Why do people say "Tesco's"?

[mrsnorrismeow]

Just that really. People seem to do it all the time. But it's not "Lidl's" or "Aldi's" or "Waitrose's", is it?!?!

I remember reading a thread on here years ago, where some people said about Asda being called "The Asda" locally. I haven't been able to stop myself calling it that ever since 😂

Tesco's doesn't bother me . Marksis however

There’s lots of ‘Waitroses’ going on around here. “I’m going’ a Waitroses” usually.

I say Tescos. It drives DH nuts 😂

I says tescos simply because it annoys people. I’m a git.

Yes I say Tesco's funny that.. I might go to the Co-op's later !

Sainsbury's anyone?

Sainsbury's is called Sainsbury's

We also call M and S Markies and the Co-op the Coapy - must be a Scottish thing

A similar one is hairdresser's, optician's, doctor's. Can't bear it. Personally I go to the hairdresser, the optician, the doctor. Does anyone else?

But you wouldn't have a doctor appointment though would you?

@Frazzled2207

really shocked by Asdall in the SW. Where does the L come from? Or is it purely an accent thing?

It's the accent. Bristolians love to put an L on the end of a word, especially if it normally ends in an A.

Marks and Spencer's is fine, I don't know why but it is.

Well that's a bit illogical! Anyway, it's obvious why people do it... lots of shops are named after the person who owns them or founded them, so it's fairly common for shop names to have a possessive apostrophe s on the end, and some people (incorrectly) extend that to shops which aren't named after an owner (or are, but don't officially have an apostrophe s). Some of those gain traction and become pretty common, probably ones which have shortish names and sound phonetically non-weird with an added S, or ones which sound like they might be based on a person's name.

My late grandmother and her siblings were all old enough to remember going to Jack Cohen's stall in Well Street Market when they where children and called the supermarket Tesco's. I suppose when shops were all independent or very small chains, they were often named after the owner and it's a bit like saying "I'm going to John's" meaning I'm going to John's house. Sainsbury's was Sainsbury's Grocers but they would have just said Sainsbury's. In the same way, they would all say THE Co op because it was THE co-operative store rather than "a person/company's supermarket".

Actually, if you think about it, 100 years ago most brands and stores had name ending in 's even if they have dropped the apostrophe or the s now eg Selfridge's, Lipton's, Lyon's, Marks' Penny Bazaar. I guess many people continued to add the 's intuitively to brand/shop names.

But you wouldn't have a doctor appointment though would you?

That's not the same. The examples given are all using a possessive version of a name/job on its own to refer to the place of work which belongs to them. So 'the doctor's' as a shortening for 'the doctor's surgery' etc. Obviously you can use doctor with a possessive- doctor's appointment, doctor's son, doctor's stethoscope etc.

I get shopping delivered from Tesco's but when I'm doing the online shopping I an doing the Tesco shop. Marks and Spencer here can be M & S or Marks and Sparks. Aldi and Lidl don't get an S at the end.

I don't know but I do call it that

I have a friend who says she's popping to 'the Asda' - she does it mostly to wind people up though.

Tesco's
Lidl's
Marks's

All drive me up the wall. Just like...

B&Q's! Argh!

@Jeremyironseverything

A similar one is hairdresser's, optician's, doctor's. Can't bear it. Personally I go to the hairdresser, the optician, the doctor. Does anyone else?

But you wouldn't have a doctor appointment though would you?

I would probably say I have an appointment with THE doctor/optician/hairdresser. That isn't that odd isn't it?

But actually I think doctor's/hairdresser's appointment is fine because the posessive s refers to the following noun (appointment).
What annoys me is when the 's doesn't have a noun to connect it. Tesco's makes no sense to me, unless it is for example I like Tesco's pizzas/range/layout/staff

Sainsbury's is fine (kind of) as is branded as such. I guess it comes from Sainsbury's grocer. Just googled Morrisons and notice that is it branded without the 's. Which is grammatically odd.

If someone can explain to me how Tesco's (as in I'm going to Tesco's) is grammatically correct I'd genuinely really like to hear it.

'Going to the asdas' gives me rage.
Nobody ever says The Aldi's

@Frazzled2207

really shocked by Asdall in the SW. Where does the L come from? Or is it purely an accent thing?

As PP said, it’s the accent in Bristol. Bristol means the place of the bridge, ‘Bridge Stowe‘ which became Bristol in the local accent.

@MillicentMartha
that's a really interesting piece of trivia thank you!

Just easier to say but only really works for Tesco, and Lidel. Not Asda, Coop or Aldi. Always refered to Coop as the but not Asda or Aldi.
That's quite weird, never thought about it before.

I get a smallish rage at the Boots logo with the missing apostrophe. Named after Jesse Boot so should be Boot's. But perhaps he foresaw that no one would actually give a toss about grammar .

Why. Do. You. Care?

@StCharlotte

I really can't get wound up with "Tescos" but there was a shop in our town called "Nobbs" (snigger) which a colleague used to call "Nobbses".