So, what do you call things?

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

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.

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!

non u - not characteristic of the upper class

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.

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 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!]

Thanks moobox!

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

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

And I am certainly not a snob!

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.

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

Babies wear napkins - hence, we use serviettes!

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"!

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

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

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

I have sofas in the living room - which is actually a through lounge incorporating dining room. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner (with pudding if I can be bothered). The loo is downstairs and the bathroom upstairs. I have, and use, real napkins when entertaining and paper ones, or kitchen roll when not.

Sitting room
Sofa
Loo
Breakfast, lunch and dinner. (NEVER 'supper' for dinner. I dislike that middle-class affectation. Supper is a snack taken before bedtime as far as I'm concerned.)
Napkins

Oh, we now have a 'terrace' (recently acquired with house move) rather than a patio...apparently. . A (new) neighbour explained the distinction...(It's a terrace because it runs along the back of the house and is elevated from the garden by a flight of steps.)

My Mum used to work in service at grand houses and when we were small, my baby sister slept in the 'nursery' of our council house. We'd call it the small bedroom, or even box room today, but for her, old habits died hard. It was always a lavatory too, when we were young.

We don't have any serviettes. We use kitchen roll.

Sitting room, sofa,loo, napkins when we have people for dinner. Don't eat breakfast, but do eat lunch,dinner/supper.

I have a living room.
I have a sofa.
I have a lavatory or loo. Oh, let's be honest, I go to the bog.
I use napkins.
I eat breakfast, lunch, and supper (unless I'm having friends in for something special, then it's dinner).

Lounge, living room, settee, napkins, toilet. Breakfast lunch sometimes call evening meal dinner sometimes tea.

Nana3 "Any food spilled on your top is called a medal."

Oh I love that idea Nana3!

At home when eating I have to tuck a tea-towel into the neckline of whatever I am wearing, because without fail, something will drop from my fork of spoon onto my clothes. It's a minor miracle if I finish a meal without spilling food onto my chest!

I tell of the 'Banjo Sandwich' sometimes. If you pile a lot of food into a batch (Midlands expression for bread roll) and it slips out and down onto clothes when eating it, the first reaction is to hold the sandwich up at shoulder height and 'strum' at the mess landed on your stomach/chest.

narrowboatnan I really envy your way of life. Even though I'm dead scared of water. Have you got a nice little stove for warming the boat? The closest I've come is a caravan, years ago. I lived with a little black cat.