Hmm...I first think of a printing press, such as publications being "hot off the press," but obviously that's not the context here.
Then I recall being in Japan and the hotel providing a hot press in each room. This was a ironing contraption to press one's pants. So perhaps this room was the ironing room. Nope.
My friend explained that a "hot press" is an "airing cabinet."
One needs to understand the living habits here in Ireland. Many people do not use a dryer for their clothes. They will use a washing machine and then air dry their clothes. But the climate outside is often too wet, so they need to hang inside.
So the closet with the hot water heater (not the same as the kind in the States) is where the clothes hang. Some may also be hung over the radiators in each room (houses are heated via radiators not via heaters that blow hot air as those in Texas).
In fact, the Wikipedia entry for "hot press" reads:
"A large cupboard or small room in a home where clothes, towels, bed linen etc. are placed for airing, that usually contains the hot water immersion heater. In most English speaking countries, the hot press is known as an airing cupboard; the term hot press is peculiar to Scotland and Ireland."
Note the word "peculiar." :)
4 comments:
Heated towel rails are very common in New Zealand. My friend has them in his house when I was 10.I agree with you that they are very nice.
What is the difference between Irish water heaters and US water heaters. In the few apartments I have lived in where we had access to the water heat it has always been the same as the ones in New Zealand.
Many houses in the UK don't have a hot water tank but rather heat the water as it is required. These are often used to provide hot water for the radiators too (combi burners).
We changed from a tank to a gas fired continuous hot water system in the late 90s. My parents' new house has a tank again but uses solar panels to heat the water. During the summer they use very little electricity for water heating.
When we had a hot water tank we would store the linens in the same cupboard. It was called either the airing cupboard, or the hot water cupboard.
I'm no hot water heater expert, but you can check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_heater
for some insights.
Again, thanks for the added info from the parts of the globe where you've lived!
Guess solar water heating is out in the UK and Ireland. It does, after all, require sun ;).
It is fun to see what surprises you. Every now and then I hit on something which makes perfect sense in NZ or the UK that throws my American friends and vice versa.
I don't think I had heard the word segue until I came to the US and the OED still only lists it as a musical term. Similarly catercorner doesn't exist in NZ.
Yup, fascinating how ideas that are perceived differently in different countries/cultures.
Interesting about segue, I didn't realize that!
Haha, I've never heard/seen the word catercorner until right now in your post! We've always said kitty-corner or catty-corner. :)
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