This website is generally about plain language and legal writing, but I’m going to digress into language in general….

Superduperette

by Ken Bresler
© 2022 Ken Bresler

The word “superette” annoys me or amuses me; I can’t decide which.

“Superette” is a word that means “big-small” or “large-little.” It’s a contradiction in terms. It’s almost an oxymoron, but not quite in my book. Why not? There’s nothing in the middle. A large-little what? The answer is “A food store, a market,” but that part of the word is missing. In other words, the word has a prefix and a suffix and no stem. It has a head and a tail but no body.

How did we end up with such a weird word?

We got it from the French. A “market” (“marché in French), as in a food store, became “supermarket” (“supermarché” in French) to signify its size. But the French began calling a supermarché a “super” for short. So when a word was needed to designate a small food store, it became “superette.”

Vive la France, and all that. Thank you for “vignette” and “silhouette.” But can we give you “superette” back?

In English, “supermarket” should have been downsized to something like “market-ette” or “markette.” Or it should be “minimart,” a word we do have, which works better than “superette.” If the Corner Minimart expands, it can change its name to the Corner Market. If the Corner Superette expands, what can it change its name to? Superduperette?

What can you buy at the superette? Giant baby portobello mushrooms? Can you buy extralarge Baby Belle cheese, like a whole wheel of it? Can you buy Mini-Maxipads there? Jumbo Oreo Minis?

I’m traveling to New Jersey, where there’s a small chain called Super Supermarket. I want to see their super super products. Then I’m going to Napavine, Washington, to shop in the Super Mini Mart there. After that, I’m off to South Dakota, where I hope to find a superette in Little Big Horn.