Which Word?
Thanks for some many thoughts. I’ve now ended up with a much longer list: gear, utensils, implements, equpages, appliances, appurtences, flatware, foodwares, smallwares. And no agreement. Except that most of you want to avoid the more pretentious terms.
The hidden agenda behind this question is that as I survey food history, you find that until the Industrial Revolution ordinary people tended to eat out of a common bowl with their fingers or a spoon depending on the thickness of what was in the bowl. Everywhere.
And dining whatevers–gold and silver beer straws in Mesopotamia, porcelain in China, solid gold or silver plate in Europe–were extravagantly expensive and very much part of showing how powerful you were. Some of you will remember the fuss when Nancy Reagan ordered a new dinner service for the White House. It cost $210,000.
Not out of line historically. Catherine the Great ordered a service from Josiah Wedgwood that cost about $250,000 in present day dollars (very tricky comparison) at a time when states were less wealthy.
In short, I’m interested in words that can cover wild (and from our perspective unseemly) extravagance through the boxed sets of glass ware, cutlery and stoneware that are sold so cheaply in American stores. And your comments are very useful indeed.
table bling.
I’ve come in a bit late and since the word paraphernalia has been corrupted into the negative connotations of the drug culture, thought utensils to be the most inclusive. Clearly! Table bling is the most fun.
Wikipedia offers this truncated list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_preparation_utensils
“Ware”. Dining-ware.
Dining ware is good but bling is so appealing too. I hadn’t thought of the drug connotations of paraphernalia. Too bad.
Now can I call the plastic clamshell bling or ware? Because I want to include it as part of our well-off way of eating.
How about utensils for “common” folk use and accoutrements for the bling set?
But accoutrements really means outfittings for soldiers (other than clothing or weapons).
Bling reminds me of the Bada Bing, the strip joint in “The Sopranos.”
I can’t think of any specific word right now, but maybe a quick look at the terminology used in archaeology or anthropology for the stuff dug up or observed might render up something?
Accoutrements also means outward forms of recognition, trappings or an identifying device.
I think of accoutrements I think of ‘dress-up’.
One of the earlier ones made me think of horses. ‘Equipage’.
:)
Salaams, Rachel,
Depending on where the utensils and dishes are used (kitchen prep or sit-down dinner), one would probably want different words.
But since you begin by speaking of communal eating, well…”Tableware”… ( which may also include domestic textiles– everything from dishrags to Frette nappery.)
Although it does imply a “set” or “complete collection of matching pieces,” I like “dinner service;” and it’s not as patrician a phrase as one might first assume…
Both Christie’s & Wal-Mart use “dinner service”–
See the high-end:
A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE DINNER SERVICE
Chinese(Quianlong Period) porcelain set that sold for $60K USD
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5172547
And the lower: Oneida Kathlet 85-pc Dinner Service for 16 (Stainless steel flatware set at $49.87)
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6958321
Holly (at) AlmostItalian (dot) com
Holly,
Thanks for posting that wonderful comparison of prices. I have to admit that the Chinese service does look appealing! And thanks everyone else for the input. These will be my best chosen words ever, that is, if I’m not reduced to total indecision.