the.com/silverware
The stuff you call silverware even when it's stainless steel and has never met silver.
means The knives, forks, and spoons you set the table with, regardless of what metal they're actually made of.
from Straightforward compound of 'silver' plus 'ware' (meaning manufactured goods or household items, as in 'hardware' or 'earthenware'). It dates to when eating utensils for those who could afford them actually were silver — the word stuck around long after stainless steel took over the drawer.
- name origin
- Actual silver cutlery dates back to ancient Egypt
- tarnish truth
- Real silver reacts to sulfur, not oxygen, to tarnish
- etiquette rule
- Forks moved from right hand to left in Europe
- antibacterial perk
- Silver ions actually kill bacteria on contact