The Lenape people, who originally settled in the Delaware River basin, have a word for goose that is wawa. This word is borrowed from the Ojibwe, a tribe located in the Great Lakes region. In 1989, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Wawa was a Native American word for goose. Wawa is now a popular convenience store chain with more than 700 stores in six states.
It offers gas, takeout meals, snacks, and other items like toiletries. All Wawa milk is free of rBST, so customers can enjoy delicious and nutritious milk without spending extra. The city of Wawa, Ontario, Canada even takes its name from the bird, with a giant goose monument at its entrance. Although you can't buy all your groceries at Wawa, it can be a great place to pick up items you need in a pinch.
It's the number one convenience store seller of Herr's chips, Amoroso hoagie rolls (estimated 200,000 per day), Tastykake and Sunday Inquirer. Plus, Wawa stores are open 24/7 and employ 22,000 people to serve 400 million customers each year. The store mascot is a Canadian goose named Wally Goose. To bring this character to life, Wawa recently released an augmented reality game as part of its children's dining experience.
The Canadian goose makes a sound similar to wawa, so it's possible that both the Ojibwe word and the French word l'oie are based on the honking characteristic of the goose.
