves by perpetuating the misnomer "one for one".

Which we all know, grammatically speaking, is one.

The rest of the world gets that right with "two for one".

Which we all know is two.
The first is, one free for one paid. The second, two for the price of one. Both semantically correct IMHO.
sundaymorningstaple wrote:I tend to agree. Both are correct. Just we think in one context while they think in another. Net price is identical.
You guys have been here too long.....

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 3:15 pm

Brah wrote:
x9200 wrote:
Brah wrote:We're not puzzled.

But locals continue to dazzle themselves by perpetuating the misnomer "one for one".

Which we all know, grammatically speaking, is one.

The rest of the world gets that right with "two for one".

Which we all know is two.
The first is, one free for one paid. The second, two for the price of one. Both semantically correct IMHO.
sundaymorningstaple wrote:I tend to agree. Both are correct. Just we think in one context while they think in another. Net price is identical.
You guys have been here too long.....
You are probably right, but there is an unspoken part to both statements which hold truth to what I'm saying. While the west understand one for one, the assumed part of the sentence, which, by the way, is missing, is "one for one, if you buy one you get one free". While the part that is missing from the local context of "two for one at the same price". I don't see anything grammatically incorrect with either of them. Some of us are open minded, while other are closed minded. Glass half empty or half full?
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by Brah » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 7:50 pm

Of course I get their awkward and dumbed-down way of saying that.

By virtue of the fact that they are famous for untold numbers of other missteps with English grammar, pluralization, juxtaposed tenses, sawed-off sentences, sing-song delivery, this is just one of many.

If closed-minded means I automatically bristle against the bastardization of the English language, then yeah, I can live with that label in this case.

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On a separate but related note, I have as much or more intolerance with Japanese "gairaigo" or "Katakana-English" - you know, when Japanese mangle English to phonetically fit their alphabet, versus just saying things the way they're supposed be said and not perpetuating a Bad Idea In The First Place.

For example, when you go out on a "date-to", emphasis on the "to".

Remember, this is a country that teaches English in all school levels, but try and speak to a person on the street and you'll see that deer in the headlights again, big time. That, or get anxiously waved-off.

On the contrary are loanwords that made their way into the English lexicon, and while unnatural for native English speakers, they generally manage to pronounce them reasonably well. For example, rendezvous.

For some strange reason I notice that many Brits can't or won't get their mouths around loanwords like macho, saying match-o instead of mah-cho, which isn't all that difficult really.

----------------
Sorry BA, looks like I / we kinda derailed your thread....

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Post by JR8 » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 8:32 pm

Brah wrote: I automatically bristle against the bastardization of the English language, then yeah, I can live with that label in this case.
:wink:

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Brah wrote:For example, when you go out on a "date-to".
Or watch your ‘terrerbishan setto’ in your ‘hoteru’ :)
Brah wrote:Remember, this is a country that teaches English in all levels of schools, but try and speak to a person on the street and you'll see that deer in the headlights again, big time. That, or get waved-off.
I was told that this is because they do not want to risk embarrassing you, by your being unable to understand them.
Brah wrote:For some strange reason I notice that many Brits can't or won't get their mouths around words like macho, saying match-o instead of mah-cho, which isn't all that difficult really.
Probably as a result of hearing the song Macho Man by Village People, where it is pronounced macho i/o mahcho. More seriously though there is way less Spanish influence on the UK than on the US. In any case a Brit would probably say beefy or butch rather than macho. Apart from a package holiday or two there in an average lifetime, we grow up knowing no Spanish speakers, and hearing none. 95% of us never learn it in school either. Expecting a Brit to do correct Spanish pronunciation is about as long a shot as expecting an American to do a halfway decent Geordie accent :)

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Post by Mi Amigo » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 8:38 pm

Brah wrote:Love that deer-in-the-headlights pic, BTW.
Yeah, quite appropriate for some situations here, such as... My wife was buying some, ahem, undergarments, and they had a 'buy two get one free' offer. So she took three of the aforementioned articles to the cashier, who then proceeded to ring up all three items at their normal price. When my good lady told her that there was a '3 for the price of 2' offer, the cashier replied that she knew this, "... but you brought three to the checkout..." Then my wife (as patiently as she could manage) tried to explain the concept, but this only elicited the same "... but you brought three ..." repsonse, coupled with this expression:

Image
After a futile stand-off, a 'manager' was finally summoned, who explained that it was in fact my my wife who had made a mistake - what she was apparently supposed to do was take two items to the cashier, and then 'someone' (presumably at the manager level or above) would then fetch the third one and authorise the special 'promotion' transaction. We laughed about it afterwards, but it was somewhat irritating for 'er indoors at the time.
Be careful what you wish for

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Post by Mi Amigo » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 8:56 pm

Brah wrote:On a separate but related note, I have as much or more intolerance with Japanese "gairaigo" or "Katakana-English" - you know, when Japanese mangle English to phonetically fit their alphabet, versus just saying things the way they're supposed be said and not perpetuating a Bad Idea In The First Place.

For example, when you go out on a "date-to", emphasis on the "to".

Remember, this is a country that teaches English in all school levels, but try and speak to a person on the street and you'll see that deer in the headlights again, big time. That, or get anxiously waved-off.
I'm totally unqualified to criticise the Japanese over their mastery (or otherwise) of the English language, having singularly failed to learn any Japanese when I worked for one the large companies from that great country. Exasperated by my ineptitude, I was reassured when an English colleague suggested that I just try adding an 'O' to the end of the English word during my next visit to Tokyo. I was amazed at how often it worked (receipt = resheet-o, etc.). My favourite occurence of this came some years later when a Japanese colleague and I were enjoying a nice bottle of white wine one evening. The wine was a little on the warm side so I suggested he ask for an ice bucket. He promply called the waiter over and simply stated "Icebucket-o." :lol:

I also find Japanese people's attempts at English (good or bad) far less grating than the way many people here speak this 'official' language. In fact it usually comes across as quite friendly and entertaining in Japan, unlike the 'barstardisation' (corrected the spelling for you :P ) that one often finds here.
Be careful what you wish for

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Post by JR8 » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 9:18 pm

Mi Amigo wrote: The wine was a little on the warm side so I suggested he ask for an ice bucket. He promply called the waiter over and simply stated "Icebucket-o." :lol:
Thanks for the genuine lol! :-D


I understand that Malay incorporates English words too. Example: 'teknical'. Or words that are English and localised by sticking 'Ber' on the front.

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Post by Brah » Sun, 20 Jan 2013 9:48 pm

Mi Amigo wrote:I also find Japanese people's attempts at English (good or bad) far less grating than the way many people here speak this 'official' language. In fact it usually comes across as quite friendly and entertaining in Japan, unlike the 'barstardisation' (corrected the spelling for you :P ) that one often finds here.
Agree on both counts, it's the effort they make to do the right thing, and, that like most things they try to Do The Right Thing. The problem lies in the way words are represented in their language, which is unkind to words ending in consonants. I've always found myself very patient with their attempts, no matter how strained it would get. and agree, they're always good-natured about it.

Reminds me of my American friend's pet Chihuahua, Spike (great name for such a dog, BTW) - to his girlfriend he of course was known as "Su-pie-ku"!.

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Post by aster » Mon, 21 Jan 2013 2:01 am

zzm9980 wrote:Every store in the US I've regularly shopped at operates in the way which you apparently have not seen.
Luckily I haven't been back to the US in 12 yrs so let's leave this strange practice out of it.

Even today I went into Watsons and there was something at $2.95... but you could also buy 2 at $4. I hardly think you can take just one and demand to pay 1.50. That's what these offers are all about... buying more. It would seem idiotic to promote a 2 for $2 sale for instance if you could just buy one at $1. What would be the point?

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Post by x9200 » Mon, 21 Jan 2013 8:40 am

Mi Amigo wrote:The wine was a little on the warm side so I suggested he ask for an ice bucket. He promply called the waiter over and simply stated "Icebucket-o." :lol:
Interesting. I noticed they frequently add -o at the end of many words (track-k-o eleven - while explaining to us what platform our train was going to departure) and now I also googled out this is because Japanese words generally end with a vowel. Is this correct? But why "o"?

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Post by Brah » Mon, 21 Jan 2013 9:49 am

x9200 wrote:
Mi Amigo wrote:The wine was a little on the warm side so I suggested he ask for an ice bucket. He promply called the waiter over and simply stated "Icebucket-o." :lol:
Interesting. I noticed they frequently add -o at the end of many words (track-k-o eleven - while explaining to us what platform our train was going to departure) and now I also googled out this is because Japanese words generally end with a vowel. Is this correct? But why "o"?
It depends on the ending consonant. Sometimes "u" or "a" though less common. A NYer is a nee-you-aw-kaa.

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