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.

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.

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?

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!

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".

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!".

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.

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?

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.

Wow, Bob. Thanks for that! It certainly cleared up a lot for me.

It's funny that in some countries a commonly used word is archaic in others. This has been brought up quite a bit in this thread. Now we have another!

who then pours it into one or more flagons (yes, that's the word, otherwise archaic)

I looked up the definition of flagon on Atomica and, I have to say, I had never heard of that ecclesiastical definition before.

A flagon is quite a common term here and, probably, in Britain too (we having adopted it over time). However, its common use is as a defining measurement of bottles of spirits. A flagon is a half bottle and a nagon a quarter bottle. (Don't ask me where nagon came from!).

Presumably these terms were adopted from the ecclesiastical ritual of mixing water and wine in 'equal' proportions to make a sum total (I do remember from my church going days that some older priests leaned more towards the wine and added only a few drops of water to their spiritual tipple).

No, but I wouldn't say, "it's bucketting down" either.

The only person I ever heard say this was my mother. But she was always coining new words.

In Zild the flagon has long been associated with a half-gallon bottle with a screw top typically used for holding beer. [ hanging out -e] Since the demise of the 750ml bottle and its replacement with 330ml cans and bottles, the flagons I've seen in recent years have usually been full of "fill-your-own" sherry, cheap rotgut that only an alcoholic could truly appreciate.

...now where is the vessel with the pestle? And who broke the chalice from the palace?

Oh Kaye, bean!

Get it?
--Got it.
Good!

the flagons I've seen in recent years have usually been full of "fill-your-own" sherry, cheap rotgut that only an alcoholic could truly appreciate.
And just how many of these have you seen, sir? [Ah-hh, payback is sweet, she said.)

The difference between Pail and Bucket is, nobody ever kicks the Pail.

How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood
When fond recollection presents them to view
The orchard, the meadow, the deep tangled wildwood,
And ev'ry loved spot which my infancy knew
The wide spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,
The bridge and the rock where the cataract fell;
The cot of my father, the dairy house nigh it,
And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well.
The old oaken bucket, the iron bound bucket,
The moss covered bucket that hung in the well.

The moss covered bucket I hailed as a treasure,
For often at noon, when returned from the field,
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,
And quick to the white pebbled bottom it fell
Then soon, with the emblem of turth overflowing,
And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well.
The old oaken bucket, the iron bound bucket,
The moss covered bucket that hung in the well.

Dear Wordwind: If you use this, avoid the version that has a chorus:
"The old oaken bucket,
bucket,
bucket...

Some wise guy always says: "F-word it"

nobody ever kicks the Pail

Except the cow.

Like the cow that started the great fire in Chicago.

bucket/pail

It seems I've always used bucket and pail, interchangeably, except for certain circumstances.

a) At a well it was always a water bucket.
b) The kids game we played was always kick-the-bucket.
c) When I worked as a mate on a boat, or on any boat, it's always a bucket or chum bucket.
d) At the tavern we'd always order a bucket of mussels or a bucket of clams, steamed...and one bar once featured a bucket of beer, five or six of those little 6 oz. bottles on a heap of ice in a bucket for a special price (course, you felt like a bit of slosh with a whole bucket of beer sitting in front of you, but, hey!...anything to save a buck, right?)
e) Kick the bucket or kicking the bucket for someone dying...never kick the pail.
f) It's in the bucket, we've got the deal made, we've got the game won, it's all sewn up....we got it made!
g) But for child's beach toys here at the shore in "our neck of the woods," it's always pail and shovel or beach pail.

And mebbe, upon reviewing all of this, there's something here about size. Maybe, in many instances,
a bucket is perceived to be larger than a pail. I don't want a pail of gold, I want a bucket of gold! (or a Pot'o'Gold at the end of the rainbow in keepin' with the season ).

I guess that's why with food items, and in the spirit of merchandising, it's always a bucket'o'butter, etc...because it sounds like more than a pail.

At a well it was always a water bucket.

Me too... but older usage may have been different:
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water

Come to think of it, why would one seek water *atop the hill? Wouldn't the water, whether in well or rivulet, typically be at the lower ground?

So far as I'm aware, from a modern UK point of view, bucket and pail are interchangeable - there is possibly a regional variation in usage, but I'm not aware of it.
Both words come from Old English
- Pail from pægell, which meant "gill" (a small liquid measure - 1/8 pint [c.f.Middle Dutch pegel = measure])

- bucket is from Middle English or Anglo French and is a "container for drawing, holding or carrying water"

So far as English usage is concerned, it probably depends on where you were brought up as to what is right:
As to American usage - I've no idea! They have taken English and preserved some bits we've forgotten and which would by now be lost, and converted some bits which we think would have been well left alone!

Dear Keiva: Wells sometimes are found in unusual places. I've never seen one at the top of a hill, but I have seen many a good ways up the side of a hill. I lived six months in any old house in Port Deposit Maryland, that was very high above the Susquehanna, and had almost five gallons a minute constantly running in kitchen sink from a spring that was not a whole lot higher than the foundation of the house.

"As to American usage - I've no idea! They have taken English and preserved some bits
we've forgotten and which would by now be lost, and converted some bits which we think
would have been well left alone! "

I don't know, RC. For instance, I could easily make a bucket, just as the oltimers had to make their own.
No way could I make a pail.

But Max, shouldn't you have expressed that excellent pun in pale type?

I've been soaking my pillow with tears for several nights, because nobody noticed a fine Americanism:

Rush the growler : to go to the local bar or beer tap and fill a round lunch pail with draft beer. In olden days, fathers would often send their kids to rush the growler. See growler.

For instance, I could easily make a bucket, just as the oltimers had to make their own.
No way could I make a pail.

I'm sure you could make a pail imitation of a bucket, Dr Bill?

> "Bring us it in a jug next time. That'll be bigger!".

I often drive past a large poster advertisement for an Edinburgh "heavy drinking - late night establishment". It says in large letters "big jugs, well hung". I can only assume that it relates to the way that the pitchers (to USn's) are arranged over the bar.

So far as I know, the common usage is that a bucket or pail is a container for liquids ...

I have never used "pail" except when reciting Jack and Jill as a child. I would get a bucket of water.

In Scotland "bucket" is also used for what I would call a "bin" for rubbish (never garbage).

Hi, Jo, it's nice to see you posting. You reminded me of something I've been wondering (not very hard) about. You-all say "rubbish"--does that refer to anything you throw away? Where I live, we sometimes make a distinction: trash is what goes into, say your office or bedroom wastebasket, and garbage refers to uneaten food, empty meat wrappers, etc., that go into your kitchen garbage can. (Some people say garbage pail!) Sometimes we throw trash into the garbage can (which is also what we call the big containers that we haul out front to be picked up), but seldom is "garbage" thrown into a wastebasket.

>You-all say "rubbish"--does that refer to anything you throw away?

Yes - it is all rubbish where I come from. Never ever trash or garbage - I hadn't realised that there was a difference in the words. I'd put different kinds of rubbish in the kitchen bin to the office bin but it'd still be rubbish in a bin.

The dustbin is the thing that the dustbin men (or more correctly refuse collectors) collect. Ours have been replaced with wheelie bins that are wheeled out and fit onto specially designed lorries http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cewebs/contain.htm

Where I live, we sometimes make a distinction: trash is what goes into, say your office or bedroom wastebasket, and garbage refers to uneaten food, empty meat wrappers, etc., that go into your kitchen garbage can.

The distinction being, as I understand it, that "garbage" refers to organic matter -- or more specifically to the kind of waste which, if left unattended over time, will develop distinct and unpleasant odors or rotting.

From a public health standpoint the difference is important. Careless disposal of garbage, meaning food residues , may increase rat numbers.

Incidentally, I object use of "rat population". Some people may be rats, but no rats are people.

Rubrick notes: There is mention in Shakespeare's works of a Toby jug

When I was a lad, we had an Englishman who lived with us for a while who had a collection of these particular dust-collectors (always with a pipe in mouth and a foaming mug of beer in hand). He told me they depicted a lush of English extraction, by the name of Toby Philpot (as in fill th' pot wif ale, I persume). I'd no idea that Toby's illustrious history extended back so far.

trash or garbage - I hadn't realised that there was a difference in the words

Nor I, and we use the word garbage all the time, to mean everything you throw away, organic or otherwise. So I guess to a western Canadian, the trash/garbage distinction is: garbage is anything you throw away, and if you use the word "trash", we know you're from the US!

I won't speak for all of Ontario, but I agree with Bean - garbage is anything I throw away. As a synonym for garbage, trash sounds a little more refined. But, to tell the truth, I tend to interpret it figuratively, as something or someone trashy (eg., 'that book is trash!', "She's My Eurotrash Girl", trailer park trash, etc.)

Agreed that in many contexts, trash and garbage are used interchangeably.

In some contexts, however, it makes a difference. For example, in the management of an office building or shopping center, differing disposal procedures may be used, if only because it's particularly important to get remove biodegradable "garbage" quickly.

In that context at least, practitioners are careful to use trash and garbage as distinct terms.

A hundred years ago, there was very little trash. Few news papers, no cardboard boxes or plastic wrappings. Anything that would burn went into the kitchen stove or the fireplace. Any undesirable food was fed to pigs. There was no trash collection, no garbage collection. When garbage collection began it was done by independents who had pig farms. Broken pieces of wood were called "kindling" because they were used to start fires for cooking or heating. When homes began to be heated by coal and oil, trash collection began. But trash had to be kept out of the garbage, as it could kill pigs. But garbage fed pigs could be fed pork scraps,acquire and transmit trichinosis, so garbage had to be cooked. Now grain fed pork is cheap enough, nobody wants garbage fed pig meat. So garbage and burnable trash get mixed, and the names used interchangeably. But most cities want recyclable materials collected separately. So here in LA we have black barrels for vurnable trash and garbage, blue barrels for recyclable things, and green barrels for grass clippings and other plant debris.

Recycling is in here. My recycle bin that is carried out each week is much larger than the garbage bag we set out to the curb each week. All paper, junk mail (lots of that), cardboard, waxy milk cartons, plastic, glass and metal are recycleable and go out in a special container. We do a small amount of composting here with yard waste (grass and twigs mostly). But very little is true garbage: kitchen scraps, styrofoam meat trays, and tissue (kleenex). We do what we can to help the environment.

Thanks for the site, Jo. "Wheelie bin"--how much more efficient (and whimsical, to my US'n ears) than "garbage can with wheels", which is what we call ours. But ours don't fit INTO lorries--I mean trucks! The garbage men just pick the tied plastic bags of garbage (and trash) out of them, and dump any loose pieces of trash into the back of their big smelly truck, where it gets all mashed. We do, however, have recycling bins. We recycle everything Angel's community does, I think, and have a special day designated for yard waste pick-up.

Dr. Bill, my memories of being on the farm in the 50's and 60's tell me the same practices you described were still in effect. The pigs got the slop, as it was called. I'm fairly sure I remember it being called a slop bucket, whereas the cows were milked into a pail--no significant difference in the design of the two containers--they were just called different things.

trash/garbage

When something is ready to be thrown away a typical phrase around here is trash it!, go ahead and trash it, or just trash it. And this applies to anything to be disposed of, no matter where it's heading, trash can, garbage can, or the compost heap.
Then there's the phrase we really trashed them or what a trashing after beating someone handily at sports.
And, of course, there's also the inebriated trashed...I'm really trashed.

Here we call our wheeled trashcans "Herbie Kerbies"(don't ask, I have NO idea) and our trucks are equipped to attach to the can to dump it in, then they are released and sorta put back where they were. I know. I have to be at work too darn early to know all these details.

Your description, Bill, of the way waste was disposed of a hundred years ago applies pretty much to 50 or 60 years ago. Except that you forgot the ashes. When I was a boy, in the 1940s, we had a coal furnace, as did most people. The ashes had to be shovelled out daily, into a metal container larger than a bucket. Yours truly got this job and once a week had to haul it up the cellar steps to the back yard where it would be emptied into an open truck by the ash men, who collected nothing else. Then there was the garbage truck, which collected the garbage (mostly organic, as you noted), also by dumping it into an open truck, which was really unpleasant in the summer. I can't for the life of me recall what happened to the trash such as paper, glass, tin cans, etc. which didn't go into the garbage. There must have been yet a third truck which collected that.

During the war, of course, unused cooking grease was collected in tin cans and taken to the neighborhood grocery store, where it was collected for the war effort. Same for the cans. When you opened a can, you saved the top; when the can was emptied, you cut out the bottom and flattened the can (with the top & bottom inside) and took that to the grocery as well, to be collected and melted down.

>But ours don't fit INTO lorries--I mean trucks!

Nearly right Jackie - not into (there wouldn't be room for many!) but onto - there is a special clippy thing that clips them on, so they can be tipped up into the lorry as described by others above. Some areas have different coloured ones for recycling but Edinburgh, for some reason known only to the good burghers is in the dark ages in that respect.

PS Funny that the Cambridge Dictionary chose Edinburgh for it's example http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=burgher*1+0 - are they trying to tell us something?

The use of "slops" for "pigswill" was blamed for the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth in the UK, so it is less popular a concept than it used to be.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theissues/article/0,6512,441031,00.html

>Then there's the phrase we really trashed them or what a trashing after beating someone handily at sports.
And, of course, there's also the inebriated trashed...I'm really trashed.

I think that we would use some of these phrases too. "The kids trashed the room". People seem to speak garbage but are trash (trailer trash for example).

We don't really have trailer parks to the same degree (too cold and wet probably), only caravan sites for (mainly) summer use, although there are "Park Homes" which seem to be http://www.cso-parkhomes.co.uk/ sold largely to people who are retiring.

Now I am confused ... I take it that Herbie Kerbies and Wheelie Bins are modestly sized outdoor rubbish/trash holders, generally of moulded plastic with wheels, to facilitate their being easily moved to the curbside for collection.
My confusion arises with the emptying bit ... there are trucks that lift the entire container and tip it into a truck? Is that right?
Around here the men lift the barrell (wheeled or un) and the rubbish/trash/garbage goes into the truck's maw and gets semi-compacted. The men then toss the can back to the roadside. Many folks have a big plastic bag, filled with smaller plastic, garbage-filled bags,inside the cans for sanitary reasons.
Sometimes if it is windy the empty cans end up blowing around on the roads which makes an interesting challenge.
Now, I presume the Herbies and Wheelies are nothing to do with Dempsey Dumpsters ... those huge, big, enormous metal bins found mostly behind apartment houses or on construction sites?
Tried to find a pic of Dempsey Dumpster but Google had lots of entries but no picture.
I am sinking ... sinking ....sinking .....help!

Tried to find a pic of Dempsey Dumpster but Google had lots of entries but no picture.

Never heard of a DD but maybe it's what we call a skip. Plenty of websites in IRL about them. Is this wahat you're looking for?

http://www.pandawaste.ie/skips.htm

While searching for a picture of an industrial trash bin and compacter I found this:

A home trashcan with Artifical Intelligence...it knows when to open for you! What next?

http://www.itouchless.com/share/cgi-bin/site.cgi?site_id=itouchless&page_id=trashcan

Here's a good pivture of a compacter, which we've always used for disposal at supermarkets, department stores, etc. Usually there's a chute which opens into the back of the store for easy dumping. Sometimes you still have to take the trash outside and dump it into the compacter by hand.
The large trash bin looks something like this, except it usually has two doors on top that open at an angle, horizontally, by hand. When I find a good picture I'll add it here.

http://www.pandawaste.ie/compact.htm

yes, a dumster can be a skip-- but we use dumpster for a large bin used for commercial trash (weekly basis) and also for the super large, house renovation bin, (once or twice in a lifetime) size.

the weekly ones are dempsey dumpsters, and they sometimes have pipes that are used stuck into side, and the pipes go into groves on the truck and the truck has a mechanism for lifting and empting..

there are at least 5 styles of dumpster trucks that i know of.. and i don't make a study of it. (except when stuck in a traffic jam, behind a garbage truck making a collection!)

>I take it that Wheelie Bins are modestly sized outdoor rubbish/trash holders, generally of moulded plastic with wheels, to facilitate their being easily moved to the curbside for collection. My confusion arises with the emptying bit ... there are trucks that lift the entire container and tip it into a truck? Is that right?

Dead right. I don't know anything about Herbie Kerbies (I think we just call the big industrial sized ones, skips, as Rubrick says) but the whole point about wheelie bins is that is saves a fortune in litigation. There are many less back strains and cuts as the machine does all the work. All the worker has to do it wheel the bin over to the lorry as in the picture below.
http://www.sutton.gov.uk/el/environ/recycle/wheelie/wbreason.htm

Now for the sad (in the Uk sense of the word) bit:

Just look here and you will see why:
http://www.wheelie-bin-covers.co.uk/wheeliebincovera.html. No, I do not want one as a Christmas present!

Soemone needs to paint teeth and lips on that thing! Can you imagine having one of those around with a three-year old? The garbage monster's gonna get me!!!

The covers are so bad they are wonderful!!!

Now for the sad (in the Uk sense of the word) bit:

Yeah, there's a real sad bastard up the road who has one of the wheelie bins on that link. I've never seen anyone put it out or bring it in. I suspect the man of the house does it after dark, for obvious reasons!

>The covers are so bad they are wonderful!!!

Yes, I rarely admit to the levels to which British culture can sink but I assure you that depths have been plumbed!!!

Rubrick post with the link to Panda shows a large yellow dumpster (once in a life time,clean out the house/renovation dumpster,) and in the bottom photo, a smaller yellow dumpster, and behind it, on a lift a dempsey dumpster style dumpster. about 1/8 the size of once in a life time skip.

Some dumpsters have pole at either side, and are mechanical lifed, like Jo picture. some are front loaders.. (these trucks are cheaper to operate. the driver drive up to the dumpster, a lift arm grab the dumpster, lifts it up, and it empties it out in to the top of the truck. in some places these are one man crews.. in other place 2 man crew. the kind Jo pictured are 3 man crews.. a driver and 2 guys loading the dumpsters.

NY has DEP (dept of environmental protection--aka san men.. aka garbage men)san man is from the old dept of sanatation. they only pick up household trash. commercial trash, is still very much "organized" . the trash, (as is well known) goes to New Jersey-- the garden state! the meadowland sports center (a collection of arenas, one for horses, one for football, one for hockey) are all build on "land fill" (aka NY garbage, and aka-Jimmy Hoffa's graveyard.) NY used to build mountains out of trash.. (it a problem.. Statan island has the highest point of land in NY, actually the two highest points.. one natual, and one man made..) Now we ship it to NJ, to be carted off somewhere, (shades of Bleak House, there are fortunes to be found in dust heaps!)about 60% of the former WTC passed thru NJ. I don't know how much stayed there.
NY Flushing meadow (home to 2 worlds fairs) is where NYC dumped ashes for 100 years...it was a swamp. now its a giant ash field. with 0.5 inch of soil and grass.. and called a park.
we too, recycle. 3 seperate collections, an extra in the fall for leaves.

I often drive past a large poster advertisement for an Edinburgh "heavy drinking - late night establishment". It says in large letters "big jugs, well hung". I can only assume that it relates to the way that the pitchers (to USn's) are arranged over the bar.
________________________________________________

Well, I suspect that it depends on whether your definition of 'jugs' is kept in the cupboard or the gutter. Likewise as to whether it is a 'who' or a 'what' that is well hung....

Well done rkay, I'm glad someone is awake. I'll leave the full interpretation to the imagination - we don't want to upset Ron Obvious do we?

You are all just wonderful! Thank you for all the great links.
I think your decorated Wheelie Bins are a hoot! Ours tend to be very plain ( read boring) colors, black, brown and -for the adventurous- blue! I'd love to have one of yours as the only place I have for my trash barrell is near my main door! (What was the architect thinking?)
It appears that skips and Pandas are similar to Dempsey Dumpsters ... here it is a proprietary name as the inventor was a man named Dempsey.
Again, many thanks and big hugs all around. Aloha!