List Love

This is the kind of Web site on which you could inexplicably lose a half hour of your life: GroceryLists.org. Bill Keaggy of St. Louis has scanned in and posted more than 500 lists that he's found or that folks have sent him--most are grocery lists but some are intended for places like K-Mart and Home Depot.

There is some abysmal spelling, some barely legible handwriting, and some God-awful eating habits out there, people. There is also a good dose of that precious irony that makes American culture great, as seen in the "list" with one item: "Lunch!", and the one that calls for cheese, milk, ice cream, and diet pills. And there's intrigue to boot--one list for a Wal-Mart expedition lists simply: "Stockings. Undergarments (for work--possibly w/ red stripper shoes.)"

It's fascinating stuff.

(Originally spotted at The New York Times. No New York Times account? Sign in with "freenyt", password "freenyt".