Discussion Groups / English Usage / March 2008

Surely they have them at Aggros? .. no, by heaven! Can't find them in
their winter catalogue.

It is a figurative use of "bench", that is, the physical seat
that a judge sits on in court.

Another original physical feature of the courtroom that is used
figuratively is "bar".

OED:

   bench, n.

   2. a. The seat where the judges sit in court; the judge's
   seat, or seat of justice; hence, the office or dignity of a
   judge, as in 'to be raised to the bench.'
 
   b. Hence, the place where justice is administered: orig.
   applied to The (Court of) Common Bench, or (later) Common
   Pleas at Westminster, Anglo-Fr. le baunc, L. bancum; also
   The (Court of) King's or Queen's Bench, in which originally
   the sovereign presided, and which followed him in his
   movements. (These now form divisions of the High Court of
   Judicature.)
   
   c. Any court of justice; a tribunal.
   
   d. The judges or magistrates collectively, or the judge or
   magistrate sitting in the seat of justice.

Then:

   bar, n.1

   * In a court of justice.
   
   22. a. The barrier or wooden rail marking off the immediate
   precinct of the judge's seat, at which prisoners are
   stationed for arraignment, trial, or sentence.
   
   b. fig. A tribunal, e.g. that of reason, public opinion,
   conscience.
   
   23. a. This barrier, as the place at which all the business
   of the court was transacted, soon became synonymous with:
   Court; esp. in phr. at (the) bar: in court, in open court.
   trial at bar: a trial before the full court in which the
   action or indictment is brought; in England, the Queen's
   Bench Division.
   
   b. A (particular) court of law, esp. in the phr. to
   practise at (such a) bar. [Compare 25-26.]
   
   ** In the Inns of Court.
   
   {dag}24. A barrier or partition separating the seats of the
   benchers or readers from the rest of the hall, to which
   students, after they had attained a certain standing, were
   'called' from the body of the hall, for the purpose of
   taking a principal part in the mootings or exercises of the
   house. Obs. See BARRISTER. Hence the phrases:{em}to be
   called to the bar: to be admitted a barrister. {dag}to cast
   over the bar: to deprive of the status of a barrister, to
   disbar; gen. to reject.
   After 1600, when utter-barristers, as well as sergeants and
   apprentices-at-law were allowed to plead in the law-courts,
   bar in these phrases seems to have been popularly assumed to
   mean the bar in a court of justice, outside of which
   ordinary barristers appear to plead, while King's Counsel
   and Sergeants-at-Law have places within it. Hence the mod.
   phrase to be called within the bar: to be appointed King's
   (or Queen's) Counsel.
   
   25. a. The whole body of barristers, or spec. the barristers
   practising in a particular court, circuit, or country. (Cf.
   23b.)
   
   b. The counsel retained in a particular case.
   
   26. abstractly (combining 23 and 24): Occupation as counsel
   in a court of justice; the profession of a barrister.

In my experience that usage is normal in the UK.

jF has probably, but any others ever been on a charabanc?

Yes, MPs sit on the front bench or the back benches, but would be known
as backbenchers or (eg) a frontbench spokesman. The New Oxford Spelling
Dictionary confirms that interpretation.

I find that particular dictionary by far the most useful tool for
settling such questions -- it's unashamedly prescriptive.

The Safeway near me just started selling organic bananas a year ago, as
part of an effort to draw in... um... people like me.

I don't necessarily mean hippie co-ops. In these parts, many mainstream
grocery stores have their little fake-wood-laminate sections with
organic chocolate and flax-seed corn chips.