Don't let the guttersnipes get you down!I usually avoid terminology that is so specifically British as to be unintelligible to others, so I'm glad to know that I should add "hamper" to the list, where it will join "trolley" for "shopping cart" and "jumper" for "sweater".
As an old American, I'm aware of the use of 'hamper' to mean any type of basket in the land of the free.
Since this is the word's origin:
Middle English, alteration of Anglo-Norman hanaper, from Old French hanepier, a case for holding goblets, from hanap, goblet, of Germanic origin.
The British usage of a meal basket makes sense more so than the American usage relegating it mostly as a basket for laundry.
But I don't mean to hamper this discussion.
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