Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Why are street vendors sometimes referred to as `costermongers'?

(I. Ranjani, Chennai)

The word `costermonger' is mainly used in British English to refer to someone who sells fresh fruit, vegetables and fish on the street. `Monger' means `seller or trader'; `coster', on the other hand, is actually a corruption of an old English word `costard', meaning `apple'. A `costardmonger' was someone who sold apples on the street.

S. UPENDRAN

upendrankye@gmail.com

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail