Comments | primroseburrows: Unofficial Etiquette Pollage

primroseburrows

Unofficial Etiquette Pollage

Jun 01, 2009 14:28

After hearing a discussion on the radio about table manners and cultural/national ways of eating, I got curious and decided to ask you guys about it. According to the program, there is more than one way people in Western countries use a knife while eating. I did not know this, which shows just how much I don't know about culture ( Read more... )

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Comments 50

malnpudl June 1 2009, 18:39:51 UTC

US born & raised: I was taught the first option, with the fork-hand-switch maneuver, but in the last, oh, 15 years or so I've mostly switched over to leaving the knife in the right hand and the fork in the left when eating something like steak that requires a lot of cutting up. I was under the impression that the latter was more of a European thing, but I'm not sure where I heard that.

primroseburrows June 1 2009, 18:57:30 UTC

Apparently the switch-fork method is the "American" method and the other is the "Continental". I seriously never knew or noticed.

I do the switch thing (and I really had to think about this, with miming and everything), although I've probably done it the other way for reasons of haste and practicality. The Continental way does seem more efficient (which is what the Manners Lady said in the program piece).

catwalksalone June 1 2009, 18:44:20 UTC

No, but seriously? How fussy is knife-laying/fork-switching? It's amazing people ever finish a meal. What is the point of it? WHAT?

primroseburrows June 1 2009, 18:58:10 UTC

Apparently it's an Americn thing. *whistles nonchalantly*

entropical87 June 1 2009, 18:44:44 UTC

Pretty much everyone I know does option #1, but when I was a kid I decided that kind of eating utensil hand jive was way too inefficient. I started using my left hand for the knife and right for the fork, picking it up and setting it down as need requires with no shifting around. I will never be respectable in high society, but that's how it stands.

effervescent June 1 2009, 18:44:52 UTC

I generally do the first, unless I'm really hungry *g* Then I might do the second one, because it's faster. Most of the time, though? I do the first. It's the way I was taught!

songdogmi June 1 2009, 18:47:56 UTC

I usually do A, sometimes do B, and a lot of times (either way) I think about how strange it is to do all the hand switching, but if I do actually keep the fork in my left hand, I think about how odd that feels to me.

As a result, I eat a lot of potato chips. At least that's what I'll tell the doctor if he wonders why I haven't lost any weight.