Minud, ‘freshly pressed clothes’ are clothes that have just been pressed, regardless of whether they have also been previously pressed.
Clothes that require pressing for a second time because they are still creased aren’t called ‘freshly pressed’ because of that. (Though they might be called freshly pressed because they have just been pressed).
Hi Amy, so is there a difference between ‘freshly pressed clothes’ and ‘freshly ironed clothes’?[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Playing paint ball[YSaerTTEW443543]
NO Torsen, there isn’t. (sorry about not being Amy!)
Hi Beeesneees,
I also used to think that to press clothes and to iron clothes are more or less synonyms and that ‘to press clothes’ is used in the US. Then Amy came along and told us that in her neck of the woods ‘to iron clothes’ is the right expression. Since to ‘iron clothes’ is also what people in the UK say I still wonder where those live who press their clothes.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Running into the water[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten,
I’m not sure there’s a geographical area that can be pinpointed by this. For example, although my mother most frequently says, “iron the clothes”, I have also heard her say that she has “given the clothes a good pressing”.
This might be a dangerous thing to introduce as it might cause even more confusion, but to provide a parallel example:
Sometimes I clean my teeth and other times I brush them (though there is no difference in the actual actions that I take). A colleague of mine tells her children to wash their teeth, and although that doesn’t sound right to me, she has obviously been brought up with the expression.
With such synonyms (or near synonyms) it’s all about personal choice and familiarity, I think.
Well, the main difference to me is that I would be less likely to simply assume an iron had been used if someone mentioned ‘freshly pressed clothes’.
Maybe the following example will help clarify things somewhat further.
Imagine that someone calls me on the phone and says “So, what are you up to right now?” If my response is “Oh, I was just ironing”, I would expect the caller to know exactly what I was doing. However, if I were to say “Oh, I was just pressing”, I would expect the caller to be confused. The confusion could range from “somewhat confused and needs a bit of time to process what was just said” to “complete lack of comprehension and needs to ask again”. However, if I said “Oh, I was just pressing some pants” I imagine any American would understand me, and they would probably also assume I was using an iron to do the pressing. I doubt I’d actually ever use that wording, though. Instead, I’d say “Oh, I was just ironing some pants.”
(Of course, I’ve heard tell that a Brit might possibly interpret the phrase “some pants” to mean something different from what a Yank would interpret that phrase to mean…) 
As regards pressing machines, even though I assume that some people may actually have such a gizmo at home, I tend to associate those sorts of machines with dry cleaners and professional laundries. If I took some clothes to a dry cleaner, I might then tell someone that I’d taken some clothes (to the dry cleaner’s) to be cleaned and pressed. In this case, I would definitely not use the word ‘ironed’.
As usual, everything you say makes perfect sense.
As I mentioned earlier, I have a steam press at home. I don’t have an iron.
I would always tend to instinctively use the word ‘ironed’ over ‘pressed’ though, simply because that is what I was brought up with. If I thought about it, then I might say ‘pressed’ to be more accurate, but I can’t think of any situations where I would need to be that precise… other than on here of course!!
And I agree that if I were to take clothes to the dry cleaners I would use the word ‘pressed’ in that instance. (though paid ironing services for clothes washed at home seem to be becoming popular amongst my colleagues and acquaintances!)
I suspect “Torsen” is probably just as happy you aren’t. lol
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[size=75]“I mean, they censor your work when they’re scared of it.” ~ Kathy Acker[/size]
Sorry for this delay.
I searched about ( cauterize ) as you asked ( ESL expert ) and you are right.
Thank you very much for your support.
Mohammad