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OP
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In a recent thread I read a word I hadn't seen in donkey's years - pail.
When (and how) did bucket become pail?
And, for that matter, when did jug (or ewer) become pitcher?
Pitcher and pail are very much NA words not in use in Europe or (I think) the Antipodes. The only instance I can find of a use of the word both sides of the pond is the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme.
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Carpal Tunnel
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No definitive answer but an observation. To me a bucket means an old fashion container, made (by a cooper) of wood secured by bands of wood or metal. A pail is a modern bucket, made of metal, plastic, etc.
On the other hand, in my youth there was a garbage pail insert in an outside disposal container which was sunk in the ground, usually somewhere near your back entrance, and you put daily kitchen garbage in the pail outside and a garbage man came in a truck once a week and emptied the pail. In northern climes you had to be sure a path to the garbage pail and around the garbage container was shoveled for the garbage man or it didn't get collected.
Nowadays there are plastic bags and garbage/trash cans that you put out for curbside pickup. Far more sanitary but you must put the trash curbside. No longer do trash men enter the yard and take the can to trucks to empty then return them to where they picked them up!
WWII changed a lot of daily life.
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Pooh-Bah
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Re bucket and pail, I use both terms, although I think I favor the latter, and have no real distinction between the two as far as what they represent. Whether metal, plastic or wood, a bucket is a pail is a bucket.
To me, "jug" is an old-fashioned word encountered in song lyrics and books, and "ewer" is a crossword puzzle word. I gather that they are in common use in Ireland? Pitcher that!
Pail and pitcher both have L -> F -> ME histories, and I'm wondering if they are two words which were in established use by all English speakers a few hundred years ago but which the North Americans held to whilst the rest of the English speakers came to favor other terms?
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old hand
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old hand
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North Americans held to whilst the rest of the English speakers came to favor other terms?
I usually use the word "pail" when referring to a sand pail, that is, a childrens' toy pail. Otherwise I prefer bucket. Mop bucket, wine bucket (official name: primary fermenter), ice cream bucket (4L - or approx 1 gallon). So maybe it's not a North Americanism, but a USnism. Any other Canucks wanna comment?
Aside: For some reason in Newfoundland they haven't discovered the various household uses for ice cream buckets so the 4L size is a squarish plastic container instead. I have a precious few ice cream buckets remaining from my time on the mainland, and I use them carefully. When they break I don't know what I'll do to replace them!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pail and bail both have Latin origins, so were not orginated in US. Bail can also refer to hoop hand of pail.
Bucket usually refers to a wooden pail, as wow said.'The old oaken bucket that hung in the well". There used to be pails with tight fitting tops that were used to bring beer home from the tavern, and small boys got tips for "rushing the growler".
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OP
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To me, "jug" is an old-fashioned word encountered in song lyrics and books, and "ewer" is a crossword puzzle word. I gather that they are in common use in Ireland? Pitcher that!
Jug is very much in use here and always has been as far as I know. It's quite common to ask for a jug of water in a restaurant and a milk jug is to be found on all breakfast tables.
A ewer is less common. Until just after the Second World War it was used (with a bowl) for washing. Any older generation people who have kept theirs use them for watering plants and the like.
Pail and pitcher both have L -> F -> ME histories, and I'm wondering if they are two words which were in established use by all English speakers a few hundred years ago but which the North Americans held to whilst the rest of the English speakers came to favor other terms?
There is mention in Shakespeare's works of a Toby jug - a grotesque form of designed pottery beer mug in the shape of a seated man - and this seems to have taken England - if not the rest of Britain and Ireland - by storm. The US was spared from this form of art and chose to adopt the pitcher instead.
A number of US theme restaurants have sprung up around Europe and a couple have landed here (with little success, I may add). One possible reason for their demise may be down to their selling quart pitchers of beer for a fixed price.
1) "What's a quart?" is the first thing that will be asked by the patrons.
2) "How many pints is that?" is the second.
3) "That's bleedin' robbery" is the blunt comment when realising that the price/pint is extortionate.
And finally (bringing Irish logic into the fold)
4) "Bring us it in a jug next time. That'll be bigger!".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Would USns say, "it's pailing down"?
No, but I wouldn't say, "it's bucketting down" either. "It's pouring" or "it's raining buckets" or something.
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enthusiast
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There's a good Bob Dylan tune that starts, "Buckets of rain, buckets of tears, I got buckets coming out of my ears, Buckets of moonbeams in my hand ..." - somehow, "pails" would pale in comparison, donchathink?
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veteran
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So far as I know, the common usage is that a bucket or pail is a container for liquids (but may also be used for granular solids, like grain, etc.), without a lid, which has either a bail or handles on the rim to pick it up by. Also, a pail or bucket generally holds at least a gallon; five gallons more common.
A jug, pitcher or ewer is a container for liquids only and usually has a lip to aid in pouring. It may have a lid. In my understanding of the terms, the jug is the smallest, the ewer the largest (usually at least a quart and can be quite large).
However uncommon some of these terms may be, it gets even more outré when it comes to ecclesiastical usage. In Anglican churches, there is usually a good-sized (i.e., 1 to 2 gallons) brass ewer (that's the word used to refer to it) near the font which is filled with water. When a baptism takes place, the water is poured from the ewer into the font. The wine for communion is brought by the acolyte in one or more decanters (usually glass) to the deacon or priest, who then pours it into one or more flagons (yes, that's the word, otherwise archaic), which are small pitchers (usually silver) with hinged lids, holding maybe 2 cups. There is also a flagon of water. The deacon or priest pours wine from the flagon into a chalice, adds a small amount of water from the other flagon. On major feasts or other occasions when a large number of people (hundreds) are expected to communicate, there may be a silver ewer of wine instead of the decanter(s), holding a quart or more, from which the wine is poured into flagons. Interesting how various size containers are used and that archaic words are used for them.
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