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Knowing quite a bit about the world of Costa Rican grocery stores -- many of which started using "Hiper-" (spanish for hyper-) as a prefix in their names a few

by pinko 2y ago

Knowing quite a bit about the world of Costa Rican grocery stores -- many of which started using "Hiper-" (spanish for hyper-) as a prefix in their names a few decades ago, to one-up markets merely named "Super-" [1] -- I'm actually quite suprised they didn't just rename themselves "Hiper Mario" and save the legal fees. But bravo to them for winning against all odds. [1] https://ticotimes.net/2004/04/02/hipermas-supermarket-aims-for-2005-opening https://ticotimes.net/2004/04/02/hipermas-supermarket-aims-f...

wslh 2y ago
"Hiper" refers to something bigger than "Super", and it's common to respect that convention. Wikipedia defines both [1][2]. From this photo[3] the size of "Super Mario" follows that convention. It is obviously true that there are more options for names but congratulations to "Don Mario". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermarket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermarket [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarket [3] https://www.techspot.com/news/106591-super-mario-supermarket-costa-rica-wins-trademark-dispute.html https://www.techspot.com/news/106591-super-mario-supermarket...
- fsckboy 2y ago
  i think hypermarkets achieve their bigness not by being bigger supermarkets, but by selling everything a supermarket sells, and then also selling everything a department store sells.
  - dwood_dev 2y ago
    Yes. A super is a like Kroger's or Walmart Express. A hyper is a Walmart Supercenter.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 2y ago
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kragen 2y ago
He also could have named it "Super Alfaro" or "Super Jose".
- IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
  doesn't have the same ring to it, now does it ?
deleted 2y ago
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dang 2y ago
This comment has to go in https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights.
- adzm 2y ago
  How did I never know this existed? Are there more secret pages like this??
  - genezeta 2y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/lists https://news.ycombinator.com/lists (It's linked at the bottom of each page, along with the Guidelines, FAQ, etc)
RajT88 2y ago
> Knowing quite a bit about the world of Costa Rican grocery stores I love the internet. Mostly.
Loic 2y ago
This is interesting. We have the same in France. The first big "big surface" stores were named supermarché, then we got hypermarché and the funniest is that now we have superette, a small surface store, branded like the super/hyper but within the city center. The "ette" French suffix is to reduce the main word.
- _nalply 2y ago
  You mean a diminutive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutive > A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle something or someone. Yeah, it's funny, a word consisting both of an augmentative (the opposite of diminutive) and a diminutive.
  - Loic 2y ago
    Thank you, I had the German word in mind and was not able to find the English one in my foggy brain.
    - Timwi 2y ago
      Um. The German word is Diminutiv. Were you thinking of „Verkleinerungsform“? Do people still use those Germanized terms? It feels a little old-fashioned to me, like saying „besitzanzeigendes Fürwort“ instead of Possessivpronomen.
      - LeonidasXIV 2y ago
        > Do people still use those Germanized terms? In a way? I always found it more sensible to use German words like "Namenwort" instead of "Nomen" to express German grammar, instead of using latin terms. After all Latin is a language that comes from a completely different language family to start with and is not used at all in Germany except when wanting to pretend you're fancy (law, medicine, grammar).
      - 2y ago
estebarb 2y ago
Actually, "hiper-something" trend started with Hipermas, created by a bigger local supermarket chain (Corporación Supermercados Unidos, which owned others like: Más x Menos [More for less] and Pali). They were bought by and renamed to Walmart. Sharing the "hiper" prefix I only know HiperDiego, which like a Walmart big. Here most are "super-" if they are big enough. if they are smaller "mini super-". All the categories before are self service. If they are really tiny (a window) and not self service then they are called "pulpería".
deleted 2y ago
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by pinko 2y ago

wslh 2y ago

"Hiper" refers to something bigger than "Super", and it's common to respect that convention. Wikipedia defines both [1][2]. From this photo[3] the size of "Super Mario" follows that convention. It is obviously true that there are more options for names but congratulations to "Don Mario". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermarket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermarket [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarket [3] https://www.techspot.com/news/106591-super-mario-supermarket-costa-rica-wins-trademark-dispute.html https://www.techspot.com/news/106591-super-mario-supermarket...

fsckboy 2y ago
i think hypermarkets achieve their bigness not by being bigger supermarkets, but by selling everything a supermarket sells, and then also selling everything a department store sells.
- dwood_dev 2y ago
  Yes. A super is a like Kroger's or Walmart Express. A hyper is a Walmart Supercenter.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

kragen 2y ago

He also could have named it "Super Alfaro" or "Super Jose".

IG_Semmelweiss 2y ago
doesn't have the same ring to it, now does it ?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

dang 2y ago

This comment has to go in https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights.

adzm 2y ago
How did I never know this existed? Are there more secret pages like this??
- genezeta 2y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/lists https://news.ycombinator.com/lists (It's linked at the bottom of each page, along with the Guidelines, FAQ, etc)

RajT88 2y ago

> Knowing quite a bit about the world of Costa Rican grocery stores I love the internet. Mostly.

Loic 2y ago

This is interesting. We have the same in France. The first big "big surface" stores were named supermarché, then we got hypermarché and the funniest is that now we have superette, a small surface store, branded like the super/hyper but within the city center. The "ette" French suffix is to reduce the main word.

_nalply 2y ago
You mean a diminutive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutive > A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle something or someone. Yeah, it's funny, a word consisting both of an augmentative (the opposite of diminutive) and a diminutive.
- Loic 2y ago
  Thank you, I had the German word in mind and was not able to find the English one in my foggy brain.
  - Timwi 2y ago
    Um. The German word is Diminutiv. Were you thinking of „Verkleinerungsform“? Do people still use those Germanized terms? It feels a little old-fashioned to me, like saying „besitzanzeigendes Fürwort“ instead of Possessivpronomen.
    - LeonidasXIV 2y ago
      > Do people still use those Germanized terms? In a way? I always found it more sensible to use German words like "Namenwort" instead of "Nomen" to express German grammar, instead of using latin terms. After all Latin is a language that comes from a completely different language family to start with and is not used at all in Germany except when wanting to pretend you're fancy (law, medicine, grammar).
    - 2y ago

estebarb 2y ago

Actually, "hiper-something" trend started with Hipermas, created by a bigger local supermarket chain (Corporación Supermercados Unidos, which owned others like: Más x Menos [More for less] and Pali). They were bought by and renamed to Walmart. Sharing the "hiper" prefix I only know HiperDiego, which like a Walmart big. Here most are "super-" if they are big enough. if they are smaller "mini super-". All the categories before are self service. If they are really tiny (a window) and not self service then they are called "pulpería".

deleted 2y ago

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