Save it!

You come down south to visit someone you know.  You stay at their house because, well, it's cheaper, so in exchange, you figure you'll help out a little.  You know, the basics, clean up after your self.  Make the bed.  Do the dishes. 

Well, your host made you a delicious sausage and chicken gumbo.  The rice was delicious and they even made potato salad- if you decide you're into that kind of thing.  So, following your delicious meal, you decide to wash and put away the dishes.  You scrub and clean and dry.  The dishes look spotless.

Your host comes up to you and says, "thanks for saving the dishes!"

That's when things get weird.... what?  You saved them?  What did you save them from?  These dishes that contained my wonderful meal were not in danger!  They were never perilously dangling from the counter top.  There was no cat burglar who threatened to steal them.  So why, why would they need saving?

The truth is, they don't.  The dishes don't need saving.  That's just what they say.  They save the dishes.  They save the laundry.  They save things.  Saving something, in my experience, generally means, 'to put something away.'  So a mom could, in theory, say, 'Tommy!  Go save your shoes!'

Here, look, a wikipedia reference! "To 'save the dishes' means to 'put away the dishes into cupboards where they belong after being washed.' While dishes are the most common subject, it is not uncommon to save other things. For example: Save up the clothes, saving the tools, save your toys."

Crazy right!  The origins of this peculiar phrasing is unknown to me at this time.  Maybe it originated with 'saving toys'- aka, 'putting toys away.'  Think about it.  An angry mom yells to his/ her kid- "PUT AWAY YOUR TOYS OR I WILL THROW THEM AWAY!'  (Caps lock signifies anger here.)  So over time, to make the sentence easier for the busy mom, she shortens it to, 'SAVE YOUR TOYS!'  Get it?  Put away your toys or I am going to throw them away, aka, save your toys from their inevitable demise in the gross trashcan and put them away!

Maybe that wasn't the origin.  Maybe something simpler than that.  But, that's my theory.

Now, go save your laundry.  It's been sitting in the dryer for days now...oh wait, that's me.