snowy wash

[perpend]

Mrs. Meers certainly insists on a snowy wash.

This is from Thoroughly Modern Millie, the DVD.

There is a laundry theme in the plot, but it's hard to explain.

My query is what "snowy wash" means idiomatically to English speakers of any sort.

A) Mrs. Meers got washed (in the sense of bathed) quite properly. Now quite squeaky clean.
B) Mrs. Meers insists that the laundry comes out white.

 

[JulianStuart]

I am familar with the phrase "snowy white wash" that would correspond to B). Shows up in google searches in that context too. The omission of "white" is unusual.

 

[DonnyB]

I would go along with Julian for (B): to me, it means making sure that when the "whites" in the laundry come clean.

 

[Parla]

Yes, I'm sure it means "snowy white". And was it "certain" or "certainly" in the first line?

 

[perpend]

Ahhh...it must be a version of "snowy white wash". I should have thought of that, and have heard of that, though not in ages. I vaguely remember commercials using that.

I corrected the typo, Parla. It was "certainly".

Thanks all.

 

[truepurple]

"snowy white wash" doesn't ring any bells in the slightest for me. I find it hard to believe its a AE idiom.

Snowy can just be a descriptive for how white I suppose. As a way of saying the whites of your laundry come out totally white, in some lame laundry detergent commercial perhaps.

 

[Copyright]

"snowy white wash" doesn't ring any bells in the slightest for me. I find it hard to believe its a AE idiom.

So does Google, with just 17 results for snowy white wash ... one of which is this thread.

 

[perpend]

Oh, so sorry, I guess "snowy white wash" is not valid.

 

[Copyright]

Despite its low turnout on Google results, I think "snowy-white wash" (with or without the hyphen) is immediately understandable. I was surprised to find so few results, so I was just pointing out that it doesn't seem to be an idiom.

 

[joanvillafane]

There was a popular soap (too many years ago for some here to remember) called IVORY SNOW. (It was in the form of soap flakes.)
Whether it's an idiom now or not, the idea is immediately clear - the wash is supposed to come out as white as snow.

 

[perpend]

Had I had a chance to write it, I'd have written: Mrs. Meers likes her wash as pure as the driven snow.