Quote from: Bren;895513Napkin...one of the funny differences between British and American English.

Wait, what? I lived in the US for several years, and "napkin" seemed in common use. What do you call them?

I'm assuming the Queen's English "serviette," if that's still in parlance in UK.

We have quite a few old things in my home, so I'd rather not bother anyone here. But I do love telling the chirrin' at the LFGS that I've got Crayola Crayons older than them. (And I do, several sets from even grade school in immaculate condition. I fear I shall be hording things like a dragon if I don't keep the impulse in check.)

Quote from: TristramEvans;895522Wait, what? I lived in the US for several years, and "napkin" seemed in common use. What do you call them?

Apologies, I seem to have confused you about who uses which words for what. I shall endeavor to clarify.

In the US: Napkins are those paper things (provided at restaurants of the non fancy sort) and sold in stores for use at home for use at meals for wiping one's mouth are called "napkins" or if you are perhaps talking to your rural and aged great-grandmother you might say, "paper napkins" so she knew you didn't mean the cloth kind used for fancy occasions. That's not quite as old style as referring to food items as "store bought" to distinguish the chicken you bought at the market from the one you chased down in the backyard to strangle or decapitate your own self.

In the UK: Traditionally "napkin" refers to a feminine hygiene product, i.e. a sanitary napkin, which is often called a pad in the US. The traditional British term for the restaurant thing is "serviette." It's one of the few French words the Brits seem able to pronounce properly.


In the US: "Pants" mean trousers.

In the UK: "Pants" means underpants. Which is why the savvy American should probably refrain from offering to show a colleague the new pants one has just purchased at Harrods.


"Goddamn* it! I just spilled the HP Sauce. Hey Chancey, had me a napkin so I can clean my pants."

Quote from: Opaopajr;895527I'm assuming the Queen's English "serviette," if that's still in parlance in UK.

Right you are. Serviette was still in parlance when I was there in 2011. That and saying "pants" seemed to provoke unfailing amusement from my UK colleagues.

Opaopajr, I'm oddly jealous of your crayons.



* "Goddamn" is another joke. The stereotype American character on British television at some point will say "Goddamn!" in a very loud voice. My wife now wait for it while watching British TV shows.

Quote from: Bren;895612In the UK: Traditionally "napkin" refers to a feminine hygiene product, i.e. a sanitary napkin, which is often called a pad in the US. The traditional British term for the restaurant thing is "serviette." It's one of the few French words the Brits seem able to pronounce properly.

I have never heard of napkin being used in this way. For me, napkin is the equivalent of a serviette. We have Sanitary Towels or Pads.

Quote from: soltakss;895613I have never heard of napkin being used in this way. For me, napkin is the equivalent of a serviette. We have Sanitary Towels or Pads.

Could always have been my friends having me on. Or maybe Oxonians are more formal or something. Though Wikipedia seems to agree though it thinks napkin is U and serviette is non-U which kind of shoots the Oxonian notion in the head. Maybe it was all a plot of the East End Londoner in our midst.

My experience of living there, and having been married to a Brit, is that they are very particular about their accents and vocabularies, as it signifies both where they are from and other social aspects. Even though they retain a high degree of mutual intelligibility, which is quite an accomplishment considering German, and Schwabisch or Baorisch, which can be unintelligible to each other.

Quote from: dragoner;895622My experience of living there, and having been married to a Brit, is that they are very particular about their accents and vocabularies, as it signifies both where they are from and other social aspects. Even though they retain a high degree of mutual intelligibility, which is quite an accomplishment considering German, and Schwabisch or Baorisch, which can be unintelligible to each other.

Mostly mutually intelligible, though I could tell you about the Welsh IP Lawyer that nobody on our team could understand at all. Talk about money for nothing.

I've been playing for 25 so I am almost at true grognard status. Playing and GMing for thirty years is a lot of experiences. However, good and bad players and GMs can play and run for thirty years alike. Its a lot like sports or esports. Some people are just going to be more talented and better at the skills and talents needed to be a good athlete whether speed or strength, the twitch mechanics/clicks per second and command quality of a StarCraft or LoL player, or the acting and improv ability of a good player + the prep work of a good GM.  Some players and GMs are also better at rules and mechanics over other abilities. Some players and GMs never make it out of the minors but some make it to the majors and become stars. Just like sports, playing is not enough. You also have to train to be a better player or GM which is made even easier these days with the number of pdfs, vlogs, podcasts, and other tools available to give advice on how to get better at the game on either side of the screen.  So a person may have played or GMed for 30 years, but it doesn't necessarily make them better than a person like me who has been around the table for 25 years as player or mostly game master because of all the time I spend during the week trying to make my craft better by listening to casts while playing video games or reading how tos to make my game better and better.

Furthermore, play style really is a based on the games you have played. I started with D&D First, moved on to Earthdawn, and now Savage Worlds (I've played many more games but this is the most of the time I have spent in these three systems). All of them are tactical games with Savage Worlds the lightest of the three by quite a bit. But it means that we have a lot more combats than a group of players and GMs that focused more on narrative style games. Savage Worlds tends to have a lot of good tool boxes for noncombat but my players want to chew up scenery and smash things in this super villain game that is Necessary Evil. Switch us to the other style of game and I might be okay because of my improv skills, but even I would have a problem keeping up likely because the other narrative players have more honed skills. Most of my players would be hideously lost without their dice except perhaps Ted due to his vast Vampire The Masquerade/GM improv experience. Conversely, the narrative style players might be bored with the tactical combat that we enjoy. They'd also have less of a grasp on the tactical mechanics.

What it comes down to is that in your life, your mileage may vary, since the sum of all our experiences really makes us who we are, whether its as players or GMs.

Quote from: Bren;895612Opaopajr, I'm oddly jealous of your crayons.

It must be the dragon blood in you.
/nestles amid my clutch of agéd Crayola crayons.
/waits now for the obligatory Skyrim reference to Dovakin.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;892544When someone says they've been playing or GMing RPGs for 30+ years, what does that really say to you? You see how they play now, and you're not impressed. Do three decades make any difference in their play-style quality?

If you're not impressed, then obviously no; it would make no difference.