Today I discovered that Klara has something called “a cubby” at the daycare. And that is where her artwork is being held. I’ve been wondering why the teachers weren’t giving me her art pieces because I think the copyright falls with me as her legal representative. And the teachers were probably wondering what kind of a freaky mother I was not to want to pick up her baby’s art.
People should not assume that “a cubby” is a concept that is equally easily accessible to everybody. I generally have trouble with spaces that are not open to view. It never occurs to me to try to open them.
Clarissa's Blog 
I love this. I had no idea what a cubby was when my eldest started preschool. I had never had one. Everyone looked at me like I had three heads when I asked what a cubby was.
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I on the other hand was suprrised you haven’t heard cubby before. It’s very standard in American offices for where they leave your work mail.
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“Cubby” being the shortened form of the once very common American-English slang word “cubbyhole.” I’m old enought to remember the full word, but must have retired before the current, rather cutsy abbreviation became popular.
It reminds me of today’s mini-words like “fave,” “probs,” and “selfie.” 🙂
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I’m not sure that ‘cubby’ quite qualifies as the standard American term for that. I’ve lived and worked in office environments in three states and it has always been ‘box’ or ‘mailbox’. I know the word ‘cubby’, but I don’t think it’s a word I actively use or would think to use.
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There’s also “pigeonhole” but I stand by my assertion than cubby or cubbyhole are perfectly ordinary words for it in the US. On the other hand, I wouldn’t call what Clarissa described a cubby, I assume it’s a cutesy name to make the day care seem like the babies’ workplace….
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I’ve heard “cubbyhole” but I never heard anybody use “cubby.” Which proves exactly nothing since I don’t socialize that much.
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“I generally have trouble with spaces that are not open to view. It never occurs to me to try to open them. ”
That’s kind of weird, usually cubbies are open as in this pic:
I think they have onces with plastic bins too but still those are open
If it has a door, I’d call it a locker, even if there’s no lock…
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These cubbies look exactly like Soviet breadboxes: http://cs1.livemaster.ru/storage/77/02/86467293984de9e0436a4c3934–dlya-doma-interera-hlebnitsa-lavandovaya.jpg
The decoration is different but still very aggressive, which is why I didn’t think there might be a space inside it.
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