Flee Markets

Nope, not a typo. I have often wondered about the whole "flea" bit in these fantastic second-hand stores. I was curious about the reference to the pesky biting critters that once wrecked havoc on my oldest child (domestic short hair) about a year ago. Why the glamorization of those parasites? Or was the term comparing shoppers, such as myself, to these fleas? Before taking offense and sending myself into a tizzy, I decided to consult the internet expert herself, Wiki Pedia.

Flea Markets: The origins of the term are disputed,^[9][10] but some have observed that buyers and sellers may be as active as fleas,^[11] or that the original people and goods were infested.

What? Something that Wiki doesn't know?!?!? I was shocked and appalled! Okay, so perhaps it was that my own purchasing behavior of flitting from booth to booth in search of bargain buys mimics the energies of a hungry flea jumping from animal to animal, questing after the best bite. Hmmm. Mix that up and you get Best Buys and Bargain Bites. As the former is already taken by the techno-geeks, perhaps I could start up a new restaurant chain? Maybe have a flea market on one side and a delicatessen on the other?

Or not.

We could transform the Flea Market into an acronym - so people go to the F.L.E.A. - Formally Loved Everyday Artifacts - market. Or... we could snobbify it by saying "I'm going to the fillet market" while looking down on anyone that doesn't understand what we mean by this phrase.

Or, more simply, I would like to propose a universal switch from "flea markets" to "flee markets" - it has the same exact ring to it, but a lot less itchiness. With the economy in a downward spiral, people are fleeing the fancy department stores (and Wall Street) in search of the best product at the lowest cost. Makes sense to me.