Miscellaneous desk
< July 27	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 29 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 28[edit]

Looking for name of a type of store[edit]

For context, I'm from the US. There is a type of store that I don't know the name for. They tend to be somewhat small and have a strange and constantly changing mix of merchandise. They tend to carry things like low-end electronics, bikes, camping gear and cookware. They seem to sell whatever non-perishable items they can get a good deal on at the time. For example, I bought a Power Wheels car for my son that had clearly been a display model at a different store, and when they have a large stock of something it is often because the whole lot has damaged packaging. My local one has a furniture section at the back that I think is mainly returns from a local furniture store that aren't good enough to sell in their showroom.

Does anyone know the general term for this sort of store? Do we have an article on it? Katie R (talk) 18:12, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

We'd call them "pound shops" in the UK - this term redirects to Variety store, as does "five-and-dime", which I assume is the standard US term. See also Retail#Types of retail outlets. Tevildo (talk) 18:31, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I think that term has become obsolete in the US, as you can't buy much of anything for 5 or 10 cents anymore. We do have lots of dollar stores, though. In the news, Dollar Tree (which really is a dollar store in that everything is a dollar or less) just bought out Family Dollar (which was a fake dollar store, where things were multiples of a dollar). Both specialize in low priced odd lots. A large portion of the goods sold there are made in China, by companies that don't quite get how to sell in the US, such as not knowing English. For example, Dollar Tree had a universal remote for $1, as long as you didn't mind the MUTE button saying METE (a button to allow you to mete out justice to the person on the screen ?). :-) StuRat (talk) 20:29, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

They are close-out or "odd lot" stores -- including such ones as Big Lots and the like. For Back to the Future fans, this was the company which ended up with a hundred DeLorean DMC-12s. Collect (talk) 18:37, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds pretty close to what I'm thinking of - Big Lots is sort of the large-scale version of it. Big Lots has much larger stores and seems to have a more consistent inventory, but they clearly work in a similar way. The stores I'm thinking of seem to focus on the $20-$200 price range, unlike the stores that variety store seems to focus on. "Odd lot" store certainly seems like a good fit, but the links/categories in the Big Lots article make me think we don't have much on that sort of store. Katie R (talk) 18:47, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I used to work at a surplus store that seems to fit your description. 71.20.250.51 (talk) 21:27, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like a liquidator to me. In my hometown there are few such shops called XS ("Excess") Cargo, Liquidation World, stuff like that. There's even a low-budget reality show. Mingmingla (talk) 23:49, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have a name for them specifically but if pressed I'd probably go with surplus store. Although, in the US, that often conjures an images of a military surplus store. Dismas|^(talk) 10:43, 29 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The term salvage store may be relevant, though Google's results are mostly salvage grocery stores and antique architecture salvage. Wikipedia does not have an article on this term. ZMBrak (talk) 18:57, 1 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Caterpillar found in Nuneaton Warwickshire that should belong in Florida[edit]

Can anyone advise what to do with a caterpillar that looks like a Xylophanes Tersa (large, 3 inches long hairless brown six black spots three either side of head, small white tail found in a back garden in Nuneaton Warwickshire 28/7/2014. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.35.90.187 (talk) 19:10, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Science Desk would be the best place to ask. But, to clarify, are you trying to keep the Xylophanes tersa and want to know what to feed it and how to house it ? StuRat (talk) 20:20, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

...or, are you concerned that it might be an invasive species, and that you should report it somewhere? —71.20.250.51 (talk) 21:04, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The caterpillar you linked to is green, but you say you found a brown one, so it's probably something else. I would contact Warwickshire Wildlife Trust as they have a resident butterfly expert who can advise. --TammyMoet (talk) 21:07, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It might just be a Hyles gallii (Bedstraw Hawk-Moth) larva which is similar to what you describe, the larva turns brownish before pupation which might explain the colour difference - and it has a very wide distribution. Richard Avery (talk) 07:39, 29 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hentai[edit]

Is there a specific name for the fetish often seen in Japanese Hentai of insects laying their eggs inside a human womans uterus and then her birthing the hatchings? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.77.145.198 (talk) 22:56, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Oviposition fetish is the usual term - it's listed in Index of human sexuality articles, but the current article doesn't contain anything on the fetish (presumably due to lack of reliable sources). There may be something in the article history. Tevildo (talk) 23:08, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

For general reference: insects laying their eggs in another animal is very common in the animal world, see parasitoid. So, "parasitoid fetish" would also be a fairly descriptive term. On this topic, Darwin said "I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae" -- SemanticMantis (talk) 18:54, 30 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

A couple of observations: (1) The insertion method of that critter looks remarkably similar to how a bacteriophage virus injects its DNA. (2) Living things consume other living things. As Woody Allen put it in Love and Death, "Nature... is basically a gigantic restaurant." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:59, 31 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]