Closets and Wardrobes

[Carol]

Potioncat:
> > And do you keep trousers in a chest of drawers?
> 
> Geoff:
> Of course not; how silly. Obviously, you keep underwear and 
> knickers in a chest of drawers.
> :-))
> 
> I don't know how serious you are being, Carol, but in UK speak,
dresses, shirts and trousers. would go in the wardrobe while socks,
underwear and small items would go in drawers. 
> The word "dresser" is a bit old-hat. It might be used if you 
possess something like a Welsh dresser but they are very out of
fashion with modern kitchens having wall-hung cupboards. Closet is,
surprisingly, somewhat confined in its use to something you come out
of..... Well, not necessarily *you* but you know what I mean. <snip>

>
Carol responds:
I was just having a bit of fun to lighten up the list a little, but I
do think it's amusing that the little room Harry sleeps in (early in
the books) is called a "cupboard" when it's nowhere near the kitchen
cupboard, where cups and dishes are stored. (Glad to know that we use
the same term for that.)

We Americans would say that little Harry sleeps in the storage closet
or broom closet under the stairs. (Of course, a closet in British
usage used to mean a small, private room, right, Geoff?--which
explains the term "closet drama," meant to be read rather than acted,
but not in a clothes closet or a broom closet!) And before anyone
mistakes my meaning, I don't think it's funny that little Harry sleeps
in a "cupboard" or closet. I'm only talking about language here.

We Americans don't have wardrobes. We hang our clothes in built-in
closets, and have done so since at least the 1950s and possibly
before. I don't think I've ever heard the term "wall-hung cupboards,"
either, because all the cupboards I've ever encountered are built that
way, some at eye-level and some between the floor and the countertop.

BTW, I'd like to compare the British and American editions of HP at
some point with regard to the word "bathroom." I'm pretty sure that
Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, in contrast to the Prefects' bathroom, is
what the British call a "loo" or a "toilet" and Americans call a
"restroom," with no bathtubs or showers in it. We call the thing that
Montague was stuck in a toilet. Or, at least, I think that's what he
was stuck in. Same thing with the object that Harry and Dudley were
referring to when they talked about flushing people's heads.

Carol, assuming that Montague's head was sticking out the toilet as
even a wizard would have drowned otherwise