Quoting russell@coker.com.au (russell@coker.com.au):
Also I think that the term "scrapheap" is more of a British thing, and it's entirely different to a dumpster (see "Scrapheap Challenge").
As I said, I was aiming for an Oz _equivalent_, an analogue. I believe my meaning should have been clear. For countries where the world 'dumpster' is unfamiliar, a fire in a scrapheap would convey about the same associational overtones as one in a dumpster. That aside, I'm extremely well aware of what 'scrapheap' means. After all, it's a term I grew up with. You perhaps are forgetting that I grew up in British Hong Kong and also am a former Londoner. In fact, in many cultural respects, I'm often more of a POM than I am a Yank. (Actually, I've had to purge any number of Britticisms from my stock of idioms. You should have seen the look of puzzlement the first few times I mentioned to Americans that my father flew out of the aerodrome in Kowloon.) Additionally, although I thank you for your invitation to festoon Americanisms into my postings, I would actually rather not, as I prefer _generally_ to angle towards a more international version of the mother tongue. But thank you kindly, all the same.