For me ‘garbage’ sounds worse than ‘rubbish’. Perhaps it is because of the harsher sounds of ‘garbage’ compared to ‘rubbish’. My differentiation applies to real stuff: garbage could have rotting food and other revolting things, whereas rubbish might be just scrap paper or empty packets. Similarly, in a figurative sense, if I call an argument ‘garbage’, then I mean that it is stupid or offensive, whereas ‘rubbish’ would just mean silly or misguided. However, I probably don’t apply these distinctions consistently.
Living in Australia, I’ve heard both American and British English. To me ‘garbage’ is more American than the British ‘rubbish’, but the distinction, if it ever existed, seems to have disappeared from general conversation, as we Australians are exposed to more and more Englishes from around the world.
Greta Garbo’s surname may sound good in Italian, but in colloquial Australian a ‘garbo’ is a garbage collector. The term has been around since the 1950s.
Another ‘-age’ word is ‘garage’. Which reminds me of a cartoon I saw once. A man is standing next to a sign saying ‘GARAGE SALE’. He is presumably one of the people running the sale. There are boxes of stuff spread around. Another man in the scene is holding a partly broken appliance (a vacuum cleaner or something). He is saying to the first man: ‘There’s a letter missing from your sign.’
On the Great Pacific garbage patch, Wikipedia says:
Despite the common public perception of the patch existing as giant islands of floating garbage, its low density (4 particles per cubic metre (3.1/cu yd)) prevents detection by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area. This is because the patch is a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of suspended ‘fingernail-sized or smaller’ – often microscopic – particles in the upper water column known as microplastics.
That was a good one, Nancy. I always enjoy your detours through English, which I am coming to think is about 60% French, but "garbage" is right up my alley. Thanks for the picture of the Pacific garbage patch, which I had always thought of as a circular swirl, but most of all I thank you for the Wikipedia entry for the Garbage Pail Kids movie. Really, really, bad. Anthony Newley? Holy shit. I would like to point out, however, that the GP Kids are far more interesting than the Cabbage Patch Kids, who all have the same face and are clearly designed to be inoffensive merchandise.
I really like "garbed in garbage"! And thanks for the original meaning of "garble," which I never would have guessed. Reminds me of "riddling," which also has a "separating" sense, though for some reason M-W doesn't mention the wine context, which is where I first encountered it (riddling = slowly turning bottles of sparkling wine to remove sediment).
For me ‘garbage’ sounds worse than ‘rubbish’. Perhaps it is because of the harsher sounds of ‘garbage’ compared to ‘rubbish’. My differentiation applies to real stuff: garbage could have rotting food and other revolting things, whereas rubbish might be just scrap paper or empty packets. Similarly, in a figurative sense, if I call an argument ‘garbage’, then I mean that it is stupid or offensive, whereas ‘rubbish’ would just mean silly or misguided. However, I probably don’t apply these distinctions consistently.
Living in Australia, I’ve heard both American and British English. To me ‘garbage’ is more American than the British ‘rubbish’, but the distinction, if it ever existed, seems to have disappeared from general conversation, as we Australians are exposed to more and more Englishes from around the world.
Greta Garbo’s surname may sound good in Italian, but in colloquial Australian a ‘garbo’ is a garbage collector. The term has been around since the 1950s.
Another ‘-age’ word is ‘garage’. Which reminds me of a cartoon I saw once. A man is standing next to a sign saying ‘GARAGE SALE’. He is presumably one of the people running the sale. There are boxes of stuff spread around. Another man in the scene is holding a partly broken appliance (a vacuum cleaner or something). He is saying to the first man: ‘There’s a letter missing from your sign.’
On the Great Pacific garbage patch, Wikipedia says:
Despite the common public perception of the patch existing as giant islands of floating garbage, its low density (4 particles per cubic metre (3.1/cu yd)) prevents detection by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area. This is because the patch is a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of suspended ‘fingernail-sized or smaller’ – often microscopic – particles in the upper water column known as microplastics.
I found the cartoon. It's by Mike Baldwin. The man is saying: 'You spelled garbage wrong.'
I really like "The offal truth." Could also be used as a tag for a less-than-sensitive gastroenterologist.
The last "garbage" you spoke of, needs to be incinerated.
That was a good one, Nancy. I always enjoy your detours through English, which I am coming to think is about 60% French, but "garbage" is right up my alley. Thanks for the picture of the Pacific garbage patch, which I had always thought of as a circular swirl, but most of all I thank you for the Wikipedia entry for the Garbage Pail Kids movie. Really, really, bad. Anthony Newley? Holy shit. I would like to point out, however, that the GP Kids are far more interesting than the Cabbage Patch Kids, who all have the same face and are clearly designed to be inoffensive merchandise.
There's a quote whose exact phrasing I don't recall but which goes something like "English is German with some French vocabulary."
I really like "garbed in garbage"! And thanks for the original meaning of "garble," which I never would have guessed. Reminds me of "riddling," which also has a "separating" sense, though for some reason M-W doesn't mention the wine context, which is where I first encountered it (riddling = slowly turning bottles of sparkling wine to remove sediment).
I have certainly seen "sewerage", in older, possibly English texts.