Talk:Home Depot

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Proprietary name of a store chain. Nothing else. Robert Ullmann 14:57, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Delete. Shop name only.--Dmol 18:19, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Have you looked at g.b.c. fiction? I could probably find 3 attributive uses there in the first 5 pages (of many). It's like Macy's, Harrod's, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, GUM, Lufthansa, Church of England, and other well-known brand names. I am intrigued as to how folks come the the delete conclusion so quickly. DCDuring 18:42, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Weak delete. Is sometimes used attributively — see e.g. page 3 of http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-oregon/1018290-1.html — but is a brand name, which means we hold it to a higher standard that I don't think it meets. —RuakhTALK 18:46, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Keep noun section. (I don't know about the proper noun section, though.) —RuakhTALK 00:21, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In some of our idioms, there is merit to putting in literal SoP meanings to clarify the idiom. In this case, the Proper noun sense helps make sense of the Noun sense. DCDuring 01:06, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
An alternative would be to put the substance of the Proper noun sense in the Etymology. That might be better. DCDuring 01:08, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, etymology would be correct for that. We are a directory of words, not companies. bd2412 T 16:01, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comment. If you really wanted to, you might be able to dig out a generic meaning along the lines of "a place where one can find illegal immigrants looking for work" as a US usage. I've heard it used generically in that sense many, many times in reference not to the specific store per se but standing around in front of such a store looking for construction work. Globish 21:20, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Keep. I wasn't planning on doing the digging, but I got curious, and quickly came up with:
  1. 1992, Hubert Smith, The Illustrated Guide to Aerodynamics, p. 156:
    Memos are also ideal for jotting down room measurements before you head off to Home Depot and realize you forgot to bring room measurements.
  2. 1995, Michael Connelly, The Concrete Blonde, p. 391:
    And while he was at Home Depot getting the wood, he also picked up new cushions for the chairs and the chaise lounge on the porch.
  3. 1995, Jane Heller, Crystal Clear, p. 85:
    She told me her name was Zola, took hold of my elbow, and guided me into the store, which turned out to be a veritable Home Depot for New Agers.
  4. 1997, Rick Bragg, All Over But the Shoutin' , p. 33:
    My aunt Gracie Juanita could build Tara if you gave her a year and a key to the Home Depot.
  5. 2003, Loren D. Estleman, Something Borrowed, Something Black, p. 89:
    The room itself was no larger than an ordinary living room, but it appeared to be a Home Depot of modern weaponry.
  6. 2004, Susan Douglas, Meredith W. Michaels, The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and how it Has Undermined Women, p. 19:
    The media, which bombard us with TV shows, movies, catalogs, ads, and magazines, serve as a kind of Home Depot of personas to draw from and put on.
  7. 2004, Christopher Eldridge, Conceptual Communal Home Design, p. 113:
    As such, this building is literally like a Home Depot of services!
  8. 2006, Violet Blue, The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Sex Toys, p. 99:
    This is the Home Depot of sex toys sites: It has all the basics, an enormous range of models and styles, and tips on building your own.
  9. 2006, Andrew Beaujon, Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock, p. 113:
    It's almost like a Home Depot model for a church. You go in, get what you need, and leave.
  10. 2007, W. j. Caniano, The Powers That Be: America's Dirtiest Secrets, p. 97:
    First, you just don't go down to the radioactive material center, like a Home Depot, and get some nuclear material.
  • #'s 1, 2, and 4 are admittedly not so good since it is possible to infer a store where you can get home supplies from the usage, but #3, 5, 6, 8, and 9 all use the phrase in a much more suggestive manner - like "the kind of place where you can get whatever you want" with respect to a field. And then, of course, there are the collected works of Tamar Myers (maybe I'm easy, but I find this hilarious - is the Home Depot paint department sponsoring her books?) bd2412 T 05:31, 11 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]


RFD discussion: April 2018[edit]

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for deletion (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.


I am not sure that this, being a commercial enterprise, is dictionary material. DonnanZ (talk) 17:47, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Delete. Sense 1 only exists to allow sense 2, it seems, and in my thinking sense 2 is simply metaphorical, not lexical. One could form any number of similar structures with all sorts things. --SanctMinimalicen (talk) 01:11, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I failed to notice it was an RFV in 2007-2008 and survived, so I can withdraw this RFD if necessary. DonnanZ (talk) 08:18, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I don't understand why there are votes; wasn't it a RFV? --Per utramque cavernam (talk) 08:28, 16 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Unlike yourself, I'm not a deletionist. RFD withdrawn. DonnanZ (talk) 09:23, 16 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]