People have been scratching their heads over how the common tea towel got its name, with some social media users arguing that drying cloth would have been a better name for the item
They’re a necessary item in every kitchen – but not often something you sit and wonder about unless they’ve gone missing. However, social media users have been left scratching their heads after a user simply asked: “Why is it called a tea towel?”
Taking to Reddit, one person said: “I was writing a list of stuff I need to buy today for my uni kitchen and I realised we didn’t have a tea towel to dry up with. When I went to write this down I was like Hold on Tea towel? What’s that about Because I mean it’s used to dry just everything right? Is there another name for it that tea towel? Drying cloth?”
It turns out they’re not the only person to have wondered this – with users across Reddit, Quora, and X (formerly Twitter) all asking the same question. According to Radical Tea Towel, the everyday items were originally used to insulate your tea pot to stop your drink from cooling too quickly.
A statement reads: “True to its name, the tea towel was in its element as an ingredient in the great British tea ceremony. There it rubbed shoulders with the finest crystal and chinaware and was designed to match the rest of the table linen.
“Often it was wrapped around the tea pot to insulate it, used to prevent drips or gracefully draped over bread and cakes to keep them fresh. It was not until the Industrial Revolution that the tea towel became a mass-produced consumer item and manufacturers turned to fibres such as cotton.”
However, as they’re a multi-use item, people started using them to clean spillages and dry their tea cups until they became a staple in every kitchen. Adding to this, the statement reads: “The tea/dish towel must be one of the most flexible items there is.
“No doubt your first thought is “here’s something to dry the dishes with.” But that would be to overlook the huge range of other uses to which tea towels have been put over the years.
“The most unusual and distinguished of these must be as a canvas by none other than the great Van Gogh. Late in his career, the impoverished genius often ran out of conventional canvas, which was anyway expensive. He would write to his brother, Theo, imploring him to send more, but in the meantime painted on whatever came to hand. And if that was a tea towel, so be it.”
