After our earlier conversation with Amanda in Evansville, Indiana, whose family refers to their garbage disposal as George, a listener shares his own family’s term for this device: the spoon sharpener. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...
Jean in Trucksville, Pennsylvania, says her family hasn’t named a household appliance, exactly, although they did christen their compost bin Darth Vader. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Smell is Strong in This One” Following...
Amanda in Evansville, Indiana, says for some reason her family always referred to their garbage disposal as George, a name that functioned as both noun and verb, as in Just put it in George or You can George it now. Might that be something inherited...
Jill in Shelton, Washington, says that when she lived in Southern California, she understood the word garbage to mean food scraps, with trash referring to everything else collected curbside. Historically, garbage has referred to the wet, disgusting...

