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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 04:30 pm |
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Thanks for the title on this one, Becci.  Exactly what I had in mind.
I love language and words, and am fascinated by not only the origins of our everyday expressions, but the differences within the English language itself, especially between my American-style English and that of the British English. We've somehow developed what seems at times to be a completely different language - and even when we use the same words, we pronounce them differently!
I'll start this with some of the words we use for clothing, which can sometimes be confusing when watching British movies or tv shows.
We say pants, but they say trousers, because pants to them are underwear (for men) (Knickers are generally the same as "panties," as in women's delicates).
We say t-shirt, they say vest, but we say vest when they say waistcoat....
We say dress, they say frock or pinafore which is a style of dress we call a "jumper", but ... a jumper to them is a sweater to us... unless you're talking about those tops they wear in the Navy - those are "jumpers" too.
We say pantyhose or older folks say "nylons" but they say tights, which if you're a female means those heavy opaque kind that one wears in winter, or if you're a dancer...
I could go on, but I am hoping others will jump in!
Also, if you are British, have you visited the US, and if you are American, have you visited the UK? I've been to England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. I want very much to go again!!
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 06:27 pm |
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When the British say vest we mean undershirt, generally worn by upper class men and children (generally).
Nobody speaks of pinafores any more - the term denotes a skirt with a "bib" type of thing attached by straps and tied at the back like an apron, or attached with buttons at the top of the "bib". Pinafore can be another term for apron too.
God forbid that anybody should call anything a frock. That term went out with the ark!
Tights are the alternative to stockings which are kept up with a suspender belt (US garter belt). Garters are elastic rigs worn to keep long socks up, except for the wedding garter which is purely decorative.
Some northern communities also refer to trousers as pants.
I am sure that there are lots more. Anybody stimulated?
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 06:42 pm |
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We say biscuits (pronounced bis-kits), Americans say cookies but some biscuits in the UK are called cookies.
We say trainers, but Americans say sneakers (Not sure about this one).
We say police, Americans say the cops.
We say black people, Americans say African Americans.
We say petrol, Americans say gas.
We say university, Americans say college, but in the UK we do attend college for 2yrs before going to university.
We say holiday, Americans say vacation.
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CodeMonkey
Senior Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 06:51 pm |
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I know Americans call the part that covers the engine compartment of a car the hood, where in the UK they call it a bonnet, which in America a bonnet is a kind of headgear.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 07:14 pm |
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Many of us still call black people "black". In real life, which is not the media, most people say "black". All of my black friends refer to themselves this way.
Calling a police officer, or law enforcement officer a "cop" is definitely slang. We don't only call them that. It's common, but interchangeable.
It took me a while to figure out what "trainers" are. I would say that the equivalent would be more like what we call running shoes or similar. And whether you call them sneakers, gym shoes, tennis shoes, or whatever depends on where in the US you grew up. In the South, we always said "tennis shoes" when referring to regular old Keds.
Here's are two other grammatical differences:
1. We say someone has "the" flu or has to go to "the" hospital. Brits leave out "the".
2. We consider group nouns to be singular, as in "His family was excited to see him because he had been away at college for a whole year."
I have noticed "Britishisms" sneaking into our language lately. We used to say that a person that was suddenly gone without a trace had "disappeared". Now it seems that the American news programs now use the expression "went missing" which is definitely British. I have no idea why.
Perhaps it's the same reason that more and more advertisements/commercials use British voiceovers - it sounds somehow more convincing because many of us consider a British accent to be more "intellectual" whether that makes sense or not...
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 07:31 pm |
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We say shop, Americans say store.
We say garage (pronounced gar-ridge), Americans say garage.
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CodeMonkey
Senior Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 08:46 pm |
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I couldn't figure out why some people here was talking about losing stones or something like that. I realized it was only the people in the UK that would compare their weight to stones. It wasn't until someone had posted weight in both pounds and stones. Out came the calculator and figured out that a stone is 14 pounds. Yeah, I R smart.
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 08:56 pm |
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Yup, Mudman (if you don't mind me using your nickname) I think that may have been me. I usually post in both stones and lbs and in lbs only, as a loss of 67 lbs sounds so much more than 4 stone 11 lb! I beleive that we instituted the stone division (14 lbs) just after the Boston Tea Party, which is why you lot carried on using lbs, but we branched out on our own and all became rockeries!
You say vacation, we say holiday. When you say holidays you mean Christmas.
You say Santa, we say Father Christmas.
We say boot, you say trunk or luggage compartment (of a car).
Last edited on 13 September 2007 08:58 pm by Ohm
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CodeMonkey
Senior Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 09:00 pm |
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Becci Aryal wrote: Yup, Mudman (if you don't mind me using your nickname)
Nope, I don't mind that at all! 
Yeah, I think it was your post that enabled me to figure it out.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 09:54 pm |
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I have learned lots from watching British television shows - even as a kid I loved Monty Python. Now I am hooked on Little Britain - loads of good slang to be had. I also love MI-5 which was called "Spooks" in Britain but can't be called that in the US because "spook" is a really derogatory lslang word for black people, so it would be considered offensive.
Bin - trashcan / tip - dumpster
Bogs - slang for bathroom, which we say instead of "toilet" which to us is an object found inside a bathroom. No one here would say "where is the toilet?" We'd say where is the restroom or bathroom. We don't like making reference to the real function of the room....
As for the hospital thing, I hear that all the time when watching British movies or tv shows - they always say someone was "in hospital" when we would say "in THE hospital" as if there were only one.
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 10:47 pm |
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I'm back with another one, this is fun!
We say advert, you say commercial.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 13 September 2007 10:59 pm |
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We say television show "host" and you say "presenter".
We say "talk" show and you say "chat" show.
and don't forget programme vs. program
and what's with al-u-MINI-um instead of a-LU-min-um??
"Now I just wanna talk quickly about language, and then we can all go. Yeah, language. They do say Britain and America are two countries separated by the Atlantic Ocean, and it’s true. No, they say, “two countries separated by a common language,” that’s the line; it’s an Oscar Wilde line, I think. And we do pronounce things in a different way, like you say “caterpillar” and we say “caterpillar,” and… You say “aluminum” and we say “aluminium.” You say, “cenTRIFugal” and we say “centriFUgal.” You say, “leisure” and we say “lizuray.” You say “baysil” and we say “bahsil.” You say “’erbs” and we say “herbs,” because there’s a [bad word] “H” in it… But you spell through "THRU", and I’m with you on that, ‘cause we spell it “THRUFF,” and that’s trying to cheat at Scrabble."
Eddie Izzard, from"Dress to Kill"
Last edited on 13 September 2007 11:37 pm by Trixie.in.Dixie
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CodeMonkey
Senior Member
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Posted: 14 September 2007 12:08 am |
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You say "football", we say "soccer".
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clarinetgurl
Moderator
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Posted: 14 September 2007 01:43 am |
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Fascinating thread...I wish I add something to add, but alas, I do not. I shall have to keep reading :)
CG
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 September 2007 01:45 pm |
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CodeMonkey wrote: You say "football", we say "soccer".
We say rugby, you say American football (they might be a little different e.g. you wear padding and helmets, but they look the same to me).
We say crisps, you say chips.
Last edited on 14 September 2007 01:46 pm by Heavenseventeen
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 14 September 2007 02:38 pm |
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Yes, and what about the aussies, they have even mucked about with the shape of the pitch (they play on an oval pitch - very wierd).
We say "I've got a cold" and you say "I have a cold".
When it comes to letters, you write someone, and we write TO someone.
Last edited on 14 September 2007 04:52 pm by Ohm
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CodeMonkey
Senior Member
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Posted: 14 September 2007 03:56 pm |
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Becci Aryal wrote: I think that may have been me.
You're absolutely right. I went back and checked. It was the post "How I lost 4 stone in 3 months". I was almost ready to create a post asking about the stones thing, but didn't want to sound like an idiot.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 14 September 2007 04:48 pm |
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Becci Aryal wrote: We say "I've got a cold" and you say "I have a cold".
When it comes to letters, you write someone, and we write TO someone.
In American English "have got" is considered incorrect, thus to be correct for us, it's just "have".... which reminds me of another thing I find hilarious:
"It's raining, you better take an umbrella (brolly)."
"Yes, I better had."
And as for sending things or writing to people, I don't know anyone who would say,
"I wrote my mother" unless the whole sentence was "I wrote my mother a letter."
Not sure when anyone would say just half the sentence, but perhaps in some other region outside the South (where I contend no one knows how to speak properly)
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 September 2007 02:22 am |
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I'm baaaaack!
We say Diary, Americans seem to say Journal.
We say mobile, Americans say cell phone.
Last edited on 15 September 2007 02:41 am by Heavenseventeen
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clarinetgurl
Moderator
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Posted: 15 September 2007 04:01 pm |
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I think a diary is usually thought of as having a lock and key so no one else could ever read what you've written, but a journal is juts a notebook with maybe less private thoughts.
..I will occasionally say, "Oh, I need to write Sue" ...I mean the "to", I guess I'm just too lazy to say it..
CG
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 September 2007 04:33 pm |
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We say nappy, Americans say diaper.
We say dummy, Americans say pacifier.
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 15 September 2007 07:42 pm |
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Um, I'm running out of ideas.
We say booking, you say reservation.
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gauloises
New Member
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Posted: 17 September 2007 03:12 pm |
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We say tom-ah-to, you say to-may-to.
Biscuits in America seem to be some sort of fluffy savoury scone thing ...
For cigarettes we say "fags", you say "smokes".
Also, let's clarify. "Football" is a generic term for a number of games. However in the U.K. and Europe we use "football" to mean "soccer" and "rugby" for "rugby football, a.k.a the greatest game of all time". In the U.S., you use "football" for "American football, a.k.a. a hideous perversion of rugby" and "soccer" for what we call "football". Furthermore, in Australia, they have "soccer", "rugby", and "Australian Rules Football", which is NOT soccer or rugby but is indeed played on an oval field.
Just for the record I was born in the U.S. and have visited many times, but I'm very, very British ...
It's just not cricket. Let's call the whole thing off.
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gauloises
New Member
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Posted: 17 September 2007 03:45 pm |
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| And also, sidewalks are pavements over here, and elevators are lifts ...
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 17 September 2007 04:26 pm |
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"That's not cricket" reminds me of a Squeeze song. Favorite band, ever.
We have "carpet" or "carpeting", that covers an entire floor and is permanently installed. Then we have rugs, sometimes called "area rugs" that are smaller decorative pieces like carpeting that are used on hardwood floors, or in high traffic areas to protect the carpet underneath.
I think a rug to Brits may be what we would call a "throw," "blanket", or "coverlet"... not as big as what you would put on a bed, which we call a "bedspread" or "comforter". When we say "duvet" we mean the removable washable comforter covering, not the comforter itself.
And while I'm at it, we have two kinds of bedsheets - flat and fitted. The fitted ones go on the mattress and are made with seams and elastic to fit the shape of the mattress. The sheet on top is the flat one, and is tucked in at the end. On the occasions that I visited the UK, they only had the flat kind of sheet, so the bottom one on the mattress had to be tucked in all the way around....
We call it "washcloth", you call it "flannel." Flannel to us is a kind of brushed cotton fabric, almost always with an all-over pattern. Great for pajamas.
And speaking of cotton - we say cotton balls or cotton squares or rounds depending on the shape - you call them cotton wool. Of course wool is a fabric to us. Probably to you, too, but we only use the word to refer to the fabric. The only term I can compare "cotton wool" to is our rather archaic expression "cotton batting" from the days when cotton came in a big wad and you just pulled off however much you needed.
I was reminded of this over the weekend, watching MI-5 (Spooks to you)
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 17 September 2007 05:05 pm |
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Ah, no Gauloises, not everyone calls cigarrettes "fags", inthe north of England they are called "tabs" for some reason.
Just for the record I am a transplanted "Southerner" living in Seaton Delaval, a small village outside Newcastle Upon Tyne. I'm not a Geordie - I speak like a BBC announcer (or so I have been told).
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gauloises
New Member
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Posted: 17 September 2007 05:15 pm |
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| Oh yeah I forgot about "tabs" - American friends of mine have referred to them as "butts" as well ...
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 17 September 2007 05:34 pm |
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| I've never heard anyone use "butts" except in movies, but lots of people call them "smokes" and I like "smoky treats" which is really idiotic, but always makes people laugh... got that from a boyfriend in high school who was a very funny guy.
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 September 2007 12:06 am |
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We say school play/dance, you say recital.
We say rounders, and it looks very similar to baseball except baseball has a longer bat.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 18 September 2007 12:19 am |
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Well a recital is a very different thing. If a child takes music or dance lessons at a music school or dance school, that school will hold recitals to showcase the talents of the students.
A regular school dance is a social event, where boys and girls meet, usually at the school, in the gymnasium or cafeteria (depending on size of school and number of students)
And as for school plays, well, that's just a normal part of many public and private school extracurricular activities. I always took a drama class and was a member of drama club in both elementary school and high school. We performed for our own students, and in high school we also performed for the younger ones at the nearby elementary school.
Every year, the senior class put on "the senior play" which was always a musical. My class did "South Pacific". Alas, I had but a small part...
Last edited on 18 September 2007 12:21 am by Trixie.in.Dixie
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 September 2007 05:38 pm |
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We say Headmaster/Headmistress but now we seem to be saying the American Principle instead.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 18 September 2007 05:51 pm |
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I think in some private schools we use the term "headmaster" instead of "principal" but I am not sure about that. I never went to a private school.... just ordinary public ones.
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gauloises
New Member
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Posted: 18 September 2007 06:19 pm |
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| That's another thing - not sure anyone's mentioned this yet, but the U.S. term "public school" is synonymous with the U.K. term "state school" - when we say "public school", we mean places like Eton, Winchester, etc., which are private schools with very restricted access.
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clarinetgurl
Moderator
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Posted: 18 September 2007 11:43 pm |
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Wow...that sounds kinda opposite-ish.
Don't you guys have "mates" whereas I have friends?
Note that my limited British English language knowledge comes from reading Harry Potter
CG
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 18 September 2007 11:54 pm |
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I used to go to a popular Irish bar where many of the Irish, English, South African, New Zealand, and Australian folks would gather. There are several pubs in town, and this is one where I met people from all over the place. Mostly here (Atlanta) because of work.
I picked up a lot from being around all of those people, and just listening to their conversation and jokes.
One of the expressions that springs to mind is "down my street" which I assume is the same as when we say "up my alley" as in something that is in harmony with one's preferences or familiarity. Funny how it seems to be the same thing, only just slightly different.
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gauloises
New Member
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Posted: 19 September 2007 01:33 pm |
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Things are often our "cup of tea" too.
We do have mates indeed. Also "knickers" rather than "panties".
And we say "cheers" when we mean "thanks". I think that's a British thing.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 19 September 2007 03:41 pm |
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I keep thinking of more examples. Last night while walking I thought of the expression "knackered" where we might say "worn out" "pooped" "bushed" or many other slang-y things.
I knew a woman who told me that she had quit smoking, but she said she had "packed it in." I knew what she meant, but I can't think of an occasion where we might use this, or at least not often. We just say "quit" something that we've been doing for a long time, like smoking, or a job.
Okay, that makes me think of a couple of other things: paycheck vs. wages or packet (maybe that's wrong). Being fired or laid off vs. being made redundant, being on unemployment vs. being on the dole. We say "federal holiday" and you say "bank holiday. "
I just found this great site, which mentions some of the things we've already listed here, and so much more. Can you tell that I'm really into this?
effingpot.com
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clarinetgurl
Moderator
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Posted: 21 September 2007 02:39 am |
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I think we use "cup of tea" bu usually in the negative context, as in "Going on a diet isn't really my cup of tea." Anyway, I've never used it in the positive sense.
CG
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gauloises
New Member
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Posted: 21 September 2007 12:43 pm |
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I just found myself writing at the end of a post in someone's diary that my post was merely "my tuppence-ha'pennorth" - this is quite an unusual British expression but it basically means "my two and a half pence worth" - like your "my two cents", I suppose. Much in the same way that 50 Cent is merely 33 Pence over here ...
I don't believe you American folks say "blimey" either - it's an expression of surprise or annoyance - a contracted version of "God blind me", I believe.
My mum grew up in Deptford so she knows a lot of cockney rhyming slang - the only one that's really stuck with me is "two and eight" for "state" - as in, "Don't get yourself in a two and eight". Also "butcher's" for "look" ("butchers hook") ...
We also have the expression "pulling a stroke" or "pulling a fast one" for someone who's trying to cheat you or con you in some way ...
And do Americans say "bless you" or "god bless you" when somebody sneezes?
Just my tuppence-ha'pennorth.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 21 September 2007 05:09 pm |
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We often do say "just my 2 cents worth" or "in my humble opinion" which get abbreviated on forums as IMHO. I see that a lot.
We don't say "blimey" but we have plenty of other ways to express the same thing! I was thinking about how many truly weird expressions there are that are just generic exclamations, like "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" (if you're Catholic for sure), "Hells Bells!" (one of my mother's), "Judas Priest!" (my grandmother used to say that), "Holy Nellie!" (no idea who Nellie was), or "What the Sam Hill?" (who? another of my grandmother's). Not that everyone says these things, of course, because I think they really apply to an older generation.
In another direction, how about the punctuation mark "." that we call a "period" and Brits call a "full stop"?
Or the fact that we pronounce "z" like "zee" and they say "zed"?
As for sneezing, my unscientific guess based on personal experience is that most people will say "Bless you" or "God bless you" but plenty of people also say "Gesundheit". I sometimes like to throw in a "Salud" just to be different.
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gauloises
New Member
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Posted: 21 September 2007 05:21 pm |
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| On the exclamations front, we also sometimes say "Gordon Bennett!", which I've heard was a contraction of "Oh God" to avoid blasphemy or whatever - or sometimes "bloomin' Nora".
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Heavenseventeen
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 01:17 am |
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You know how some people don't oil their skin after washing and their skin becomes dry? In the UK we call it "crusty" and Americans call "ashy".
I don't know if anyone said this already but we say "rubbish" and Americans say "trash".
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 08:35 am |
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| We say refuse collectors or bin men, they say garbage collectors or grbage men.
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 03:04 pm |
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We say "Moses Basket" and you say bassinette.
We say spinster (horrible word) and you say bachelorette (not much better).
You say, burglar and so do we, but we say we have been "burgled", and you say you have been "burglarised" (which in UK English implies that you have become a burglar!)
Last edited on 25 September 2007 03:06 pm by Ohm
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 08:10 pm |
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Heavenseventeen wrote: You know how some people don't oil their skin after washing and their skin becomes dry? In the UK we call it "crusty" and Americans call "ashy".
I don't know if anyone said this already but we say "rubbish" and Americans say "trash".
"Ashy" is a term that only black people use here. It has to do with the appearance of the skin when it gets really dry. If I have dry skin, I just say "dry" but sometimes it is jokingly called "alligator" skin - thus the commercial for some popular body lotion where a beautiful woman is looking at a large alligator in the room with her and says, "Later, Gator!" because she's using this lotion that makes her skin fabulous.
We say garbage or trash - so garbage can or trashcan - either way - it all depends on where you come from and what you are used to. There are more variations in accent and terminology within the US than there are between the US and the UK. Also, as I said somewhere earlier in the thread, we say "dumpster" where you say "tip". Use to confuse me when my cousin would say, "My room looks like a tip!" I had NO idea what that meant.
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 08:23 pm |
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Becci Aryal wrote: We say "Moses Basket" and you say bassinette.
We say spinster (horrible word) and you say bachelorette (not much better).
You say, burglar and so do we, but we say we have been "burgled", and you say you have been "burglarised" (which in UK English implies that you have become a burglar!)
What about a "crib"? A bassinet is the thing you can carry, but the crib is the piece of furniture at home - do you have a different word for that?
Hmm. Bachelorette is really only used when the woman is just about to be married, when she has a "bachelorette party" which I believe you would call a "hen party" (Not sure if "hen party" is specific to pre-wedding or just a women-only party in general.) Or perhaps if appearing on The Dating Game show where they refer to the female contestants as "bachelorettes". But how often is one on a game show?
If a woman is permanently single, perhaps older in age, we do use the word "spinster," but not as often as we might say "old maid" which is probably also archaic in origin, but more common.
Men are commonly referred to as "bachelors" when single, whether about to marry or not. The expression "eligible bachelor" means a man who is single, but implies that he is also "desirable". If any other Americans here have a different take on that one, please jump in.
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 08:33 pm |
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Re: Crib
At home we have the cot, which is like a caged bed for kiddies, if you see what I mean. Then there is the cradle, which is generally either a swinging or rocking type bed for smaller babies who cannot yet sit up (and hence cannot yet fall out). The moses basket is usually a wicker type basket with frilly drapes and coverlet in which the baby can sleep during the day or night; it can be moved while the baby is asleep by using the handles and is very useful while they are tiny, but they soon grow out of it.
Technically, yes, a hen party is any party for women only, usually a pub crawl type of thing, but most brides have a hen party before they get married.
Old maid is a recognised expression here too, but it is falling out of use now,thank goodness. Eligible bachelor is also a recognised and still surprisingly common expression.
One thing I have wondered about for ages is the expression "to have egg on your face". I think it means to be embarrassed or to be shown up, but from where does this odd expression originate?
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 08:41 pm |
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Now that I think of it, I believe we say "bassinet" instead of cradle. You know, since I have never had a baby, I'm not up on all that terminology. I plead ignorance.
I was looking up website that offer "origins of common phrases" and several of them (didn't look at all of course) give some variation of this explanation for "egg on one's face":
"From the embarrassment suffered if the yellow yoke is on ones lips or beard after eating a soft boiled egg in one of those egg cups, a favorite breakfast of the upper crust... Yellow egg shows up especially well on a beard or mustache."
Not one of the more interesting backstories, is it? Oh well.
I love the expression "hen party" by the way. Don't know why, just do.
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 08:42 pm |
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Just thought something else:
A "tip" is the vernacular for a landfill site, which is where all the non recyclable rubbish is "tipped".
We also have "skips" which are mobile huge metal things shaped a bit like shopping baskets, into which people put all their large and unwieldy rubbish (like old furniture and things) when they are moving house or just having a general clear out. Is this what you call a dumpster?
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Trixie.in.Dixie
New Member
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Posted: 25 September 2007 08:55 pm |
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That's it!! "Skip" is the word I was going for!
A dumpster is a communal garbage collecting container. In multi-unit housing (as opposed to single family dwellings, i.e, houses) like apartments or condominiums, or for most businesses of any kind, whether in multi-level buildings or not, you will find "dumpsters" where all the garbage goes and once a week the big truck comes, and hoists up the whole container, dumping its contents into itself and putting it back down empty.
I live in a condominium complex, much like an apartment complex, and we have a "compactor" - looks like a dumpster, but when switched on, will smoosh the contents into a smaller mass so more can fit into it. Then it gets emptied every week in the same way a regular dumpster is.
We have industrial type dumpsters (what you called "skip") that are used on construction or renovation sites - they are a little different from a regular dumpster, in that they are completely open like a box without a lid (dumpsters have lids and sliding doors, too). They are temporary and meant to be moved from site to site, whereas, dumpsters are emptied and put back every week. Also, construction dumpsters are for building materials or tree parts or other non-food disposal. As I said, dumpsters have lids and sliding doors... presumably to cut down on smell as well as "critters". However, anywhere you have food garbage, you will have vermin. Which reminds me... when I was a kid, the house where my grandmother lived had the trash cans sunk into the ground - perhaps to make it harder for things to get in??? Never saw this in modern houses anywhere.
How odd to be talking about waste disposal....
Last edited on 25 September 2007 09:00 pm by Trixie.in.Dixie
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