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Comment by dekhn | Hacker News Reader

I once was talking wit some british people whilst in california and said "oh you can throw that garbage in the trash". They laughed and said it sounded really coarse, what did you do with it after? "It goes into a truck which takes it to the dump. Why, what do you say?" "We say you put your rubbish in the bin and the lorry takes it to the tip" which did sound more pleasant.

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I'm fairly certain "dump" is the more commonly used word in the UK. There's the classic children's novel "Stig of the Dump" published in 1963.

There's definitely cases where UK English has adopted a new word but American English hasn't. I was surprised to see the word "coupon" used in old UK literature. "Voucher" is the more common word nowadays. People would accuse you of being Americanised if you said coupon.

Tip is definitely more common everywhere I've lived in the UK.

Stig of the Dump is set in an informal place people dump rubbish, if I remember correctly, which is where people are more likely to use the term (e.g: "what a dump"), but if you are talking about a managed place it is taken to be disposed of properly, tip is by far the more common term I hear used.

I’ve never met a fellow Brit who would say ‘dump’ instead of ‘tip’ in this context.

I also call my discount-loving fellow Brit friend ‘coupon boy’ rather than ‘voucher boy’!

I use both. I believe "dump" was more common but, for some reason, has been superseded by "tip". Or it may be regional.

> I’ve never met a fellow Brit who would say ‘dump’ instead of ‘tip’ in this context.

It was always the dump when I was growing up (mid 70s, northwest.)

Dump and tip have different connotations. The tip is where one deposits refuse/rubbish. Whilst a dump and is a pile/collection of unwanted things, not necessarily rubbish. It’s a small but often important distinction.

Not always. Fly tipping is an unwanted problem. Most people would prefer you take it to the dump.

I suspect might be one of those regional things like scone/scone[1].

1. It’s pronounced “scone” and I will fight anyone that says otherwise!

As a less confrontational reply: from my point of view “unwanted fly tipping” is talking about rubbish. The concept of depositing unwanted, yet usable, not rubbish, things somewhere is not something that would happen (outside of the rather recent disposable culture context). As to your sentence (which is perfectly fine), the use of words avoids possibly confusing repetition. Atypical use would be preferred to “no fly tipping, take it to the tip”.

Challenge accepted - “scon” is the only way! Why? Absolutely no logical reason, but it is, how it is.

"Scon" is, of course, how "scone" is pronounced by all right thinking people but it does somewhat ruin the joke. ;)

I love Stig of the Dump. I read it at school and whilst I have very memories of my childhood I do remember reading it. I can quite imagine living in a dump/tip with old jam jars as my window!

That reminds me of a phrase I've seen on signs in both the UK and in Aus/NZ (IIRC): "No fly tipping".

I'm not sure if this is actually correct usage in those countries, or slang, but it certainly feels much more like slang, and felt virtually impenetrable, even to someone who's been exposed to a fair but of UK-isms in his life.

I don't think it is slang. I think it is a tad old fashioned, but any native speaker would understand it.

I wouldn't call it slang, it is the common way to refer to the act in media, and the government uses it, e.g: https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping (they do define it, however, as you say, it would be unclear if you aren't familiar).

I don’t think Aus/NZ would use it in this manner. It would be more likely to see “no dumping”.

I remember going on a walk in London with my dad when I was little and we ended up in Hyde Park (this is late 1970s). There was a sign that said 'no dumping" which he chuckled at and explained to me the slang term 'dump', as in 'to defecate'.

I consume a lot of American media and say "garbage" and "trash" often. My wife constantly chastises me for it and says I should say "rubbish"!

Hmm, lorry takes it to the tip sounds dirty to me.

It is very dirty, and they just dump load after load right on the tip.

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