Grocer’s Apostrophe

A5 Lined note paper with blue biro. Consistent use of the grocer’s apostrophe.

A grocer’s apostrophe is a spelling mistake caused by placing an apostrophe before the s of a plural word. In English, the plural form of a word is most commonly shown by adding an s to the end (e.g., “cats,” “bananas,” “pictures”). Don’t add your own apostrophe!

Not sure what Mary (Nurpac) is.

Waitrose, Didcot, UK, 13th April 2023

Speggity

Speggity is the at the top of the list. Speggity = spaghetti. I would have thought speggety would have been a better phonetic match for spaghetti. Now I have done that thing and said the word so many times, it has become meaningless.

A lovely little shopping list. 10 items written, most likely, by an older hand in a mixture of pen and pencil on a ring bound sheet of note paper.

  • Speggity
  • Sugar
  • Trash bags
  • Chips
  • Vitimins
  • Milk
  • Pills
  • Jam
  • Peanut butter
  • Butter

Walmart Neighborhood Market, La Mesa, California, USA

Ruth’s Birthday

A vintage list from 7 years ago. A deceptively large shopping list as there are multiple items on each line.

This shopper has planned their menu for the next week with, for example, gammon and squares(?) on Thursday. It looks like Saturday night may have been a night out!

Dog owner.

Found Sainsbury’s, Calcot, Reading

15th September 2016

Brighton Shopping List

Fantastic hand writing on this shopping list.

Ingredients for a chilli con carne perhaps, or at least something of that type. Mince beef, onions, kidney beans, tortilla wraps.

Kidney beans appear twice but are crossed off. Brown sugar is also crossed off. Not required?

Is the small bar of dark chocolate to be added to the cooking, or is it to be had after the meal.

Some writing on the right of the list might be in the same hand, if it is, it was written on an unsteady surface.

A welcome contribution from Brighton, UK.

Sainsbury’s, Brighton 16th December 2022

Feline Busy!

Cat owner. Purrpose made note paper with a feline theme. This person did not paws as they made the list else they would have been late for the shop, a catastrophe. I wish I could have written a list like this, maybe they could show meow.

Mixed capitalisation on this shopping list.

Waffles for break?

Yogs4f?

Fab Con 🙂

Morrisons, Reading, December 2022

Porridge

Standard list of staples. Bread, milk, butter, cheese etc. interesting the items are grouped into categories. Biscuits appear twice.

Ruled paper has rounded corners on the left hand side and slight tear marks on the right, suggesting it has been torn from a note book.

Morrisons, Reading, 27th November 2022

Shopping List from Dudley

This list was very kindly donated by Matt from Dudley.

Firstly, pink pen and beautiful cursive script is not a common occurrence in the world of shopping lists. A colourful and welcome addition.

Secondly, the reader of the post on tittles will notice the circle above the first letter i. Circles are replaced by dots further down.

On apostrophes, there is ‘Choc’s’ and ‘Dogs Food’.

Other items include some staples including crisps, gravy, biscuits, cheese and jam. What is slightly unexpected are the ‘bum wipes’ and two types of shampoo.

What a great list. Thank you Matt!

10th September, Aldi, Dudley

Maris Piper

She wrote Maris Piper, he was confused or thought she was too pernickety and appended ‘spuds’? Different hand?

What else is happening here? A roast? A pickling session? Making chutney?

 Maris piper spuds, veg, cauliflower cheese, vinegar, smoked streaky bacon, bag sugar, Yorkshires.

Found Morrisons, Reading

October 2016

Blue Sugar Cubes

This could be a classic tagine, any cooks out there, please correct me if I am mistaken.

Tomatoes, chicken thighs, sugar cubes, chicken (coacoo)?, salad, toms, Avacado, mixed herbs, paprika, honey, ground cumin, onions, apricot.

Found by John in Sainsbury’s, Newbury

Date unknown.

Butter for Pete and Me

Why would you specify that the butter was for Pete and yourself?

Is this person Australian, abbreviating cabbage to ‘cabbo’? Kitchen roll shortened to kroll. Great shopping list.
Butter (Pete)(Me), toothpaste, sugar, tea, kitchen roll, juice, milk, fish x 2, cabbo, lettuce, spring onions.

Found Aldi, Reading

27th August 2016