"Dinnerware" terminology

[Fat Guy]

Williams-Sonoma and many others are calling "dinnerware" what we used to call "dishes." How do we feel about this? Is "dinnerware" the right word?

[thock]

It's dishes, IMNSHO.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

It's dishes. Dinnerware is just post-traumatic stress syndrome for a shell-shocked chef.

[avaserfi]

They plan on releasing a line of breakfastware, lunchware and eventually brunchware because you clearly can't eat any meal but dinner on dinnerware. The term dishes gets around this problem, but then they wouldn't sell as many dishes!

[gfweb]

W-S is FOS.

[lesliec]

What happened to 'crockery'?

[natasha1270]

"Dinnerware" has been widely used in advertising since at least the thirties by Fiesta and many other dishware manufacturers and department stores. I wouldn't single it out as a Wm-Sonoma deal.

[andiesenji]

I've always called it "china" as did my family.

Some was actually "china" some was ironstone, some "vitreous china" and some was pottery.

I read a lot of novels - mysteries from the "Golden Age of Mysteries" and from all the intervening decades up to the present.

The plot settings are often describing the surroundings and there are many mentions of "a Welsh dresser filled with china" or "an extensive display of china in a glass-fronted cupboard" or

"the table was set with a dizzying array of beautiful china" etc., etc., etc.

There are very few mentions of a display of "dinnerware" because that term simply doesn't contribute the same essence to the story.

[Pierogi]

They be "plates" and "bowls" and "saucers" and "cups" and "dishes" in my house.

Dinnerware my big, old, bouncy, fat @ss.

By that standard, I guess the dogs eat from "petware"........

[Food Man Chews]

Dinner Service is another term.

[Genkinaonna]

Actually, wouldn't you eat the dogs off of petware?

In that vein my 11 mo would be eating off of "anytime he comes across something interesting on the floor-ware" which seems needlessly cumbersome. So let's just go with dishes, shall we? Okay then.

[cbread]

Dinnerware sells for more than dishes.

[Mjx]

I know dinnerware isn't exclusive to Williams Sonoma, but is always struck me as fairly silly, somehow suggesting that other meals are eaten off a piece of paper towel, or something (wait... I do that...).

[natasha1270]

Guess I'm just used to seeing them called dinnerware at stores but referring to them as plates, dishes or china at home. Am I upselling my flatware at home? They may be plain old stainless but I generally refer to them as silverware.

[HungryChris]

Deb and I were in WS a year or so ago and a British chap came in and when sked if he could be helped, he replied "I'm looking for some pots and pans for my new flat." The response he got was "If you want pots and pans, go to Walmart. We sell cookware."

HC

[gfweb]

Deb and I were in WS a year or so ago and a British chap came in and when sked if he could be helped, he replied "I'm looking for some pots and pans for my new flat." The response he got was "If you want pots and pans, go to Walmart. We sell cookware."

HC

Exactly what I was talking about upthread. LOL

[Darienne]

Guess I'm just used to seeing them called dinnerware at stores but referring to them as plates, dishes or china at home. Am I upselling my flatware at home? They may be plain old stainless but I generally refer to them as silverware.

Cutlery in our home.

[janeer]

They're dishes. You can call them by their material, though: china, porcelain, stoneware, earthenware, etc.

[heidih]

They're dishes. You can call them by their material, though: china, porcelain, stoneware, earthenware, etc.

That is my experience. I do have the experience Andie did earlier in the topic that the word "china" covered all the dishes - though for us it was not the everyday but rather the special occasion stuff - those were just the plates, etc