It’s a press that sometimes has to be translated to cupboard for non-Irish husband.

Depends where you’re from. I have always called it a cupboard but the missus from the midlands says press.

Clothes, linens towels etc go in the press. Food and crockery go in the cupboard

Old Mother Hubbard went to her press…???

Something’s screwy here.

That’s a press. The other one is the airing cupboard.

Most houses with water cylinders have hot presses, Modern houses have airing cupboards. Kitchens have presses, go on, there’s cake in the press, help yourself. Cupboard relates to some where dingy you put stuff to keep the place tidy. Fire it in, they’ll be here soon!.

Cup-board. It’s in the name!

Press. But when I once asked my northern irish friend to get me something from the press she looked at me like I had two heads. So occasionally I have to say cupboard

How the heck is cupboard an Americanism???

70% say press?

This board is no Irish board.

NO IRISH BOARD AT ALL.

THERE IS ONLY CUPBOARD. CUPBOARDS AND THE LARDER.

A PRESS IS ONLY A HOT PRESS.

HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION ON YOUR BOURGEOIS KITCHEN PRESSES.

HELLFIRE.

AND.

DAMNATION.

I thought they were different. Is a cupboard not where all the delph is kept, and a press is where everything else is kept, i.e. food etc. And dont even get me started on people calling the T.V. remote “the remote”! Its clearly the box.

In standard English it is a cupboard, just check any dictionary. In the same dictionary you’ll find many meanings for the word ‘press’ but none of them refers to a cupboard as it is only used as such informally in Ireland by people speaking Hiberno-English. It originates from the Irish word ‘prios’.

The larder I think is a kind of pantry (storage place for ingredients), a press is for clothes as in iron (press, trouser press) and a cupboard is where the Delph (cups etc) go. That used to be the way when people lived in big houses and didn’t mix up their food with their Delph and clothes.

The only press I have is the hot press the rest are cupboards !! My granny had presses but I haven’t really heard it since then ??? Odd

This really is a press-ing issue. But seriously it’s a cupboard.

Always cupboard!

Press if it has a door, otherwise it’s a cupboard.

It’s a press, but we also had an airing cupboard not a hot press, but that was just a silly english thing.

Is this just another damn Press Release? We want more top drawer articles.

Food in a cupboard. everything else goes in the press.

I’m English so the word ‘press’ as a substitute for cupboard had always seemed a bit weird. But, when in Rome.

Back home, though, a cupboard has doors, if it’s like a cupboard with no doors it’s just shelves, and if the plates stand on their edge it’s a dresser. Linen goes in the airing cupboard, and ‘hot press’ is something you do to creased trousers, but generally not your pants.

The term cupboard comes from the original cup board, where cups and mugs were stored. This term goes back to the 12th century as ‘cuppebord’ when cups and mugs were stored on boards, often stacking them on top of each other to save space. When needed, the boards were taken down one at a time, the cups staying on the board as the server transferred them into the kitchen or dining hall to be used . . . why carry 3-4 cups at a time when a board of them gets the job done faster?

By the 16th century, these boards were incorporated into an enclosed box to keep them cleaner (ie: rodents). Over the centuries, these ‘cupboards’ or cabinets were used to keep rodents out of food, too.

The term press comes from the Irish ‘prios’ which is a non-specific word for a place/cabinet/container to store things.

The term larder comes from the 13th century ‘lardier’ where lard was kept . . . essentially a very cool room to store fats (butter, lard, cheese, cream, etc) . . . aka a buttery, but this was also a separate room at times, as it was solely used to make butter.

The term pantry comes from the 13th century French term ‘paneterie’ which is where bread/baking was stored, aka a bread room . . . pan meaning bread, which is where we get the term pan when referring to sliced bread, or formed bread baked in a bread pan.

The term pantry is also a room between the kitchen and dining room where food is prepared before service.

Also, in today’s kitchen, a pantry is usually a tall and deep cupboard used to store tins and boxes of storable food items.

What I’d like to know is why do the Irish use the word ‘homely’ when referring to their cozy abode? Homey is the correct word usage, as homely means lacking in physical attractiveness, not beautiful, unattractive, not having elegance or refinement, uncivilized, uncultured, simple, unaddorned, plain and poor.

Cups and dishes go in a cupboard. Clothes needing airing go in the hot-press. Food goes in the pantry. Clothes go in the wardrobe! I’m from the North, where pedantry is a GOOD thing

Protestants say cupboards, Catholics say press, simple as 

I grew up in the 60′s in Dublin, and you put clothes into the hot press after ironing, and anything in the kitchen went into a press too, grand parents from Cork, Nenagh, Kilkenny and Dublin, all called them presses, so it must be a country thing.

I Pressed Press.

I’m bilingual, insofar as I swing both ways, kick with both feet and play for both sides.

In short, it could be cupboard or press, depends who I am talking to.

But the water cylinder, unequivocally, resides in the hot press. Anyone who disagrees with me is a pepper-spray wielding nazi.

Prios. Irish for press. I knew it was an Irish thing.

Thanks Susan. You’re true to your word from last week. Just cos you’re in Dublin now don’t forget your roots. Keep calling it a PRESS.

It depends which side the handle faces when it’s opened. If the handle faces west or south or southwest it’s a press and if it faces north or east or northeast it’s a cupboard. This is reversed in the southern hemisphere due to what is know as the “epicotimis” effect! There are exceptions to this rule in countries divided by the equator where it is at the discretion of the ruling government. However when a monarchy is installed they may overrule any government decree but this must be done on the final equinox of a leap year!

If you remember me Susan, I’m the one who brought this up on last week’s poll. Thanks so much for doing this poll this week, it’s this sort of reader interaction and feedback that makes thejournal, thedailyedge and thescore the best news sites on the web!!!

That sir, is a cabinet, sometimes called a cupboard. I’ve never heard it called a “press”!

goddam…that’s like asking me if that vehicle is an articulated truck or articulated pantechnicon…

Having lived in England for many years I started calling Presses Cupboards as I was fed up trying to explain what a Press was. I have never used the word s Hot Press, it’s always been Airing Cupboard.

Enough!

I’m not sure it is entirely an Irish word. Samuel Pepys several times refers to presses meaning cupboards in his diaries. It may be an older construction that we have held onto in Ireland, like pitcher in America.

If you need a laugh have a look at this!!!