So, what do you call things?

Hah! I have a galley, a saloon, a bathroom with an Elsan, a bedroom, a cratch complete with cratch cover and a back deck. We eat breakfast, dinner and snacks in between. We also have a settee, a couple of swivel armchairs, two tellies and are very comfy thank you very much xx

We have Breakfast, Dinner and Tea but we don't use napkins or serviettes, we have 2 settees and an armchair in the living room. We use the loo/bog and my DH (who occasionally has problems with his words) tells people that we have an Abattoir (which, I would assume, most people would describe as a Conservatory or Sun-Room!!) This last has caused many a strange look from people who don't know him

You haven't touched a nerve with me Daddima. I was just having a moan about my kids.

Jings, I do seem to have touched a nerve!

I didn't mean it to matter, or to be a criticism of anybody whom I might have felt was saying it wrong. I just think language is interesting.

And, Indinana, my old boss would also bristle when she heard people refer to their " lounge".
" Airports and hotels have lounges, homes have sitting rooms"!

Babies wear napkins - hence, we use serviettes!

no, I dont feel cheated because I dont have any fish knives

Does anyone still use fish knives? I think they went out when stainless steel cutlery became popular. I do have some somewhere with a large set for serving with.

I have a living room
Sofas
Napkins and serviettes
loos
Breakfast lunch and dinner

And I am certainly not a snob!

Does anybody call their sofas Settees ?
I still do
Is that old fashioned now ....

Thanks moobox!

i have a lounge
i have a settee
i have a toilet [or a loo or the smallest room depending on who i'm talking to]
i tend not to use napkins/serviettes or whatever
i eat breakfast, lunch and tea
i have a dining room which we use for breakfast and tea [and lunch at the weekends]
i have a conservatory which i intended to use for breakfast but this turned into a junk room when my daughter and grandaughters moved in and, when we manage to sort out the rest of the house, the conservatory will be turned into a bedsit for my eldest grandaughter [too many people not enough bedrooms!]

I'm sitting on my sofa in the living room, having finished my breakfast and looking forward to lunch. I shall start thinking about what to have for dinner this evening quite soon now.
I go to the loo.
I use paper serviettes when the mood takes me or if I have company.
I'm quite common really, but I don't care.

I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who doesn't use servietties, napkins or whatever routinely. If a meal if particularly messy (Bolognese e.g.), we might use a bit of kitchen roll. Otherwise no ... unless it's Christmas when I buy festive ones (and we usually have 'company'). Do use 'em when in a coffee shop when having a frothy coffee too.

non u - not characteristic of the upper class

living room
sofa
loo - hate lavatory, reminiscent of high level tanks and hard loo paper.
table napkins, fabric and silver napkin rings.
breakfast
lunch (neighbours housekeeper insisted on calling it luncheon and I thought that was pretentious
dinner/supper

The Nancy Mitford U and Non U was taken off by John Betjemin in his poem - first line 'call for the fish knives Norman'

My ex got really into Nancy Mitford and learned the John Betjamin poem off by heart so he wouldn't make mistakes!! We had to call a mirror a looking glass, I drew the line at drawing room - apparently this is a diminutive of withdrawing room - where the ladies went while the men had their port and cigars. Couldn't say fish forks either, had to be fish eaters!

Well I tried using napkins for everyday use but I want a clean one for every meal so there was a lot of laundry and ironing- so its serviettes and put them in the recycling bin.

Please excuse my ignorance - what does "non u" mean?

Front room
settee
toilet
breakfast
lunch
dinner/evening meal
serviettes

Depends which part of the country we are all from.

People in the North are more likely to have a cooked meal called tea, and some (probably retired) still have their main meal at midday and call it dinner. We dont eat til 7.30, so call it dinner, though DH gets mixed up sometimes and says dinner when he means a lunchtime snack - no breeding, you see. Confused? My dad used to call his elevenses lunch.

Otherwise, lounge, sofa, cloth napkin for practicality if I am eating in front of the TV (I'm old, I can do what I like!)

loo or toilet, not rest room unless on a leeeeisurely tour with Americans, lol, because I dont go there to rest after all.

Orangery, not 'cos I am being posh but because it is technically different from a conservatory

I've got some Xmas serviettes from the fifties in my sideboard. Mil gave them to me.

Does no one else surreptitiously use their fingers instead of a napkin? Serviettes and the like, are for pubs and restaurants.

When we built our house, going on for fifty years ago, I planned to call the downstairs bedroom, the parlour.

Said room went through being a playroom, a bedroom (as it was supposed to be) and an occasional dining room, mostly for kids parties. I still hanker after a parlour.

As long as it makes sense to most people what does it matter if we all used same words did same things what a boring world this would be . We say
Room
Don't use serviettes unless having buffet
Loo
Tea for main meal
Supper is snack befor bed
Pantry where tinned food etc stored

I have done the pauper thing, lived in a nurses' home in the early 60s, had to be experienced to believe it.

Flipping heck radicalnan, I'm sure we all know that we are very lucky, that there are people who are so much worse off than we are, but we are allowed a lighthearted but interesting thread as well