What do you call the stuff you use to wash clothes?
I know washing up liquid is detergent, used in washing dishes, but I don't know the proper name for the stuff used for clothes.
If it's powder, you can say washing powder right? But if it's a liquid? Clothes washing liquid sounds silly, washing liquid is ambiguous, and laundry detergent just sounds so weird and formal to me.
I keep trying different words, but English people (I'm in the UK) never understand what I'm talking about…
Best Answer
In the United States, we say "detergent", or "laundry detergent". You can distinguish "liquid detergent" from "powdered detergent".
Technically, "soap" is made from bases while "detergent" is made from acids. (A chemist may be able to give a more precise definition, and my apologies if I muddled the simplification.) In practice, most people use the words interchangeably for products that are used on clothes or dishes. That is, you might call a bottle "laundry soap" or "laundry detergent". Likewise "dishwasher soap" or "dishwasher detergent".
Stuff you use to clean your body is always called "soap", not "detergent".