https://www.proz.com/kudoz/norwegian-to-english/general-conversation-greetings-letters/5845823-serviett.html
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flettespor
styrbua
This question was closed without grading. Reason: Other
May 8, 2015 15:19
9 yrs ago
Norwegian term

serviett

Norwegian to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Okay, I ONLY want to hear from native UK English speakers, please. Where do you fall on the napkin/serviette line in A.D. 2015?

See http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=735437 for why I ask.
Proposed translations (English)
4 napkin
References
How is this a Kudoz question?

Discussion

Charles Ek (asker) May 8, 2015:
Well, this is just great. ;-) Feeling a little like this guy at the moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQhu1hJr0jE
Christopher Schröder May 8, 2015:
I would actually have serviette down as posher or more pretentious... but I think it's like couch and sofa, individual... then again I can't imagine it making any difference in a translation.
Charles Ek (asker) May 8, 2015:
Thanks. The linked reference is from a discussion in 2007; it's interesting (and helpful) to see your response these eight years later.
Dawn Nixon May 8, 2015:
Napkin formal/upper class; serviette more general. I would expect to be offered a napkin in a good hotel/restaurant or by the upper class, but in an everyday and colloquial sense I generally say serviette. To put it another way, if my mother wanted to put on the 'airs and graces', she'd say napkin :)

Proposed translations

8 days

napkin

I would say "napkin." Almost nobody knows what a "serviette" is - plus it is an odd sounding word, and "napkin" is hardly posh or upper-class (even if it might have once been, perhaps when people ate with their hands).

I mean if you want to get fancy, call it a "face towelette"
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Reference comments

17 hrs
Reference:

How is this a Kudoz question?

There isn't a terminology question here, and half the target audience is excluded.
Note from asker:
The question is how to translate the Norwegian TERM "serviett" for a UK English-speaking audience. The distinction between the alternative TERMS is a class-based one that I want the opinion of a native speaker on.
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