serviette

[Dennis R. Preston]

If y'all go to Jack Chambers' dialect topography site at the
University of Toronto ya'll can see the results of research into just
such questions from across Canada.

http://dialect.topography.chass.utoronto.ca/dt_results.php

For example, in the Golden Horseshoe, "napkin" was preferred by 69%
of the respondents, serviette by only 13%; in the Ottawa Valley, the
figures were 60% to 18% in favor of "napkin."

dInIs

>'Seviette' is traditional for 'napkin' in English-speaking Canada and
>is still quite common, especially for the paper kind.  Nobody ever
>blinks if I ask for a serviette in an eatery in Saskatoon (in the
>middle of the Prairies).  This is true even of young servers, so
>regardless of which term they themselves use, it's obviously totally
>familiar to them.  I also see it in print from time to time and hear
>other people of varying ages use the term too.  However, 'napkin' is
>probably more common now, across the country as a whole.
>
>As for French use in Canada:  an old (1962) Canadian French-English
>dictionary I have, produced by the Lexicographic Research Centre of
>the University of Montreal, gives 'table napkin' as the first sense of
>Fr. 'serviette'.
>
>Victoria
>
>Victoria Neufeldt
>727 9th Street East
>Saskatoon, Sask.
>S7H 0M6
>Canada
>Tel: 306-955-8910
>
>
>
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: American Dialect Society
>>  [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
>>  Of Salikoko S. Mufwene
>>  Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 8:01 AM
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: Re: serviette
>>
>>
>>  At 05:49 AM 3/11/2005 -0600, J. Nihart wrote:
>>  >I have spoken French and English all my life and have
>>  never asked for a
>>  >serviette in any restaurant.  A serviette is a towel . In
>>  French a Cajun
>>  >calls a  paper napkin "a Nap- kin "(accent on the second
>>  syllable). A
>>  >serviette is either a wash cloth or a dish towel.
>>  >J. Nihart
>>
>>  I grew up a Francophone and the term I learned for 'napkin'
>>  is "serviette."
>>  I just checked again with a Parisian friend of mine, a
>>  native speaker, and
>>  she says the term is serviette. Could it be that (your) Cajun French
>>  reflects English influence? Or maybe I missed an earlier
>>  thread of your
>>  remark?...
>>
>>  Sali.
>>
>>  **********************************************************
>>  Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
>>  Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor
>>  University of Chicago                    773-702-8531; FAX
>>  773-834-0924
>>  Department of Linguistics
>>  1010 East 59th Street
>>  Chicago, IL 60637
>>  http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene
>>  **********************************************************
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736