Today I was walking around Brooklyn, New York, where I live, and I realized that almost every corner store’s awning features a random selection from the same bank of about 30 words. “Mart.” “ATM.” “Cold Beer.” (Always “cold.” Even if the beer inside isn’t actually cold.) “Deli.” Nevermind that most of these stores stock more or less the same exact inventory. New Yorkers (and non-New Yorkers, I would think) are well-versed enough in the corner store economy that we don’t need to be told what’s inside.

I’m forced to assume that, be it a function of limited writing skills, simple uncreativity, or some sort of bureaucratic rigmarole that I can only dream of, most corner stores are getting their ideas for awning copy from other, pre-existing corner stores.

The only way for me to prove this is to accept a donation large enough to found a number of corner stores large enough to introduce another corner store awning word into the lexicon. It can be something that most corner stores sell (“Limes”) or something they do not (“Dogs”). I would bet that it wouldn’t matter.