US/Canadian terminology

[HordHolm]

I've tried our old friend Google, but it's better at telling me what it's not than what it is, so...

In the UK builders will use large, open, steel containers for builder's waste and refuse. People also often use these for clearances. We call these containers 'skips' and they are transported on flatbed trucks to and from the locations where they are needed/recycling centres and landfills where they are emptied. The best I can seem to find on Google are people arguing that these are not dumpsters - and that's true, they aren't. But what are they called in the US/Canada?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’d say dumpster or construction dumpster. But ours are mostly cuboid. And not generally yellow, which seems to be the case in London.

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm in the USA. Dumpster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster.

Possibly "bin." Until now I've never even heard of the use of the term "skip."

 

[HordHolm]

I'm in the USA. Dumpster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster.

Possibly "bin." Until now I've never even heard of the use of the term "skip."

Thanks, but my understanding is a dumpster is a semi-permanent fixture in one place, as in it will be filled up, some guys come and empty it into a big truck, and then it will be put back where it was . A skip OTOH, is only in place temporarily, e.g. if you are doing a house clearance you might rent one for a couple of weeks, and once filled it is taken away never to return (unless repeat rented). Hence the online confusion.

(Skip seems to come from an Old Norse word for basket)

 

[HordHolm]

I’d say dumpster or construction dumpster. But ours are mostly cuboid. And not generally yellow, which seems to be the case in London.

Em

My sense is that 'construction dumpster' might do the job. Thx.

 

[alohadave]

Thanks, but my understanding is a dumpster is a semi-permanent fixture in one place, as in it will be filled up, some guys come and empty it into a big truck, and then it will be put back where it was . A skip OTOH, is only in place temporarily, e.g. if you are doing a house clearance you might rent one for a couple of weeks, and once filled it is taken away never to return (unless repeat rented). Hence the online confusion.

(Skip seems to come from an Old Norse word for basket)

Dumpsters are used in both contexts. Dumpster is a genericized trademark for this type of trash container. We are likely to call anything that we throw bulk garbage into a Dumpster.

Other that the general shape it's exactly the same as a skip.

 

[HordHolm]

Dumpsters are used in both contexts. Dumpster is a genericized trademark for this type of trash container. We are likely to call anything that we throw bulk garbage into a Dumpster.

Other that the general shape it's exactly the same as a skip.

Ok, thx. That seems to explain the online confusion.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks, but my understanding is a dumpster is a semi-permanent fixture in one place, as in it will be filled up, some guys come and empty it into a big truck, and then it will be put back where it was . A skip OTOH, is only in place temporarily, e.g. if you are doing a house clearance you might rent one for a couple of weeks, and once filled it is taken away never to return (unless repeat rented). Hence the online confusion.

(Skip seems to come from an Old Norse word for basket)

A dumpster can be EITHER something that's left in one place and periodically emptied, or a container you rent from somewhere, have delivered to your house, and then fill with junk to have hauled off. Either usage would be fine.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm in the USA. Dumpster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster.

Possibly "bin." Until now I've never even heard of the use of the term "skip."

In Oz, the cuboid thing with a lid will be a "bin". A longer steel construction, with no lid, is a "skip". Basic sizes are two, three and four cubic metres - for salvage and demolition, mostly.

 

[Duleigh]

The skip pictured here isn't used in America, it doesn't have end doors to keep trash from blowing out while in transit. If it were used here it would be called a "Roll-off Dumpster"

 

[NotWise]

Waste Management Inc rents the temporary type as "roll off dumpsters."

 

[HordHolm]

The skip pictured here isn't used in America, it doesn't have end doors to keep trash from blowing out while in transit. If it were used here it would be called a "Roll-off Dumpster"

Thanks, but what I actually needed the terminology for was to explain something in a piece of British writing to a US audience, when all I have is the default British 'skip' and no thought that it might be called anything else (the usual cross-cultural snarl-up when you realise the only vocab you have is totally useless).

 

[MrPixel]

@Duleigh and @NotWise have it.

I have contracted for several of these large bins, having demolished a few derelict buildings. We call them "roll-offs". They have that name from the delivery method, where they are rolled off of a special tilting medium truck frame at the jobsite and then removed completely when full. On a big job the truck brings an empty, rolls it off, and picks up the full bin.

Dumpsters are the smaller containers that are lifted into the hopper on a collection truck and placed back on the spot. We had one at our studio for the past 10 years, removed last week since we aren't doing big stuff any more.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This is a construction dumpster:

It goes on the back of a truck.

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks, but what I actually needed the terminology for was to explain something in a piece of British writing to a US audience, when all I have is the default British 'skip' and no thought that it might be called anything else (the usual cross-cultural snarl-up when you realise the only vocab you have is totally useless).

No, it's not totally useless, it's your native spoken language, so write it as you'd call it. American writers don't add a glossary for their international readers, so why should you do it for them?

I never translate my Australian - if Yanks don't understand it, it's their problem, not mine. I'm sure they can manage Google, just like the rest of us.

 

[SimonDoom]

If you're a British writer writing a story set in Britain, there's no need to adopt American terminology. Just use the word in a way that makes its meaning reasonably clear.

 

[NoTalentHack]

This is one of those things where region matters, too. I expect each person in this thread is correct in the right area of the US. It’s like how a fizzy drink is a soda some places, a pop another, a soda pop in a third, and genetically called Coke (even if it’s a Pepsi, RC, etc.) in the South.

 

[gordo12]

No need to explain anything, readers will figure it out. Here they're called dumpsters. Regardless of whether it's roll-on roll-off, fixed, or construction.

 

[Voboy]

I wouldn't bother explaining. I'd just use dumpster. Any American and most Canadians will know that right off the bat.

That's the baseball bat, not the cricket one.

My in-laws have a temporary dumpster on their front lawn right now, because they just got their roof replaced. No one in their region of the US would ever think of calling it anything but a "dumpster," no modifier.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

In English Quebec, we just call them "dumpsters;" in Québec French, they're called "conteneurs."

 

[Rainblow]

In Canada they're dumpsters. Don't cater to American terminology or spelling. There are plenty of British and Canadian writers who use the King's English. It will only confuse readers if you switch back and forth. Context is everything and needs no explanation.

 

[R. Richard]

https://www.google.com/search?q=my+...tman&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i8i10i13i30i625j0i39