I knew this was SDMB gold as soon as I heard it. The only issue was whether to put it in GQ or IMHO.
What would really shock me is if this hit Threadspotting.
It’s funny how much the varieties of English differ in mundane vocabulary. I still can’t get used to people washing their dishes with “soap”. Yuck. If I used soap to wash dishes then yes, I 'd rinse them pretty thoroughly. To me, soap is what you wash your body with, not dishes.
This would be the point to mention that when I was a child we really did use ordinary soap, not detergent, to wash dishes. I believe this was because Dad considered detergent to be Environmentally Evil. We had a little wire soap saver which you swished back and forwards about a hundren times to make the bubbles.
Just doing my bit to get this to four pages…
I’ll help too!
Up until at least the 1930s, household dishwashing was in fact normally done with soap - i.e. the animal or vegetable fat-based product, related to what you use to wash your body. After the war synthetic surfactant products were introduced, but they didn’t dominate the household dishwashing market until the 1960s. Plus, some dishwashing liquids also contained soap to produce the slippery soapy suds that consumers valued (although they play no role in cleaning the dishes). In time synthetic foaming agents replaced soap here too.
Soap leaves a distinct residue, especially in hard water, because it’s not easily soluble, and because it combines with salts. When soap was used to clean dishes rinsing was indeed more necessary. However modern synthetic non-soap detergent surfactants are highly soluble in water (so they drain off much better than soap) and don’t combine with salts. They leave little or no residue unless a strong concentration is used. A preference for rinsing may therefore be a legacy from the days when soap was used to clean dishes. This may be more prevalent in the US where, to judge from this thread, dishwashing liquid is commonly referred to as (and is perhaps even believed by some to be) soap.
I have it on good authority that Australians use wallabies to lick clean their suds-laden dishes, before rubbing them dry with a Long Nosed Bandicoot—was I misinformed?
Almost, they are often placed in a roo’s pouch for drying, not everyone can afford bandicoots and most of us have roos loose in the top paddock, something to do with a lifetime of eating soap.
The pots are scrubbed with echidnas
Pack of dumb wooftahs using plates at all, I just shoves my sangers in a blanket and be done with it.
Bloody soft mate, us your mitts that why god made snags the shape they are!
Sausages? Why don’t you just tear chunks out of living animals with your teeth like Real Men such as myself?
I’m another non-rinser.
I noticed in my student days that I couldn’t tell the difference between rinsing and not, so I got into a habit of rarely bothering.
I wash with very hot / scalding water and leave the plates on a draining board.
I’ve never detected a soapy taste.
Having said that, if there is a lot of washing up, or it’s more than a few hours old, then I do rinse. But for taking care of tonight’s dinner…I can’t be arsed.
Do you guys rinse the roos and echidnas first?
Rinsing the roos is not necessary, they being loose in the top padock.
Echidnas are best rinsed with dingo droppings.
I normally wash my hands after ‘rinsing the roo’, its just good hygiene.
Last Christmas I camped in the Snowy Mountains where the local kangaroos DID clean the Ravioli off my dishes which I left to dry in the sun, use a bandicoot,don’t be silly.
Why would you want dried ravioli on your dishes?
masks the flavour of the palmolive. :smack:
How can a real man come from a state called QUEENSland? :dubious:
I’m confused by this. In my mind, applying soap to a sponge and then scrubbing a plate is exactly analogous to applying soap to a loofah/washcloth and then scrubbing yourself. How do you not apply soap directly to a dish? Do you just fill up your sink with soapy water, let the plates soak, then move them straight to a dishrack?
In summary, Australians apparently use the 1 sink system, which is popular in Asia. You fill the sink with water, add some dishwashing soap, then rub the plate in the mixture. After this, the plate is then placed in the drying rack or dried with a cloth. Apparently, they only use this system exclusively for dishes and nothing else, which makes the “what a moronic question” line especially ironic.
Don’t the gunked on food bits accumulate in your “rinsing” water then? How do the dishes get clean?