"Dish Towel"; "Hanging Up"

       I used a dish towel yesterday in an unusual way.  I dried a dish.  We carry hot containers wrapped in a towel; we wipe up spills with a towel; we dry our hands with a towel.   Rarely do we use a towel to dry a dish.

       Yet people still call it "dish towel" though the dishes it "towels" may be few and far between if you're a dishwasher household, which I'm sure not everyone is.

       It's a little like we say "hanging up" the phone, which less and less is the mode of discontinuing telephone calls, that is, hanging up.