2007-10-08 10:16:30 · 28 answers · asked by very_slightly_drunk 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
Posh people call them napkins and the plebs call them serviettes. I can say this with some authority, having sold the paper variety over the counter in Harrods.
2007-10-08 10:32:53 · answer #1 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Napkin. Most of the time, it IS a napkin.
The first rule of etiquette is to consider others. That rule trumps most others, so even though it is poor etiquette to, say, eat dinner with your elbows on the table, if you are with a class of people who would be uncomfortable around someone who sits up straight, following all the laws of etiquette, you're actually NOT following the most important rule.
Most people I know would have no idea what "serviette" is, and would feel uncomfortable around someone who was using a "high falluting" term like "serviette", when it's clearly a "napkin".
2007-10-08 18:05:44 · answer #2 · answered by CrazyChick 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I come from a working class family and say serviette. I notice that a lot of middle class say napkin so I use both depending upon the company I'm in
2007-10-09 17:44:54 · answer #3 · answered by Scouse 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on which dialect of English I'm speaking at the time. When I was living in Canada, I said serviette. In the United States, I say napkin.
2007-10-08 19:11:34 · answer #4 · answered by drshorty 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They are two different things. A napkin refers to, well, a napkin. A serviette is the cutlery and the napkin. The whole package. A serviette is less formally known as a role-up. (if it's rolled up)
2007-10-08 17:46:42 · answer #5 · answered by mttcttrll@snet.net 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I say serviette! I read recently a book on a family emigrating to America as refugees and they had run out of these and the man was sent to the drug store for "napkins" and caused great consternation within the family when he came back with American napkins - equivalent to English sanitary towels! He received a thick ear!
2007-10-09 07:03:51 · answer #6 · answered by zakiit 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Napkin (with a ring). Serviette to me is just the French word for a towel.
2007-10-08 17:25:05 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Never heard the term "serviette" before now... so I've always said "napkin"
I just want to get a napkin... I think asking the waiter for additional "serviettes" would just confuse 'em.
2007-10-08 17:20:31 · answer #8 · answered by Eric C 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Never heard the term serviette, so it's a napkin.
2007-10-08 23:03:50 · answer #9 · answered by Classy Granny 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Napkin is the correct word, serviette is apparently the common version. Not sure why as you would think it was the other way around.
2007-10-08 17:25:23 · answer #10 · answered by t11omo 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋