Hi Arnold, >>I used to have a shop and we referred to the people who attended our >> shop as customers, people who attend market places, boot stalls etc, >> are referred to as punters.
I was always of the opinion, probably wrong, that customers were people who brought 'you' (ie the shop keepers etc) custom. A punter is just a general term for the crowds of people attending an event - I think it may stem from betting parlance where to punt is to bet and those who punt are punters. The English Language (and others too) is advancing (well, mostly advancing, Text Speak is a retrograde step in my opinion) and the term came to mean (or be accepted as) the public attending an event of some sort. Then the do-gooders got hold of it and tried to make us feel guilty about (a) being a punter or (b) using the term to describe a punter. It's worse in Australia. There is a bird - a Gallah (Spelling may be wrong) but it's a Rose breasted Cockatoo now. The DGs down under decided that because the term Gallah was being used to describe an 'idiot' that it shouldn't be taught to kids any more, so the bird was renamed to the Rose Breasted Cockatoo. Unfortunately, that name offended some other DGs who decided that you cannot teach kids to say 'breasted' because it is rude. Trust me, the parrots don't care what they are called and people in Oz still call them Gallahs! I suspect some people (ie, the DGs) have far too much time on their hands and they need to get out more. :o) Cheers, Norman. _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
