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Tea Towels

Endlessly Amazed

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What is a tea towel collection? What is a tea towel, actually?
 
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Thanks. I never knew that. In the US that is called a dish towel. I vaguely thought that a tea towel had something to do with tea, but couldn't imagine what.
Tea is what posh English people call the third meal of the day, breakfast, dinner and tea, as well as the national drink, some folks have a special tea service, posh plates, cups, saucers etc, which are traditionally made of fine bone china, so when drying them after washing them up, a soft cotton 'tea towel' was used, the name just stuck, we also have 'afternoon tea' which places like The Savoy and The Ritz still do, which is a selection of delicate sandwichs (cucumber with crusts removed, traditionally) and delicate pastries and cakes, served, of course, with a pot of tea.
 
The Tea Towel is a very versatile piece of kitchen kit. Yes, it dries dishes but also acts as an insulating base when putting hot pans and dishes on a surface.
However, the main secondary function is revealed when your kid has been cast as a shepherd in the school nativity.
 
There’s tea towels and there’s Tea Towels!

No6TeaTowel.jpeg
 
Tea is what posh English people call the third meal of the day, breakfast, dinner and tea...

No: posh people (like wot l am) enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner. The οι πολλοι - Northerners, Welsh and other rough types - trough “breakfast, dinner and tea”, probably while talking about “Corrie” and “footie”. Whatever they are.

maximus otter
 
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The only tea towel I've ever gone out of my way to buy was an official William and Kate Royal wedding one. To cut a long story short, my parents lived in Limoges, there was an ex pat community, the local French Mayor was cool and close friends and let them use under his town hall as a pretend British pub (complete with working bar, ale pumps etc) so I thought it would make the Mayor and his wife laugh as a jokey present when me and the Mrs went over to visit. As far as I know, it's still hanging above the bar there?. It might be worth something one day?. I should ask Martin.
 
Tea is what posh English people call the third meal of the day, breakfast, dinner and tea, as well as the national drink, some folks have a special tea service, posh plates, cups, saucers etc, which are traditionally made of fine bone china, so when drying them after washing them up, a soft cotton 'tea towel' was used, the name just stuck, we also have 'afternoon tea' which places like The Savoy and The Ritz still do, which is a selection of delicate sandwichs (cucumber with crusts removed, traditionally) and delicate pastries and cakes, served, of course, with a pot of tea.

Tea as a term for the evening meal is more working class than "posh" - breakfast, dinner tea. The more middle class in my experience is: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Tea might be used as in "afternoon tea".

Some upper class types, call the evening meal "supper", pronounced "sup-AH".
 
No: posh people (like wot l am) enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner. The οι πολλοι - Northerners, Welsh and other rough types - trough “breakfast dinner and tea”, probably while talking about “Corrie” and “footie”. Whatever they are.

maximus otter
I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with you...:friends:
 
Tea as a term for the evening meal is more working class than "posh" - breakfast, dinner tea. The more middle class in my experience is: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Tea might be used as in "afternoon tea".

Some upper class types, call the evening meal "supper", pronounced "sup-AH".
The really posh invite their friends to a 'kitchen supper', or 'kitchen sups'. All very informal, doncha know, just the one butler on duty.
 
A tea towel collection might constitute a kitchen-based record of one's visits to National Trust properties and museums. ;)

Souvenir tea towels are sold at most visitor attractions. They are very popular.

I once bought a whole roll of Jorvik Viking Centre teatowelling fabric dirt-cheap when the place had just opened. Maybe they'd over-ordered and sold off the excess.
You cut off one at a time and hem it to make a tea towel, and maybe attach a loop so it's easier to dangle it over the cooker and set fire to it.

Made dozens, gave many away, still have several.
One had a corner burned away a couple of decades ago but is still in use. I like to think that's the Viking way.
 
A tea towel collection might constitute a kitchen-based record of one's visits to National Trust properties and museums. ;)

Souvenir tea towels are sold at most visitor attractions. They are very popular.

I once bought a whole roll of Jorvik Viking Centre teatowelling fabric dirt-cheap when the place had just opened. Maybe they'd over-ordered and sold off the excess.
You cut off one at a time and hem it to make a tea towel, and maybe attach a loop so it's easier to dangle it over the cooker and set fire to it.

Made dozens, gave many away, still have several.
One had a corner burned away a couple of decades ago but is still in use. I like to think that's the Viking way.

I find that souvenir teatowels are usually really bad for drying up with until you have washed them 50 times :p
 
I find that souvenir teatowels are usually really bad for drying up with until you have washed them 50 times :p

Pfft, life's too short for perfect drying. YOLO an' all that.

Besides which, at least half the time I'm grabbing a teatowel it's to fold up and use as an oven glove or pan lid-remover, or to soak with water and throw over burning food. (That doesn't work, by the way. You just lose a corner here and there.)
 
Pfft, life's too short for perfect drying. YOLO an' all that.

Besides which, at least half the time I'm grabbing a teatowel it's to fold up and use as an oven glove or pan lid-remover, or to soak with water and throw over burning food. (That doesn't work, by the way. You just lose a corner here and there.)
Tbh i dont dry up at home, i leave it to nature, evaporation is great :p i only dry up when im on 'drying up duty' at my folks after sunday dinner or xmas lunch (this variation will have to be discussed on the 'Meals: Customs / Scheduling / Naming' thread lol). This is where the souvenir teatowels are too!
 
Tbh i dont dry up at home, i leave it to nature, evaporation is great :p i only dry up when im on 'drying up duty' at my folks after sunday dinner or xmas lunch (this variation will have to be discussed on the 'Meals: Customs / Scheduling / Naming' thread lol). This is where the souvenir teatowels are too!

Yup, I too have one of those newfangled drying racks to pile the wet dishes on. It gets like Jenga. :chuckle:

Was recently gifted a bag of odd Pyrex bowls and lids which are currently air-drying.
Hopes are high that they will match my current collection of similar odd Pyrex bowls and lids.

If I have one talent in life it's bouncing Pyrex. :(
 
Thats a GREAT question.....

If only there was somewhere on the web where one could ask questions like that...

Oh look! I tried a new thing - www.google.com. Give it a go.

About 233,000,000 results (0.86 seconds)








Image result for What is a tea towel collection? What is a tea towel, actually?

A tea towel is a soft cloth made of linen, cotton or a combination of the two, and usually has an imprinted or woven design for decoration. ... Today, tea towels are found in kitchens and homes across the globe. They're used for a variety of purposes, from keeping leafy greens crisp to covering warm baked goods.
 
During the summer months I use a tea towel like a whip to flick at any flies that come into the kitchen. I rarely hit them (then they are dead) but it always scares them away.
Make sure they can't fall into any food lying around. A fly in muesli looks much the same as a raisin.
 
The οι πολλοι - Northerners, Welsh and other rough types.

*Feels an itch he can't help scratching*

Do you know what οι means in Greek?

Do you say PIN-number?

:exercise:
 
The Tea Towel is a very versatile piece of kitchen kit. Yes, it dries dishes but also acts as an insulating base when putting hot pans and dishes on a surface.
However, the main secondary function is revealed when your kid has been cast as a shepherd in the school nativity.

Can any real man claim never to have used a tea towel to whip his wife's/significant other's posterior in puckish fashion once drying duties were completed?
 
Do you say “Ein Berliner”?

I’m retired, not redundant.

;)

maximus otter

I can't even do a passable German accent for English jokes, let alone attempt actual German.

I'm beginning to suspect that I can manage only a single accent that is not my own, and that one is called generic foreign.

It isn't really authentic anywhere.
 
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