I know this is trivial, but it’s been driving me nuts. I can’t Google up a real answer. Maybe someone here knows.
There are several different sizes of towel for personal use in the bathroom. There’s the bath towel, which one uses to dry oneself after bathing, obviously. There’s the larger bath sheet, for the same purpose, but presumably for larger people. There’s the washcloth, a small square that is suitable for washing the body and/or the face. There’s the hand towel, which one generally uses to dry one’s hands after washing them.
Then, there’s the fingertip towel, somewhere in between a hand towel and washcloth in size. Why, other than to presumably pad the pockets of towel makers and department stores, does this odd little towel exist? What is its purpose?
Is one to dry one’s fingertips separately from the rest of one’s hands, on a separate towel? :rolleyes:
The closest thing I could find to an answer was a brief mention of them being “for guests.” This requires further explanation. Is it presumed that guests only wash the tips of their fingers? Is it that they don’t “require” as large a towel as the home’s residents for drying their hands after washing (and why would this be)? Does the name actually come from a tradition of having one at each guest’s fingertips, for some reason?
Help, please, so I can get this nagging question to leave me be!