inside the pail

Question

Can I say,The clothes are inside the pail.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Yes, but this is beyond the pale. We usually understand a pail to have a capacity of one to five gallons (maybe ten litres) and clothes would surely be wrinkled by being crammed into a pail. Perhaps we're thinking of a few delicate unmentionables. If they're dirty and waiting to be washed, or wet and waiting to be dried, I guess it would work.

We'd probably say, "The clothes are in the pail," but yours is okay.

Simple Simon went a'fishing, for to catch a whale,
But all the water that he had was in his mother's pail.

- A.

New2grammar · Answer

Avangi, what's the difference between a pail and a bucket? I would use a bucket for sure.

(sorry I haven't been around as much as I like. I miss you guys!)

Optilang · Answer

Pail = bucket.

No difference for me. I would suggest pail is somewhat dated.

Avangi · Answer

New2grammarAvangi, what's the difference between a pail and a bucket?

There may be some obsolete historical difference. When I was a child, wooden buckets could still be found. They were constructed somewhat like wooden barrels, but with tapered sides instead of the bulge - assembled from wooden slats and held together by metal bands. They usually had a semi-circular handle attached to opposite sides of the brim. I'm thinking of an old song, "The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, the moss-covered bucket that hung in the well." These would really be antiques today.

At some point they also made cast iron buckets, which were quite heavy, like cast iron frying pans and cooking pots.

When they developed rolled sheet steel, they were able to assemble much lighter "metal" buckets by "seaming" the thin sheet-metal. The sheets came from the mill coated with tin to prevent rusting. It's my impression that such buckets were called "tin pails," similar to "tin cans." Soon tin sheets were replaced with zinc-coated (galvanized) sheets, which were much cheaper.

I don't remember ever hearing of a wooden pail, although I guess it's possible. So I'm suggesting without researching it that in the beginning, pails were metal and buckets were wooden. Now both are often plastic.

My impression these days is that a bucket is something you use, like a mop bucket, although you might pick blueberries into a small pail. Some food products are sold in bulk to restaurants in "pails." You'd buy paint from the hardware store in a five-gallon "can."

Personally, if I had a five-gallon bucket made of strong galvanized steel, with tapered sides and a strong handle, I'd call it a pail.

inside the pail

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