Napkin or Serviette in the UK

[purplebagladylovesgin]

I am in the south of England and say napkin for a pressed cloth ‘serviette’ which is usually made from the same fabric as the table cloth. I understood the thin paper ones, that often pop up from a dispenser in fast food places, which are often a single or double leaf of paper are called serviettes.

A heavy pressed cloth napkin in my book is never referred to as a serviette, this seems to me to be a modern interpretation by a younger generation.

A cloth napkin is also where our word for Nappy comes from.

But I've heard this now isn't the case. What do you say? Am I getting this wrong? And what are the heavy more expensive paper ones called? I'd also been calling them napkins as they felt more substantial.

Early Sunday pondering....

Paper ones are interchangeably napkins and serviettes, but wouldn’t call a cloth one a serviette, only a napkin. I remember thinking serviette was a weird word when I was little! This is South Midlands-ish.

Ooh, we must be posh, we have a courtyard. (Paved bit of drive boxed off by the house wall, fences and garaaage, not garridge, where we keep the bins. )

We say napkin and paper napkin.

My biggest beef is that when they go out for ironing, the ironing lady irons them totally differently to how I would, but I wouldn't dream of saying anything.

She irons them into a square and I like them ironed long so they will go into the napkin rings. First world problem.

Napkins.

@EduCated

Paper ones are interchangeably napkins and serviettes, but wouldn’t call a cloth one a serviette, only a napkin. I remember thinking serviette was a weird word when I was little! This is South Midlands-ish.

I agree. I'm more northern though.

Napkin and paper napkin here. Never serviette.

In our house we have 'Posh Napkin' which is kitchen roll

I also love a 'moist towelette' (the little packet of wet wipe/freshener that some takeaway establishments provide). I use the phrase moist towelette because so many people hate the word moist and it affords me some very childish amusement.

I’m pondering this now. A terrace sounds awfully big! If I live in a small terraced house, can I really say “I’m going to sit on the terrace” without (a) making people think I might be going to sit on the roof; and (b) making it sound as though I have a huge outdoor space with a vast open paved area?

I love a proper linen napkin and napkin rings. This thread has reminded me that I need some new ones.

It’s a class thing. Napkin is posh serviette is not. Nancy Mitford and all that 😁

I'm in Yorkshire and call them both a serviette. I

I’ve always seen napkin and serviette as two words for the same thing and which can be used interchangeably regardless of whether talking about cloth or paper. Personally I use the word napkin as serviette always seems like someone is trying to be unnecessarily well-spoken, like saying lavatory instead of toilet. Don’t know if that’s just a connotation that exists in my head though!

As far as I understand it, and if you care about these things, it's "proper" to use the term napkin rather then serviette , just like it's supposedly better to use loo or lav rather than toilet. It's one of those stoopid class signifiers innit.

When I was growing up, napkins were cloth and serviettes were paper. But the serviettes were horrible thin paper, similar to what you get with a coffee these days. Paper napkins of a heavier weight are either a more recent development, or I didn't get to visit anywhere that used them!

So now we have napkins (cloth), paper napkins (don't rip when you wipe your fingers), and serviettes (good for nothing other than mopping up spilt coffee).

Napkins are cloth, serviettes are paper

Napkins, whether paper or my nice white linen ones that only come out for guests. For just us it’ll be kitchen roll.

I think you're right, OP, but there are class based differences ;)

North east here and always napkin.

Patio, mantelpiece, perfume and mirror are Non U. The U equivalents are terrace, fireplace, scent and looking glass. I use the first three U terms but can't quite bring myself to use looking glass...

@Housewife2010

Patio, mantelpiece, perfume and mirror are Non U. The U equivalents are terrace, fireplace, scent and looking glass. I use the first three U terms but can't quite bring myself to use looking glass...

Eh? But a terrace is completely different to a patio , a mantelpiece is above a fireplace I'm confused now

Central Scotland here, I call both a napkin. I obviously know what a serviette is but I'd feel like a wang saying it

Napkin

Doesn't matter what it's made of

It's a napkin no matter what the material is.

Napkin for cloth. Napkin for decent paper ones. Tissue for the dispenser things. Never serviette.

Other non U words for the unwary - pardon and toilet will make an elderly posh person wince 😁. I read too much jilly Cooper as a teen.

Serviette is lower-middle class. My family was working class/immigrant in a very upper middle class area of Surrey, so I got all the U/non-U shibboleths dinned into me to ensure I got them right (always say sorry or what, not pardon, no intrusive R in 'drawing', it's a sofa not a settee, living room not front room or lounge...)

I swear my childminder (other school mum) was the inspiration for Hyacinth Bucket.