what's the meaning of this? (whitewash, pants dirty, pop them off, pop them in) [closed]
In the drama 'Miranda' season 2, episode 1, near 6:58,
I see Miranda's mom as she comes downstairs saying (in the subtitles)
'Darling I'm doing a white wash, if your pants are dirty, pop them off, I'll pop them in.' (But to me it sounds like 'I'm putting on a white wash' instead of 'I'm doing a white wash')
People(the audience) laugh here but I don't get the point. What's the exact meaning of this sentence? (Miranda used to wallow and lived like a tramp for some time. Miranda pledges to her friend that she will be neat from that day on, that she will be a new person. that's when her mother says this coming down the stairs from upper floor. Something to do with Miranda's dirty clothes?)
Solution 1:
Probably the laughter is triggered by the vigorous way she pursues her new resolve toward cleanliness, involving others in it. HotLicks is right about the whites meaning a laundry load of white clothes, but "pop them off" means take the clothes off, and "pop them in" means put them in the washing machine.
Pop is a generic utility word used to describe sudden, simple-but-deliberate movement, used in this sense:
- To put or thrust suddenly or unexpectedly: "popping a crisp plump shrimp into her mouth" (Kathleen Winsor).