10 Commonly-Used Thrift Store Terms

This week I'll be giving you a quick run down of thrift store, dare I say it, lingo.  I am no Webster's Dictionary, or even UrbanDictionary, so these are all my own interpretations based on how I've seen the words used.  Some of it is hard to decipher.  I've left out the ones that make me weep for the future of the English language.  Here are some common ones:

1.  Thrifting:  the act of going thrift shopping.  Most commonly used by the high school/college age, usually preceded by a hashtag.
Origin:  People's tendency to make any noun into a verb by adding "ing".
Often seen with the words: adventure (how exciting, let me get my pith helmet), spree, haul, trip.

2.  Secondhand: the namesake of this blog, meaning exactly what you think it means: it's been owned by someone before you.  Commonly used by advertisers trying to get around the word "used".
Origin:  May be a shortened version of hand-me-down.  (which still doesn't make sense to me)




3.  Haul:  when you go to a thrift store and find a ton of (presumably) great things for cheap.  Often pictured on instagram in a black and white or sepia photo for a vintage feel.  A haul also indicates you've bought things you'll probably never use.
Origin:  The word plunder sounded too pirate-y.

4.  Find:  something really good you discover at a thrift store.
Origin:  the accurate use of the word's meaning.

look what I found, a dapper bear

5.  Co-sign/Consignment:  items that are sold with a percentage of the profits given to the previous owner.
Origin:  the act of cosigning, as in a mutual agreement between two parties.

6.  Deadstock:  merchandise from stores that have never made it from the warehouse to the store.
Origin:  it was dead before it hit the sales floor.

7.  Thrift treasure:  very special things you find at the thrift store after looking for a while.  Used by people with a more endearing vocabulary.  (I, for example, do not use this because I'm not a Disney princess)
Origin:  Find did not have enough emotional impact.

8.  Flea market:  a bazaar that rents space to people who want to sell their merchandise
Origin:  See wikipedia page on "flea market."  No really, it's very interesting.  French roots.

9.  GDUB/GW:  acronyms to refer to "Goodwill", the national thrift store chain/charity.

10.  S&A/SAL VAL/ SALVO:  acroynms to refer to "Salvation Army", a national charity with evangelical roots.
Origin for both:  the human tendency to make anything with more than one word into an acronym.

Have any terms to add to the list?  Dispute my natural cynicism towards strange teenage slang?  Still confused by the use of hashtags on posts that have no use for hashtags as an organization method?
Leave a comment below!