If someone spilled a box of paper clips, for example, would you say that they wasted the paper clips, even though the clips could be picked up and re-used? Although most people wouldn’t, this sense of waste meaning “to spill” is used among many African-American speakers in the American South, particularly in Texas. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Waste vs. Spill”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello.
Hi, who’s this?
This is Gina.
I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.
All right.
Welcome to the show.
Well, I had a conversation with a co-worker a few weeks ago concerning the words that you use when you drop something on the floor.
So, for example, if I dropped milk on the floor, I would say that I wasted the milk.
She said that, no, you should say you spilled the milk.
Now, I understand the word spill, and I’ve used the word spill, but the word that I would use most of the time is wasted.
Interesting.
She says that wasted is a word that you use for, like, resources, or if you’re wasting electricity or you’re wasting water, that you would not waste the milk, the milk spilled.
Well, Gina, let me ask you, is it all right to ask what kind of work you do?
I’m a teacher.
Oh, you’re a teacher.
Yay.
Yay.
We’re big fans of teachers.
What age group do you teach?
We both teach pre-K.
Pre-K.
Okay.
Four and five years old.
Do you still use the word waste if it’s something that you can pick up and use again?
Say, I don’t know if the kids, like, if you had a big box of paperclips or crayons or something, and when the kids knocked that over and the stuff spilled all over the floor, would you still say you wasted it?
I think I would because my natural inclination is to say wasted.
I love that.
That is the word that I use.
This is fantastic.
This conforms to something that Martha and I know to be true.
Yeah, there’s a great entry in the Dictionary of American Regional English, one of our favorite reference works in the world, that talks about exactly this, using the word waste to mean spill.
So you’re not alone, Gina, at all.
This is something that…
Oh, I’m not.
Okay.
No, no.
You are not.
No.
No, it’s many, many years of other people saying the same thing, to mean the same thing.
In fact, there’s a beautiful map in this reference work that shows exactly where this usage is distributed through the South.
And indeed, it’s in Texas as well.
Oh, so it’s regional.
It’s regional.
It’s also chiefly among African-American speakers.
Yeah.
And it looks like it’s really common in Florida.
Oh, no.
Is that Florida?
No, South Carolina.
No, South Carolina.
There we go.
Yeah.
Isn’t that interesting?
Yeah, really common in South Carolina.
Yeah.
I just find that fascinating because I personally did not grow up using it that way, but I really like the sense of that.
I mean, you’re talking about something that doesn’t involve necessarily judgment or that you’re being irresponsible, right?
You’re just knocking something over.
And it’s not like you’re criticizing them.
You’re saying what happened.
I’m actually saying spiel, but I just don’t use the word spiel.
Exactly.
Perfect.
Yeah.
And did you grow up in Texas, Gina?
Yes, I grew up in Texas.
I grew up in Dallas, Texas.
Okay.
Okay.
Well, it’s very cool.
As we say, you’re not alone.
There are lots of people who use it, and it’s been studied by linguists.
Looks like Louisiana, they do it as well.
Mississippi as well.
Tennessee.
So don’t cry over wasted milk, I guess.
Yeah, exactly.
Don’t cry over wasted milk.
I like that.
Gina, thank you so much for your call.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
All right.
Take care.
All right.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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