The Chicken or The Egg?

Here's two words for you to chew on: WASTE RECEPTACLE.

I was at school the other day and in the lounge was a sign that said, "please utilize the waste receptacle." After getting past 'utilize,' not it's meaning, but the word itself, I got hooked on 'waste receptacle.' "Who in the world," I thought to myself, "came up with THOSE words to substitue for simply TRASH CAN, and why?" And then I thought, "who came up with TRASH CAN, for that matter? Were they not satisfied with GARBAGE?"
And then I began to think, what if my logic is backward: what if 'waste receptacle' came first, and all the rest followed? By this point I am thoroughly confused. I start walking back to my classroom saying robotically: "waste receptacle, waste recptacle..." to the beat of my feet walking.
But seriously... waste receptacle? Doesn't it remind you of something the characters of Dawson's Creek would say?
"Ah-hem. Pacey, would you put this over-utilized geometric math problem in the waste receptacle?" (or something like that, anyway!) but you get the picture.
Thus, my theory for the day:
One day someone got bored and wanted to sound smart so they put two words together that seemed to make a good combination.
AND THEN
one day someone got even more bored and wanted to sound even smarter so they made a sign to hang up where they were hoping educated people would see it so they would think, "wow, someone really knows how to utilize neat words, like 'recptacle.' I want to be like them when I grow up!"
Well, that's what I was thinking, at least...
(-;