Re: [YAEUT] Lexical variation survey

>>In the US at least, garbage seems to refer to kitchen remnants, trash to
anything else; I (we?) don't seem to use rubbish in that sense at all.  The
big outdoor container (that the Trash Fairy empties every week) used to be
the _garbage can__ and was actually made of metal; now it's a huge plastic
thing, which I call simply "The Garbage" (as "Let's take this out to The
Garbage"). Sometimes called [gar'baZ].<<

I don't know if I'd make that distinction; to me, "garbage" and "trash" are
pretty much synonyms, and mean anything you want to throw away. In fact,
I've quite frequently made reference to "kitchen trash".

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 11:00 AM, ROGER MILLS <rfmilly@...> wrote:

> Some random comments on some of these distinctions:
>
> >
> > >> 6. stuff you throw away:
> > >> garbage, rubbish, trash
> >
> In the US at least, garbage seems to refer to kitchen remnants, trash to
> anything else; I (we?) don't seem to use rubbish in that sense at all.  The
> big outdoor container (that the Trash Fairy empties every week) used to be
> the _garbage can__ and was actually made of metal; now it's a huge plastic
> thing, which I call simply "The Garbage" (as "Let's take this out to The
> Garbage"). Sometimes called [gar'baZ].
>
> >
> >
> > >> 8. a shallow pan for frying eggs or meat:
> > >> fry pan, frying pan, griddle, skillet, spider
> >
> Spider is a very old term; IIRC in the days when one cooked directly on
> the fire, the "skillet" had little legs, so that it didn't sit directly on
> the coals.........Griddle is definitely a distinct utensil.
>
> >
> > >> 9. a piece of chocolate, 4-6 inches long:
> > >> bar, candy bar, chocolate bar
> >
> When I was a child, there was only ONE all-chocolate bar, the "Hershey
> bar"; others (with nuts, caramel, nougat etc) were "candy bars".
>
>
> > >> 10. a carbonated, non-alcoholic beverage, like Coke or Sprite:
> > >> coke, cola, cold drink, fizzy drink, pop, soda, soda pop, soft drink,
> > tonic
> >
> "coke" is definitely a brand name; IIRC in the olden days (and still
> sometimes? in the South) it's called a "dope"  ha ha...... pop was generic,
> could be carbonated or not-- the distinction soda vs. pop is fairly recent,
> for me. Soda also (for me) mainly refers to carbonated/seltzer water that I
> mix with Scotch.........  Tonic is/was Boston area generic for soda/pop,
> almost nowhere else; now refers to the various brands of "quinine water"
> that goes with gin so nicely..........  Anyone remember ~ever drink Moxie?
> another New England item (me, once; ugh)
>
>  >> 12. a cold sandwich on a foot-long roll:
> > >> sub(marine), hero, hoagie, grinder
> >
> I only encountered these words/the item in college in Boston, only after
> age 18. I think each one was specific to one or another East coast city--
> Boston, New York, Phila-- but I'm not sure which was which. I've come to
> suspect that "hero" may be a corruption of the Greek "gyros".  Mediterranean
> ethnic food of any sort was unheard of in South Dakota in the 1930s-50s
> (spaghetti came in cans)-- many local restaurants were run by Greeks, but
> they wouldn't have DARED put anything ethnic on the menu.........
>
>  >> 22. a piece of furniture that seats 3 people:
> > >> couch, chesterfield, davenport, divan, settee, sofa
> >
> davenport is old but interchangeable with couch, sofa; chesterfield is a
> specific type-- usually with buttoned upholstery and nowadays often leather.
> Divan would have been hoity-toity. A settee only seats 2 adults, also called
> a loveseat. (I wonder if "couch" might originally have been for reclining?)
> Also: hassock = footstool = ottoman = pouf (poof?). As an avid fan of
> "Antiques Roadshow" I've learned a lot of very specific terms for all sorts
> of furniture.
>
>  >
> > >> 23. a piece of furniture with drawers for socks, underwear, etc.:
> > >> bureau, chest (of drawers), drawers, dresser, highboy
> >
> Yes, the dresser often had a large mirror attached; I think the
> mirror-less model might have been a bureau (or maybe =) chest of drawers and
> (old) highboy, which were much the same, except properly I think a "highboy"
> is much taller. Then there was the "dressing table" (with mirror) at which
> milady sat to do her makeup etc.
>
> Aside: Borges suggested a biography of Napoleon that would detail every
> time he thought of the Pyramids. I have a mental autobiog. involving
> when/where I first ate various foods :-))))
>

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