Plastic silverware - What's that? (American English)

The term, "flatware," doesn't limit items to those that cut or slice ("cutlery"), and neglect those that scoop (spoons) or poke (forks), nor describe composition (stainless steel) or color (silver). Neither does it suggest other items that grace the table, as might "tableware." Flatware serves the purpose.

"Tableware" also includes the dishes, and some references seem to suggest the dishes and not the cutlery. If exclusively in the US (Canada seems to reference "cutlery" more often), then "silverware" can be used ... but the proper term is "cutlery".

But if it's plastic, don't bus it! (Leave it at the table.)

I've lived in several parts of the North America—Texas, Alberta, Maryland, Washington D.C., New York, and California—and in all of those places, if memory serves me correctly, the most common descriptive term for plastic forks, knives, and spoons is plastic utensils. A typical instance of this usage appears in this product page entry from BOX Partners; another appears in this product page from Paper Mart.

I would understand the phrases "plastic silverware," "plastic cutlery," and "plastic flatware" to refer to the same items that "plastic utensils" does. And indeed the latter two terms clearly include spoons and forks as well as knives, as this search page from Global Sources and this one from WebrestaurantStore make clear. Undoubtedly some North Americans use one or another of those terms in preference to "plastic utensils."

Evidently, "plastic tableware" is a broader term, referring to plastic dishes as well as plastic utensils, as in this product page from Stumps Party.

For a lark, I generated a Google Ngram chart matching the frequencies in print of "plastic silverware" (blue line) versus "plastic cutlery" (red line) versus "plastic utensils" (green line) versus "plastic flatware (yellow line) versus "plastic tableware" (teal line) from the corpus American English for the period 1940–2005. Here's the chart that appeared:

Of course, this chart doesn't tell us anything about what people mean when they use these various phrases, but it does indicate that "plastic utensils" is significantly more common than any of the other four phrases in American publications.

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With regard to whether the color and the sheen of the plastic utensils have any bearing on the terminology that everyday U.S. English speakers use in referring to these items, I doubt that those characteristics are relevant. As an afterthought, however, I checked to see how various sellers refer to quasi-metallic gold-colored plastic utensils—and I found at least one major vendor (Amazon) that denominates them with the doubly oxymoronic phrase "gold plastic silverware." So the actual situation in U.S. marketing patois is even more ridiculous than chasly from UK imagined.

'Silver service', in the UK, refers to the waiting on tables in a situation where food is brought to the tables and served from hand held plates, served on to the customer's plate by means of cutlery. The cutlery does not have to be silver.

This is anecdotal as I used to be employed, part-time, at a Heathrow hotel, serving banquets in the evening after my own daytime employment. This was in the 1980s. (Good money ; fun job ; only spilt the stuff once - mint sauce all down the back of a lady's white frock.)

The term is recognised by Wikipedia, but Wikipedia suggest that it is to some extent out-moded in favour of service à l'anglaise ("English service").

Thus, even in the UK, 'silver' implies cutlery. We used to refer, at home in the 1950s and 1960s, to 'the silver' even if the cutlery was not, actually, silver. The 'silver' drawer was the cutlery drawer.

The NGram for BrE 'silverware' indicates usage has increased - markedly - in the 21st century.

So, in the UK, traditionally, 'plastic silverware' would mean cutlery made of plastic.

I was surprised to discover that what we Brits call cutlery is called silverware in the U.S.

As a time traveller from the 15th century, I was surprised to discover that what you of the now "United" Kingdom call cutlery now includes forks and spoons! Ifaith!

From your own OED:

cutler, n.

Etymology: < French coutelier < Latin type cultellārius, < cultellus, Old French coutel knife.

One who makes, deals in, or repairs knives and similar cutting utensils.

c1430 J. Lydgate Horse, Goose & Sheep 130 Dagars wrought by the cutlers.

c1460 (▸?c1400) Tale of Beryn l. 2297 The Cotelere..þat made þe same knyff.

cutlery, n.

Etymology: < Old French coutelerie (modern French coutellerie ) cutler's art, cutlery, < coutelier cutler n.: see -ery suffix.(Show Less)

a. The art or trade of the cutler.

c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 50 Sporiorie and Cutellerie entermeeneden and enterfereden with goldsmyth craft..The al hool craft of cutleri. [The craft of spurmaking and the art or trade of the cutler overlaps with, and influences, the craft of the goldsmith.. The entire craft of knife making.]

b. collective. Articles made or sold by cutlers, as knives, scissors, etc. Also attributive.

1624 in Harper's Mag. (1884) June 72/2 The makers of knives, sickles, shears, scissors, and other cutlery wares.

NB all these are edged utensils - then imagine my surprise at

Draft additions September 2016

knives, forks, spoons, etc., used for eating or serving food; a set of table utensils of this kind. In earlier examples, difficult to distinguish from sense b.

(I assure you that, for me, there is no difficulty! Cutlery cuts!)

1821 Imperial Mag. Aug. 772 Mr Underwood..supplied the immense quantity of cutlery, which amounted to 8,000 knives and 8,000 forks, 650 pairs of carvers [etc.]

It would seem that as the origins of "silverware" have been forgotten in the "New World", so in the "Old World" the origins of "cutlery" have been forgotten, and new meanings for both created!