Unofficial Etiquette Pollage

[primroseburrows]

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

Comments

[stormymouse]

switching the knife and fork and putting the knife down ... way too complicated. nobody i know, at least none of my german peeps, do that.

[primroseburrows]

nobody i know, at least none of my german peeps, do that.

My theory, based on what Manners Lady said, seems to be right: It's mostly a US thing (and maybe some of Canada?).

[stormymouse]

now that i think of it, i've never seen any of my canadian peeps do it, either. hmmm. i need to pay attention to that from now on. intriguing.

[primroseburrows]

Maybe Twin Peaks was right--it should be called "North American". The host of the show had never heard of the switching thing. According to Wikipedia he was born in London (England) and raised in Canada. I'm pretty sure he's of Muslim ancestry, but I don't know how much ethnicity affects the whole thing, since I never knew there WAS a whole thing until today.

[cirakaite]

People seriously switch hands? *boggles* That seems . . . inefficient.

[primroseburrows]

It's horribly inefficient. But I guess I got used to it if I never noticed before. *boggles with you*

[mark356]

I fork-switch and put the knife down, but only because I'm so right-handed that I wouldn't be able to eat with my left hand.

[primroseburrows]

I'm a righty, too, which is probably why I've never considered it a cultural thing how people hold their utensils. Apparently it is, though. Who knew? *g*

[euphoricagony]

I actually cut up my entire piece of meat first. I like not to be interrupted by such menial tasks whilst consuming my meal. :D

[primroseburrows]

I've done that, too. If I could edit the poll, I'd list it. darn. What's the general Canadian thing, though? I've never noticed, because I've never even considered there was another way besides how I do it (so much for me being broad-minded).

[trempnvt]

I keep my utensils in the same hand, but to be fair, my fork is always in my right hand (I'm a righty) and my knife is always in my left. Nobody else in my family does it, but I can't imagine eating with a fork and knife any other way.

[primroseburrows]

Hmm. *mimes doing this* That's definitely a new one. You may be unique in the world. :) Do you see a general trend in Israel? There are people there from liek, everwhere, so I'd imagine there would be different ways of doing stuff.

[trempnvt]

There probably would be, but I honestly don't notice this stuff. (In fact, I thought what I did was normal until it was pointed out to me that it's not.)