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Morphology of a towel

Posted by Platypus on September 15, 2004

In Reply to: Washcloth posted by R. Berg on September 15, 2004

: : : : : Hello
: : : : : Is it a "washcloth" a kind of towel but smaller in size?

: : : : : thanks a million

: : : : I thought it was a flannel.

: : : : DFG

: : : It's "washcloth" in the U.S.

: : Both are made with the same material as towels, so yes, a wash cloth is a small towel. I have yet to see a flannel made of flannel fabric however. Does anyone know if they ever were? It sounds like it would have been rather nice in that fabric.

: A washcloth is made of terrycloth, like most towels. (There are also fancy guest towels made of other fabrics, such as linen, and not very useful. Then there are dishtowels.) But that doesn't make a washcloth a towel. A washcloth is used for washing, a towel for drying.

Every towel is a potential washcloth in my book; just add soap and water. For example, if I took two big towels to wash my car, the one that got wet and soapy would become the washcloth and the other, used for drying, would remain a towel. Conversely, those little towels, often called washcloths, that hang over the big towels on a "towel" rack are "towels" when used for drying one's hands.

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