'Bodega' Startup Draws Criticism, Mockery
Bodega was among our top lookups on September 14th, 2017, following widespread media coverage and social media consternation over a start-up which appeared to have the aim of supplanting neighborhood bodegas, and which bore the same name.
I've never longed for anyone to be mauled to death by actual bodega cats but here we are https://t.co/mgG5WtD2Vd
— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) September 13, 2017
Don’t mess with the beloved bodega.
That was the overriding sentiment online on Wednesday when a start-up suggested its internet-connected vending machines would upend traditional big-city corner stores, and not-so-gracefully borrowed a name for these stores.
—Maya Salam & Christina Caron, The New York Times, 14 Sept. 2017
Bodega has been in use in English since the middle of the 17th century, with an initial meaning of “a storehouse for wine especially above ground.” This meaning is very much in line with the origin of the word, which came to our language from Spanish. The Spanish word may be traced to the Latin word for “storehouse,” apotheca.