The latest unscientific "Sunday" survey, conducted at the Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, suggests that many browse, but a few do buy armfuls of books.

"After we'd worked on the place all day, we would hop on the train and buy armfuls of stuff there," said Ms. Siegel.

But in the meantime, the Macy's fashion director, Joan Kaner, reports that women are beginning to buy armfuls of fake gold bracelets to wear to work.

Across the street at Today's Man, two members of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's staff were buying armfuls of $15 to $25 ties for office gifts.

The flower shops and street stalls were crammed with men buying huge armfuls of flowers whilst the women spoke demurely of how important it is to "look beautiful and be enchanting", all the time.

Almost without thinking, I bought armfuls of lavender blossoms and bags of dried apricots.

And they can buy armfuls of lilies, delphiniums and sunflowers.

Various bookstore chains (including Waldenbooks) have cited examples of Scientologists repeatedly coming into stores and buying armfuls of the book at a time.

As an eight-year-old, Weinstock bought "armfuls of records" by jazz artists at nine cents each, opening up "a new world of music" for him.

We were waiting to buy armfuls of sweet corn when Leda struck up a conversation-in Pennsylvania Dutch!