05-21-2015, 09:30 AM
(05-21-2015, 09:10 AM)MidTowner Wrote: ookpik, I'm with you on use of the term "Americans." The Arrogant Worms had a very clever song about that ("I Am Not American") which included the lovely lyric "I long to be an American, as the French are European."
For some reason, I always thought that "serviette" referred to the paper products used in some restaurants, and "napkins" to the cloth products used at home. I use "chesterfield," but notice many other people do not even though that's what they mean. I had no idea that a "beanie" and "toque" might be the same thing for some people- beanie makes me think of something like a skull cap, or panamaniac's propeller beanie.
Re: Foreign ownership. I am a lot more wary about communist governments (through their state-run enterprises) purchasing companies which own land and resources in this country, than I am about a publically-traded company based in the United States buying a consumer goods store here.
It's the reverse - a serviette is made of cloth and napkins are made of paper. My understanding is that "serviette" in considered antiquated in the UK and was always associated with the lower classes. It is one of our holdovers from the colonial era.
Perhaps we should open a new thread on "English as spoken in Waterloo Region".