It's Flea Market, Not Free Market!

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Recently, some of our friends opened a stall (a temporary shop) at a local flea market. Many people in Japan think it's "free market." But if you think about it, nothing's free. The people who open a stall have to pay money to the organizers, and the customers have to pay money for the things they buy.

The real meaning comes from flea (ノミ), a small insect that lives in clothes and or body hair and eats blood.

A Flea

Many flea-market stalls sell old clothes. If those clothes haven't been washed carefully, they might have fleas in them.

When I explained that to our friends, they started to feel...

Itchy!

Next time you go to a flea market, try NOT to think about the meaning too much!

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