So I remember learning chopsticks as 箸 in an app I was using last year, but I just noticed the paper wrapper has おてもと on it.
Jisho lists them both as chopsticks so is there any reason it’s like that?
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I’m going to re-home this in the Campfire section. ^^
It’s a request for help, but not specifically about requesting help for something very WK related.
About your question; I’m not sure. Jisho just says it’s the term for chopsticks as often written on the stick’s paper wrapper.
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Funny enough, I am currently in Asia and today I used Chopsticks as well. I was also wondering about おてもと.
I don’t think there is any special reason for it. The 箸 is the right reading for Chopsticks. On Jisho, they say that おてもと is often written on the paper wrapper which means that they only use that name on papers. It might be just a convention thing.
Another reason might be that young people don’t know the reading of the Kanji so they give them a hiragana one (which is different for some reason) but I doubt it.
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After a quick search, I came up with this.
https://hinative.com/ja/questions/3425679
It seems like that おてもと refers to your own, personal use chopsticks. That is to say, disposable chopsticks are for the individual consumer.
In contrast, 箸 is the general word for chopsticks. These are any chopsticks, while おてもと are a specific, personal-use chopstick.
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Here’s another link adding onto what auster510 said:
Highlights from the link:
It says “おてもと does refer to chopsticks but it is not ‘another word for chopsticks.’ That is, you won’t say おてもとを取ってください nor 新しいおてもとを買ってこようかな.”
おてもと is a polite abbreviation of 手もとに置く箸.
The word came from 懐石料理 (かいせきりょうり）, a type of traditional Japanese cuisine, to distinguish it from the 取り箸 which is the chopstick used to move food from the shared dish to your personal dish.
If you’re interested in reading more about chopsticks, there’s this article that explains in detail about all the different types of chopsticks (with おてもと being the first one!): 意外に知らない「箸の種類」や「選び方」、長持ちさせる「お手入れ方法」とは? | 東京ガス ウチコト
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I knew you guys would come through with some awesome background info 
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