Serviettes. Did I ask for something strange?

[ALongHardWinter]

There were no serviettes on the stand for sauces,straws etc so I asked the server for some. He gave me a funny look and said 'Some what?' I repeated my request but he still looked blank. So I said 'Tissues?'. He said 'Oh right. I've never heard them called serviettes'. Really? That's what I've always called them. Anyone else encountered a blank look when asking for a supposedly common place item?

A paper napkin is a napkin.

Oh dear! It seems that I have sparked a big debate here.

Serviette all the way.....

I would use the term 'paper napkin' when requesting one - most restaurants only provide disposable napkins for H&S reasons.

Agree with OP - a tissue is to blow your nose or to sneeze

Napkins sound like something a baby wears.
Serviettes all the way

I'd probably say napkin.

My husband was once looked at like he'd grown a second head in McDonald's (we had ordered breakfast pancakes!) when he asked for cutlery.

I’d always say serviette. A napkin is linen and a paper serviette is a serviette

My husband was once looked at like he'd grown a second head in McDonald's (we had ordered breakfast pancakes!) when he asked for cutlery.

EnglandKeepMyBones Well that’s extremey odd, as we are trained to give cutlery with all pancakes, salads and burgers without buns. We also always give knives with bagel & philly/jam and spoons with porridge and sundaes.

So I can’t imagine it warranted a look of confusion.

They are called napkins, OP.

A napping made of paper is a paper napkin

A napkin...

Napkins are diapers where I am. And it's serviettes.

Serviette is Non U.

Americans use the wrong words all the time.🙄

nappiettes

Americans use the wrong words all the time.

Not where squash is concerned. All varieties of squash originated from squashes in North America. So we can call them what we damned well please. Zucchini was developed in Italy from varieties of squash that originated in North America.

Well that’s extremey odd, as we are trained to give cutlery with all pancakes, salads and burgers without buns. We also always give knives with bagel & philly/jam and spoons with porridge and sundaes.* I doubt they had all that selection when McDonald's first started up over here.

Agreed 're London/Kent!
Have just looked in my cupboards and the packs of paper thingamijigs are pretty evenly split between being labelled as paper napkins or serviettes with one covering both bases! Interestingly the translations for EC countries were predominantly serviette like.

I doubt they had all that selection when McDonald's first started up over here.

Vitalogy They certainly had cutlery about twenty five years ago when I was four or five, as I was mortified when my grandmother asked for (and received) it.

That’s by the by really though, as I would assume EnglandKeepMyBones visit was in the last ten years.

It was probably because the word cutlery is so non-U that they didn't understand it. If he had asked for a knife and fork like a gentleman I am sure they would have given him some.

Americans call it silverware, even if it's plastic.

It is a napkin no matter what it is made from. At the risk of a lynching, I was taught that the the word serviette is a bit common.

Except when squash is a very common fruit flavoured soft drink concentrate as it is in England! If you ask where the squash is in a supermarket in England, you will get directed to the drinks aisle.

And I agree that that Americans do not use the ‘wrong’ words. Instead it is simply that the languages have diverged from a common root over a couple of centuries. In the same way that there are dialects in different parts of the English-speaking world.

Final point - snobbery over what to call the paper towel/paper napkin we wipe our mouths with is just daft.

The etymology is completely different though for squash the vegetable/fruit and the UK substance known as squash. Squash the North American vegetable that is technically a fruit comes from a Native American word. I am pretty sure that that is not the source of the name of the UK substance, which I would guess comes from a word in a European language that means crush or squeeze.

I've remembered another Adrian Mole one: when instructed by his therapist to list some things he enjoys doing, one of them is "sexual intercourse". How quaint!

Also a funny childhood memory of mine: when playing with some other children, we had bits of grass in our mouths. One of the other children said "you see, he's got a serviette in his mouth..." I think she meant cigarette!