Everything But

Have you ever wondered where certain phrases come from? I do, but then again, I'm a bit of a word nerd.

Where does the phrase "everything but the kitchen sink" come from? "It was a recipe that threw in everything but the kitchen sink." "He packed light for the trip, but she packed everything but the kitchen sink."

The phrase actually comes from WWII. During WWII, everyone wanted to help the war effort. Men signed up to serve, of course, and women could also work as nurses or even pilots. The women who stayed home kept the factories going. But even women who didn't work outside the home could help the war effort.

Every household was given a ration book. Each book contained tickets for things like butter, sugar, and gasoline. Those were your family's rations for the month; once your tickets were gone, you couldn't buy those supplies until the new ration books were sent out. Rationing was important because the production of consumer goods took a backseat to the production of war goods like vehicles, weapons, and food stuffs for the soldiers.

In addition to rationing, families gathered all salvageable metal to be melted down and used for the war effort. You could gather up metal buckets, metal fencing, nails and screws -- any metal except the kitchen sink. Kitchen sinks at the time were made of porcelain, and couldn't me melted down. But everything else could!

If you were a woman in 1942 whose friends said, "She collected everything but the kitchen sink," you were doing your part for the war effort!