http://restaurant-china.home.comcast.net/item.names.html

Restaurant china item names are industry standard terms found in commercial china company catalogs. While manufacturers are not always consistent, the most common name for each item (with an occasional alternate) is listed with a corresponding illustration in Restaurant China Volume 1 on pages 318 through 323. Because foodservice industry catalogs are directed to professional chefs and restaurateurs rather than households, this language of the trade is unfamiliar to many. A good example would be a "rarebit," which is applied to a specific shape by all oven-to-table commercial china manufacturers. I truly hope eBay restaurant china sellers and collectors alike begin using the standard names routinely, so we can communicate in like terms.

Plates are round (not oval or rectangular) and are simply called out by size (for example, a 7" plate, rather than a bread plate or dessert plate), since the variety of uses for each size in a restaurant is too great. Exceptions include the service plate, chop plate, and grill plate.
Platters are oval or rectan-gular and are called out by length (e.g., a 10" long platter).
All oval "bowls" are bakers.
A small (approx. 4.5") "bowl" popularly called a monkey dish by waiters is actually a fruit according to restaurant ware manufacturers.
A cup requires a saucer.
A mug is designed to be placed directly on the table.
While there is little differentiation between a coffee and a tea cup, a demitasse cup is considerably smaller and almost always called an after dinner or A.D. cup by restaurant ware manufacturers (shown at top right of collage).
A tall narrow footed cup is a Cafe Brulot cup, and the similar but heavier, taller, larger footed mug is an Irish coffee mug (shown at left center of collage).
A creamer has no handle (shown in lower center of collage).
A cream pitcher has a handle.
A soup cup is called a bouillon.

We can improve communications by becoming accustomed to and using these terms regularly......... j0282867.gif (12527 bytes) ......slowly, but surely spreading the word (in this case words)!

Note: See Restaurant China, Volume 1, pages 318 through 323, for industry standard names for many more items. Also more information at the RCY: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Restaurant-China/ Click Files link at top left of page, then Syracuse Shape and Item Guide (opens in Adobe Reader; eight pages in length; view at up to 400% for clarity)