What are the common and current, American English general words encapsulating:
1. Knives, forks, and spoons.
I know the words "silverware" as well as "flatware", but I don't know which one is more appropriate and precise here! On top of that, I don't know if these words sound normal in everyday conversation or not!
Note: also, "cutlery" as far as I'm concerned is a British / Canadian term which many Americans may even never have heard of.
2. Knives, forks, spoons, + plates, glasses, etc. used for meals.
I know "tableware" which as per Cambridge is a formal word. While I need a word that people use in everyday speech at the table.
Note: as far as I know, "crockery" is a British / Canadian term which many Americans are not familiar with. Besides, it does not encompass "knives", "forks", and "spoons".
In addition to that, I am really interested to know how I can distinguish the word "dishes" from all of these?
Best Answer
In my experience, silverware is the most common term for metal eating utensils (forks, knives, spoons), though flatware is also perfectly acceptable. I've also heard and used cutlery to describe this set of items, though in the U.S., cutlery can also refer to kitchen knives of all kinds.
Crockery is very common to refer to ceramic dish sets, also just referred to as "the dishes" or "dishware"; in my experience, the more formal version of this would be "fine china."
Tableware doesn't strike me as particularly formal, but there's also not very many situations where I'd be talking about the table settings as a whole, and not the individual parts--the glasses, the plates, the silverware, etc.