Put it in the bin - July 2016

I was recently back in the US on an extended work/holiday and got to see lots of family and friends. My sister Karen remarked that I didn’t have an accent but I used different words for things. Like when wee Gilly Bean (my 4 year old niece) and I were making cookies, she asked what to do with the butter wrapper and I said, “Put it in the bin, please” (i.e., trash can). 

I’ve often thought of the Australian use of bin as anything that you put something in, which someone will eventually take away. Last week I was at the post office mailing a package. The woman weighed the package, told me how much it would cost to send to the US ($2.70 – cheap!) and gave me the stamp to stick on it. Now as an experienced mailer of packages from this post office, I know that I have to take the package outside and put it in the mailbox myself. So thinking I was clever (and also wanting to check that I was doing the right thing), I said to the lady (who has never shown an iota of energy, excitement or enthusiasm, or eye contact on any of my previous visits to this post office, she may be descended from Norwegian farmers) – “OK, so I just put the stamp on this and put it in the bin outside, right?” 

Her head snapped up, she looked me in the eye and said, quite emphatically, “NOT THE BIN!”  

“Oh, right” I said, “The post box… is that what you call it?” She nodded and gave half a smile before she  returned to her usual state.

Apparently bins are not all purpose receptacles, they are trash or recycling or waste receptacles.("Rubbish bins" an Australian said to me when I recounted this story for her - bins are for rubbish!) 

So in case you were wondering, don’t put your mail in the bin if you want it to reach its destination.