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Original poster

Serviettes. Did I ask for something strange?

387 replies

ALongHardWinter · 30/03/2018 20:10

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?

OP posts:
TheFaerieQueene · 30/03/2018 22:33

Serviette is much the same as settee, toilet and lounge. Words I haven’t ever said.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 30/03/2018 22:35

There was a sign in burger king ages ago which stated an amount of napkins and what it meant

Something like

1 napkin = optimist

3 napkins = messy eater

My favourite was something like

10 napkins = thief

Cailleach1 · 30/03/2018 22:37

You have just written them, TheFaerieQueene. Off the mark.

wentmadinthecountry · 30/03/2018 22:38

I judge people who say serviette. It's such an odd word anyway (yes, I speak French but it's odd here). Napkin. Mind you, that sounds like something out of Peter Rabbit. Over thinking words is never a good idea.

IlikemyTeahot · 30/03/2018 22:38

I would say serviette...I'm 30. I thought napkins were the cloth ones you get in swanky restaurants.

Cailleach1 · 30/03/2018 22:39

McD and BK are both American. They don't have chips either. Just french fries.

Welshmaenad · 30/03/2018 22:40

I call them serviettes OP and I'm 37.

Does Debretts legislate for McDonalds?

Stroller15 · 30/03/2018 22:40

I read this entire thread in a terribly posh accent, Grin but I have been known to answer 'how do you do' with a real answer.

A serviette is a paper napkin and I'm a millenial.

Cailleach1 · 30/03/2018 22:40

I must admit napkin reminds me of baby napkins. Nappies.

TheBrilliantMistake · 30/03/2018 22:41

hear hear

Dapplegrey · 30/03/2018 22:43

I asked a young sales assistant who spoke perfect English but not as her first language, where was the nearest chemist and she didn't understand until I said pharmacy.
I suppose words are constantly being replaced.

Sesimbra · 30/03/2018 22:45

I wouldn't use serviette, I would say paper napkin, but it doesn't bother me and I would understand what was being requested.

"Pardon" sets me off though.

hellokittymania · 30/03/2018 22:46

Servieta in Greek is the sanitary towel. So some foreigners may not understand it.

SuperBeagle · 30/03/2018 22:50

Napkins are linen, serviettes are paper, tissues are what you use to blow your nose.

Australian here.

Serviette is certainly used more frequently in an every day context than napkin.

scottishdiem · 30/03/2018 22:50

I know what serviettes are. I would never use the term. Napkins since the day I was born to the day I die I think.

Hersetta427 · 30/03/2018 22:54

Napkins in South Africa are what they call baby nappies.

For comedy gold watch the Trevor Noah clip on u tube about tacos and napkins....it's hilarious.

condepetie · 30/03/2018 22:55

I haven't said serviette in years, this thread brought back memories! It was serviettes in my grandparents' house - English born, French-speaking, church-going people. It disappeared. My parents never bothered when me and my brothers were little.

CallarMorvern · 30/03/2018 22:55

Serviettes for paper, napkins for linen, I thought everyone thought that! Don't Americans call sanitary towels - napkins?

Cailleach1 · 30/03/2018 22:57

Oh Rufus. Love baked semolina with jam. Not so keen on sago or tapioca. Like frogspawn.

Interesting as you wouldn't ask to speak to the Chemist now. That sounds more industrial or research related. You'd ask to speak to the Pharmacist. Most people wouldn't call it a Chemist's now either, I suppose.

LockedOutOfMN · 30/03/2018 22:57

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue
It was in McDonalds. In McDonalds we call them napkins; they are even delivered in a box saying napkins.

I don't dispute that, however, I'd imagine someone who'd worked in a U.K. branch of McDonalds for any period of time may have had a customer ask for serviettes before.

Teaformeplease · 30/03/2018 22:58

I'm so glad I don't live in the class-obsessed ghetto that is England, where you can't open your mouth without being judged for your accent and vocabulary. It's like a secret code designed to keep "common people" in their place.
Know what? You're not better than someone else because you say lavatory instead of toilet. Or napkin instead of serviette for that matter.

Bugjune · 30/03/2018 22:59

I thought a courgette was a little red sports car?

Gah! You've quite possibly just killed a Price classic for me

Bugjune · 30/03/2018 23:00

*Prince classic, not Katie Price obviously Grin

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 30/03/2018 23:04

I don't dispute that, however, I'd imagine someone who'd worked in a U.K. branch of McDonalds for any period of time may have had a customer ask for serviettes before.

LockedOutOfMN Certainly. When asking for them, napkins and serviettes seem to be used about equally by our customers. However, we don’t know how long this person had been working there.

MumofBoysx2 · 30/03/2018 23:05

We always call them napkins. I don't think our children would know what a serviette was! If he was young then he might not have heard it, it's old fashioned now.