I was looking for something one morning, knowing I hadn’t lost my mind. I opened a kitchen drawer looking for it and there was all the stuff I’d been missing for months. Being a mechanic you collect things in your pockets throughout the day. I’d set my keys and change and billfold down by the fish tank every evening. My wife would pick up the ‘extra’ stuff and put (hide) it in this drawer. (mad emoji) I asked her what she was thinking. Oh, that’s the drawer of things that I don’t know what they are.
Maybe it’s time to reclaim ‘junk’? Junk is rubbish that you can’t bring yourself to throw away; rubbish that you can’t bear to keep is trash.A positive spin for junk!
Wasn’t it William Morris who said ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful or think might come in useful some day’?
We now have two ‘junk drawers’…one for the usual collection of twist ties, batteries, etc., and a second for all the cords, chargers, etc. to electronic devices we’ve replaced or threw away. You never know. They might be useful sometime!
A hundred years or so ago, the words “imbecile”, “idiot” and “moron” were clinical terms describing degrees of cognitive disability. In describing the physically impaired, we went from lame to crippled to handicapped to … well, you name it. My point is, renaming something because the current name has become in insult in the mouths of cruel people just gives those trolls new expressions to use as insults.
Some people (we know who you are) refer to them as the “Garbage” and/or “Deplorable” drawers. And that didn’t work out very well at all for them. God Bless America.
The undergraduate facility at the University of Chicago is called the College of the University of Chicago. Why isn’t the undergraduate facility at the University of North Texas referred to the same way?
People now have to say “merch” because merchandise is too long for them to say! Same as cubbies instead of cubby holes, and stuffies instead of stuffed animals!!
I don’t have a junk drawer. Everything has a place. Even those odd cords that come with computers we never need. I have a small bin just for those. Every now and then I empty it. I have a place for odd keys. Once a year, those get tossed. We seem to use a lot of batteries and buy them in bulk so I got a storage container that has 4 areas. AAA, AA, C & D and little ones for the truck remotes and things like that.
My mom called it the middle drawer because it was the middle drawer. My sister’s kids were really confused when their mom called any drawer where random stuff was kept “the middle drawer” even when it wasn’t the middle drawer.
In my experience, the people who make a big fuss about using new, sensitive nomenclature tend to be people who don’t use the term “righteous” very often — they don’t like the idea (in general) that some people or actions might be more “right” than others, even though they are very concerned with using the right words and are convinced that anyone who disagrees with them must be wrong.
These aren’t souls that haven’t found their special purpose. They’re things that have very small niche purposes, we know what they are and we have too many of them.
I sure hope people are putting as much time and energy into fighting things like racism, sexism and poverty as they are into complaining about PC word wars.
While you’re at it, Skip, let’s discuss the character who appears in this strip on at least a weekly basis whose name is right there on the printed page but this site won’t allow to be referred to in the comments. (Wise [donkey] on the hill).
In my family we’ve called it the junk drawer since I was a little kid…my wife however, insists on calling it the ‘utility drawer’. I try to cooperate but usually fail miserably!
BasilBruce 8 days ago
If you want people to talk a certain way, don’t make it hard or awkward; that is a thing up with which people will not put.
noahproblem 8 days ago
So the Comic Strip Censor decided to outsource cases where cuss words aren’t used but the word(s) are still inappropriate?
Hello Everyone 8 days ago
This reminds me when the Dorms at Cal tried to rebrand themselves as “Res Halls”.
The dude from FL Premium Member 8 days ago
I lovingly call it my garbage can
Baarorso 8 days ago
In other words, Skip Righteous NOES a good thing when he sees it. :/
MeanBob Premium Member 8 days ago
Sounds like Skip already had his junk slammed in a drawer.
garethkb415 Premium Member 8 days ago
If you thought making up guys to get mad at was bad on Xwitter, imagine having a nationally syndicated newspaper comic
Concretionist 8 days ago
Language mostly changes from the inside. Though I have observed some enforced gender-correctness actually catch on.
Strod 8 days ago
Curiously, Arlo (of Arlo & Janis fame) is also having issues with his cord thingies today.
orinoco womble 8 days ago
None of this explains why weather segments have changed the names of a lot of weather phenomena. Gale force winds are now “derecho” and such as that.
Midnightrain109 8 days ago
I admit, calling it that instead of junk drawer is a lot funnier.
rshive 8 days ago
There’s only one such drawer?
Sanspareil 8 days ago
So if some artist went around and drew some junk thrown in the wasteland, why should he/she be denigrated as a junk drawer?
Purple People Eater 8 days ago
How do you dehumanize an extension cord?
uniquename 8 days ago
I would put it in the circular file of loving things…
iggyman 8 days ago
Tomato tomahto, still the same thing!
iggyman 8 days ago
Skip Righteous, must you complicate things?
blunebottle 8 days ago
Put Skip in the junk drawer. Please.
Imagine 8 days ago
Or just dump it into the receptacle for the sanitation engineer to empty out.
Justanolddude Premium Member 8 days ago
I was looking for something one morning, knowing I hadn’t lost my mind. I opened a kitchen drawer looking for it and there was all the stuff I’d been missing for months. Being a mechanic you collect things in your pockets throughout the day. I’d set my keys and change and billfold down by the fish tank every evening. My wife would pick up the ‘extra’ stuff and put (hide) it in this drawer. (mad emoji) I asked her what she was thinking. Oh, that’s the drawer of things that I don’t know what they are.
Differentname 8 days ago
Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon
From an article on Cracked.com
RobinHood 8 days ago
The Drawer Of Misfit Stuff?
Lenavid 8 days ago
Sort of like when the newest tax comes titled as the “Tax Relief Act”?
markkahler52 8 days ago
When Meaning becomes stripped down to the defining Word….
Sephten 8 days ago
Maybe it’s time to reclaim ‘junk’? Junk is rubbish that you can’t bring yourself to throw away; rubbish that you can’t bear to keep is trash.A positive spin for junk!
Gent 8 days ago
What about the comic strip called Junk Drawer then? What you gonna renames that as now?
Sephten 8 days ago
Wasn’t it William Morris who said ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful or think might come in useful some day’?
monya_43 8 days ago
When things are too big for the junk drawer, they go in the garage. There isn’t room for the car anymore.
Painted Wolf 8 days ago
Come the revolution, Skip will be first against the wall.
Goat from PBS 8 days ago
Nope. Still calling it a junk drawer. The other one is waaaay too long.
DanielRyanMulligan1 8 days ago
Please, “let it go, let it go, let the wind and the ice and the snow go, let it go…” Dan aka…ps know the reference yet?
daveoverpar 8 days ago
Arlo was looking for that thingie.
SquidGamerGal 8 days ago
Pfft! Too long and complicating! I’m sticking with junk drawer. Sue me!
rhbrandon2 8 days ago
This is what “running a joke into the ground” looks like. I love it.
VICTOR PROULX 8 days ago
My father called it the “hell box.”
Hogryder 8 days ago
We now have two ‘junk drawers’…one for the usual collection of twist ties, batteries, etc., and a second for all the cords, chargers, etc. to electronic devices we’ve replaced or threw away. You never know. They might be useful sometime!
Droptma Styx 8 days ago
A hundred years or so ago, the words “imbecile”, “idiot” and “moron” were clinical terms describing degrees of cognitive disability. In describing the physically impaired, we went from lame to crippled to handicapped to … well, you name it. My point is, renaming something because the current name has become in insult in the mouths of cruel people just gives those trolls new expressions to use as insults.
Ellis97 8 days ago
Pig, shut up. You want to get cancelled?
Dirtfarmer 8 days ago
My house doesn’t have a junk drawer. It has a junk wing.
serial232 8 days ago
I took a permanent and wrote in larger letters: JUNK DRAWER. Thank you Mr. Pastis.
kaffekup 8 days ago
How can it be dehumanizing when the occupants of the junk drawer aren’t human?
timinwsac Premium Member 8 days ago
Tomorrow Skip Righteous topic will be about people who keep junk in the trunk of their cars.
Alicia1955 8 days ago
I don’t have just one junk drawer. I sure as hell do not put loving souls into a drawer.
asmbeers 8 days ago
New term for progressives still mourning the 2024 election, “Wokists”.
royq27 8 days ago
I think this strip is going in my junk drawer…
old_geek 8 days ago
Maybe I have found a home…
CountOlaf2.0 Premium Member 8 days ago
Some people (we know who you are) refer to them as the “Garbage” and/or “Deplorable” drawers. And that didn’t work out very well at all for them. God Bless America.
SearchBoy Premium Member 8 days ago
Wow, even if we governmentize it to “Dolswhnyftspil” is still a bit too much.
IndyW 8 days ago
So when Biden referred to Trump supports as garbage, should he had said “biological or sanitation engineers” instead?
prrdh 8 days ago
The undergraduate facility at the University of Chicago is called the College of the University of Chicago. Why isn’t the undergraduate facility at the University of North Texas referred to the same way?
CountOlaf2.0 Premium Member 8 days ago
Remember when Navin Johnson found his “Special Purpose” in “The Jerk”. ; )
pearlyqim 8 days ago
People now have to say “merch” because merchandise is too long for them to say! Same as cubbies instead of cubby holes, and stuffies instead of stuffed animals!!
Queen of America 8 days ago
I don’t have a junk drawer. Everything has a place. Even those odd cords that come with computers we never need. I have a small bin just for those. Every now and then I empty it. I have a place for odd keys. Once a year, those get tossed. We seem to use a lot of batteries and buy them in bulk so I got a storage container that has 4 areas. AAA, AA, C & D and little ones for the truck remotes and things like that.
LaughterIsJoyMuliplied 8 days ago
Thanks Steph.
marilynnbyerly 8 days ago
My mom called it the middle drawer because it was the middle drawer. My sister’s kids were really confused when their mom called any drawer where random stuff was kept “the middle drawer” even when it wasn’t the middle drawer.
zachmont4 8 days ago
They’re not “illegal aliens”, they’re “irregular border crossers”, according to the Canadian government. See how we’ve solved the problem?
randybrewer Premium Member 8 days ago
Oh for godsakes, what a strawman argument. Puleeze!
zeexenon 8 days ago
A.K.A. my work desk drawer where I put subordinate management engineer suggestions.
Spacetech 8 days ago
The Junk Drawer…
DaBump Premium Member 8 days ago
In my experience, the people who make a big fuss about using new, sensitive nomenclature tend to be people who don’t use the term “righteous” very often — they don’t like the idea (in general) that some people or actions might be more “right” than others, even though they are very concerned with using the right words and are convinced that anyone who disagrees with them must be wrong.
Jeffin Premium Member 8 days ago
I’m gonna Skip that one.
Maswartz 8 days ago
Someone totally complained to the editor about one of his comics didn’t they.
jbruins84341 8 days ago
I guess it is a good thing we don’t put humans in the j—- drawer. Wouldn’t want to dehumanize them.
KEA 8 days ago
How can one dehumanize something that wasn’t human to begin with… I mean outside of nutcake religion
Bilan 8 days ago
These aren’t souls that haven’t found their special purpose. They’re things that have very small niche purposes, we know what they are and we have too many of them.
mindjob 8 days ago
I think I’ll skip it
billdaviswords 8 days ago
It’s ridiculous that people want to cancel the original meaning of “junk drawer” beacuse others are using it figuratively in a new, insulting way.
LJZ Premium Member 8 days ago
Give them to Arlo, he’s sorting out thingees today!
JoeMartinFan Premium Member 8 days ago
I sure hope people are putting as much time and energy into fighting things like racism, sexism and poverty as they are into complaining about PC word wars.
Cerabooge 8 days ago
Random-stuff drawer works fine for me, but you can’t beat the alliteration of junk jrawer.
FrostbiteFalls 8 days ago
While you’re at it, Skip, let’s discuss the character who appears in this strip on at least a weekly basis whose name is right there on the printed page but this site won’t allow to be referred to in the comments. (Wise [donkey] on the hill).
There, I just tried it again.
bcaka 7 days ago
In my family we’ve called it the junk drawer since I was a little kid…my wife however, insists on calling it the ‘utility drawer’. I try to cooperate but usually fail miserably!
Happy Jack Hill 7 days ago
My ex told me to keep my junk in my own drawers.
eddi-TBH 7 days ago
What a bunch of junk.
einarbt 7 days ago
Noted.
Exasperated999 7 days ago
I see a lot of posters here boasting about the size of their junk…