Ditto, except that the phrase “plastic silverware” may well have crossed my lips at times.
Also a midwesterner, and it’s silverware for me, whether it’s plastic or steel. I don’t think I’ve ever even uttered the words “flatware” and I’ve only said “cutlery” a handful of times, and I can’t remember the context. It (cutlery) sounds like the kind of word I’d use in an ironic or snarky context, because, real, usable word or not, it’s very hoity toity-sounding. Now that I think about it though, silverware is much more hoity toity-sounding, especially if it’s used to refer to plastic.
My family always called it silverware no matter what it was made of. Unless we’re actually using “the silver”. I’ve never heard flatware used in conversation, only seen it in catalogues and such.
Yes, I and everybody else i know uses “silverware” for “knives, forks, and spoons.” I mean, if you sat at a restaurant table that didn’t have any on it, would you honestly ask for “flatware”? Or “Could we get some, uh, knives and forks and stuff, wrapped up in a napkin?”
We say “the silver” for the actual silver. If I said “cutlery”, which I probably wouldn’t, I’d mean knives, mostly cooking knives but not excluding steak and table knives.
We could call them “flatware of mass destruction.” It makes sense.
You go into somebody else’s house and you never know where they keep it.
I don’t think I’ve ever said “flatware” or “cutlery” in my life. “Utensils,” maybe. But mostly just “silverware.”
That said, “plastic silverware” does sound ridiculous; I’m not sure I’ve ever called the plastic version anything other than “plastic forks and stuff.” “Plastic utensils,” possibly.
I agree. The only time I used the term flatware was when I registered for our wedding–to differentiate it from sterling silver. Like most of the posters here, we call it silverware, but The Silver is used on festive occasions only.
I’d almost always say “silverware” but at a picnic with plastic stuff I’d probably ask about the forks & spoons, or utensils, “something to eat with” etc.
There’s silverware, and there’s the Good Silverware. I will sometimes call it flatware, but infrequently.
Plastic forks and spoons, of course, are plasticware.
Never used or heard ‘silverware’ been used here. Although I’m sure that a few people are bound to use it. Everyone I know calls it cutlery or names the item individually. I have metal and plastic at home. I use the plastic ones when I cant be bothered to clean it afterwards or when I dont have any clean metal ones left - Im a student! These things are expected of me!
Silverware is generic for me, but now that you’ve brought the question up, I don’t know if I’d use it for plastic implements or not. I’ll have to watch myself and my family.
Otherwise some people would be calling you “Flat Tyger Girl.”
Cutlery here in the UK. Silverware would probably mean best cutlery to most people (or maybe it would mean some other metal items such as candlesticks and trophies, etc). ‘Flatware’ would just not be understood, I think - people might guess it to mean place mats or coasters or something.
I tend to think of the silver in silverware to be a description of its color, not what it’s made of. So all silver-colored forks, knives and spoons are “silverware” while things made of plastic are not. I’m torn about silver-colored plastic.
“Silverware” is certainly a generally accepted term for those items, IMHO.
For some reason, though, I’m more prone to say “flatware” or “utensils.” I guess I’m just pedantic. But like others in this thread, the actual silver silverware is called “the silver.”
Silverware is the term we use for all eating utensils of any material.
A question for mrsspooky where is the “here” you refer to? No location in your top right corner, and since we were trying to decide it it’s a regionalism…
Missourian with Ohio roots. It’s called “silverware” even if it’s really stainless steel.
Same here. “Cutlery” would be used to refer to sharp knives only, and I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “flatware.”
Never heard of such a word as flatware.
Grew up in California and ‘silverware’ is definitely generic.
Australian checking in.
Always cutlery, never silverware. I’d never use the word “cutlery” to describe cooking knives, as I think of cutlery as general eating utensils rather than specifically cutting utensils (yes, despite the obvious connection to “cutting” in the word, when I hear it I think of a spoon, not a kitchen knife).
I have no concept of the word being “hoity toity” because I consider it a commonly used, everyday word. I wouldn’t think twice about being asked to lay out the cutlery and crockery.