# Set tub: normal, regional, or wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083 "2008-05-12T21:15:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/1 "2008-05-12T21:15:48Z")
I used the term “set tub” in a conversation the other day, and no one knew what I was talking about. I’ve always called the deep, utility type sink you find in a garage or laundry room a “set tub”. Is it a regional thing, or have I simply been wrong all my life? Or was my audience just not aware of a common term (seemed unlikely)? As I think about it, it sounds vaguely southern. I grew up in New England, although we did live for a short time in the south, so I suppose I could’ve picked it up in either of those locations if it’s a term used only regionally in the US. The conversation I had was in the bay area in CA, where I live now. The people were mostly from this area. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/2 "2008-05-12T21:23:44Z")
I grew up near Chicago, spent significant time in the North (Michigan), Southish (KY/southern IN), and East (Boston area). I have also lived in both Northern and Southern CA. I have never heard the term, even though I have seen such items frequently. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/3 "2008-05-12T21:28:25Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I used the term “set tub” in a conversation the other day, and no one knew what I was talking about. I’ve always called the deep, utility type sink you find in a garage or laundry room a “set tub”. Is it a regional thing, or have I simply been wrong all my life? Or was my audience just not aware of a common term (seemed unlikely)? As I think about it, it sounds vaguely southern. I grew up in New England, although we did live for a short time in the south, so I suppose I could’ve picked it up in either of those locations if it’s a term used only regionally in the US. The conversation I had was in the bay area in CA, where I live now. The people were mostly from this area. [/QUOTE] Admittedly I’m Canadian not American, but we do talk more or less the same 🙂 - I grew up in Ottawa and have lived in Alberta most of my adult life and have never heard the term. I know the type of sink you’re talking about, but I don’t know of a special name for it. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/4 "2008-05-12T21:31:37Z")
I’ve never heard the term, either. I was grew up in Texas, now live in southern California, and spent much time as a youth visiting relatives in West Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/5 "2008-05-12T21:34:58Z")
[QUOTE=Canadjun] Admittedly I’m Canadian not American, but we do talk more or less the same 🙂 - I grew up in Ottawa and have lived in Alberta most of my adult life and have never heard the term. I know the type of sink you’re talking about, but I don’t know of a special name for it. [/QUOTE] Well, we just call it the laundry sink since it’s in the same room as the washer and dryer. Never heard set tub. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/6 "2008-05-12T21:38:50Z")
Never heard the term in NJ/NY, either. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/7 "2008-05-12T21:44:25Z")
On this side of the pond, I’ve never heard of ‘set tub’. What you describe would be a ‘utility room sink’. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/8 "2008-05-12T21:48:42Z")
Chicago(ish) born ‘n’ bred, and we’ve always called it a “splash sink”. I suppose because one can cause quite a splash in it and not get the floor wet. I’ve heard it called that through several drone level jobs which involved filling mop buckets, as well as from several different landlords referring to the sink in the laundry room. Never heard “set tub”. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/9 "2008-05-12T21:50:49Z")
In western New York, it was the “laundry sink” or “utility sink”. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/10 "2008-05-12T21:50:57Z")
I googled a bit and it does seem to be some sort of technical plumbing term for a big utility sink. We had a pair of these in our basement laudry room in the house I grew up in. It was a fairly old house and probably pre-dated electric washers and such. These sinks would have originally been used to actually do the washing. Maybe the term is just dated? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/11 "2008-05-12T21:58:52Z")
Haven’t had occasion to discuss such fixtures with anyone in North Carolina, but in Northern New York it was a “laundry sink” – even if not located in a basement or laundry room. (I remember lending a hand closing down a restaurant kitchen late one evening, and being told by the manager to put the pots and pans in the laundry sink – a typical deep sink at one end of the kitchen.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/12 "2008-05-12T22:03:38Z")
Spent most of my life in PA and I can’t say that I knew the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/13 "2008-05-12T22:20:16Z")
Wow. I’ve been using a non-existent term all my life… 🙂 This place can usually sort this sort of stuff out in just a few minutes. It’s been an hour already, and nobody has heard that term before. FYI, I did spend some time searching on the internet, and tried to find it in wikipedia, but didn’t come up with anything. Nothing on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) either… I’ll have to e-mail my siblings and see if they know what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/14 "2008-05-12T22:24:12Z")
[QUOTE=glee] On this side of the pond, I’ve never heard of ‘set tub’. What you describe would be a ‘utility room sink’. [/QUOTE] Or a Belfast sink or butler sink. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/15 "2008-05-12T22:30:08Z")
John Mace, isn’t this what you’re looking for? > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=laundry-tray-laundry-tub-set-tub-1)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/16 "2008-05-12T22:34:12Z")
My uncle used the term for that concrete sink outside the house by the washer. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/17 "2008-05-12T22:36:46Z")
[QUOTE=cher3] John Mace, isn’t this what you’re looking for? > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=laundry-tray-laundry-tub-set-tub-1)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want [/QUOTE] So someone else acknowledges the term. I never heard of it before. And ‘laundry tray’ (from the link) is grossly misleading. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/18 "2008-05-12T22:37:39Z")
[QUOTE=cher3] John Mace, isn’t this what you’re looking for? > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=laundry-tray-laundry-tub-set-tub-1)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want [/QUOTE] OK. I’m not crazy afterall. Just old. I guess crazy is just around the corner. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/19 "2008-05-12T23:08:07Z")
You could call it a “jawbox” for when you want to spread more confusion. 🙂 (No, I’ve never heard of “set tub” either). ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083/20 "2008-05-12T23:45:22Z")
Are you talking about what I’ve always referred to as a [slop sink](http://www.answers.com/topic/slop-sink-1). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/set-tub-normal-regional-or-wrong/449083.md?page=2)