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And another thing

Rubbish, entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

Paul Johnson

Wednesday, 13th June 2007

One of the secrets of the universe is buried in the word rubbish. The word itself is secretive: no one knows its precise provenance. The big OED says: ‘Of obscure origin app. related in some way to rubble.’ But if you look up rubble, it says: ‘Of obscure origin, app. related in some way to rubbish.’ Dirt is matter in the wrong place. Rubbish is matter in the wrong place but on a larger scale. Getting it into the right place is beginning to perplex governments as never before. The earliest general attempt in English history to deal with the problem can be found in the Parliament Roll for 1392–93: ‘Qu nulle ...gette ne mette ...ascuns fymes, ordures, mukes, rubbawes ou lastage in la dite eloe entre les lieux sus dites.’ Leaving aside the dreadful legal French, the law is hopeless because it merely tells you where not to put it. What should you do? Burn it? Bury it? That is what we have been doing, not so much ourselves, but by delegation to local authorities. All very well for Edmund Blunden to write:

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