This too is a bit of filler, but I saw that the New York Times has come up with a new technique for sniffing-out stories. They get one of their reporters to pose questions to his or her local plumber or handyman and publish the result as some of the gnus that are fit to print. This is the second time I’ve seen this sort of article of theirs rocket to the top of their “10-most-cherished in the past 24 hours” list (I see today it’s at number five, half way down on the right, but I promise you it was number one yesterday). To be fair, the article does contain a very, very small quantity of useful information about washers and dryers, and I’m certainly not planning to climb inside our washing machine again.
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A Bad Guide 
“Load silverware in the individual silverware slots most dishwashers now include.” Jesus, Americans must be rich. Or perhaps he meant cutlery?
“Silverware” is just American for knives&forks&spoons. Judge it by colour, not by chemical content. In some lexicons it should be “flatware” if it’s no known metal. Some people say “stainless” as a noun, for k&f&s.
(I gather on NCIS [if you know what that is] Tuesday night, Ducky [David McCallum] has just broken up with a hot young estate agent because she put his late mother’s silver [genuine] in the dishwasher. So we don’t do that. Unless we’re very ignorant/non-U?)
Why can’t U put silver in a dishwasher? That wasn’t in the article.
“We rarely, if ever, read the manuals when we buy a new one or glance through the instructions on the box of detergent or bottle of dishwashing liquid.”
“Following the instructions on the soap container is a good first step.”
The New York Hoity-Toity Examiner and Graybladet says: “ZOMG BREAKING NEWS: RTFM!”.
You don’t use “cutlery”, Catanea? Aren’t omissions in vocabulary odd?
There are no instructions on the soap container, it’s all advertising. There are 3 places to put washing powder in the clothes machine so I usually put it in all three; but now my wife now tells that you should never, never put it in more than one. How can you tell things like that?
Everyday “silverware” is usually stainless steel. Real silver (sterling sliver) is very soft and would probably get scratches or wear too fast if it was used every day or put in a dishwasher with scratchy soap granules or food particles. Ours was used only for special occasions, then washed very carefully by itself, dried with a towel and replace in it’s felt-lined box. One of my childhood jobs was to polish the silver with a special cloth (never chemicals) before a special occasion.
…replaced in its felt lined box…
The other compartments in the washing machine are probably for special products like fabric softener that are supposed to release at a particular time in the wash cycle. I don’t fuss with any of that, I just start the machine filling then pour liquid soap in the bottom before adding the laundry, so I know the soap is in it.
“I’ve got a long, felt wand.” That’s what the comics used to say.
But not in connection with softeners.
polish the silver with a special cloth (never chemicals)
You mean “never other chemicals” – the cloth is saturated with a special kind of chemical.