Re: Knife and fork usage
 

There's a tip thead as well :beer:

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

I don't think I've seen a more vulgar thread than this anywhere else. Anyone with a modicum of class and social nous knows Debrett's Guide provides the rationale to the minutiae of English material-culture table etiquette.

As for eating with your hands? Why not go the full monty and don a monkey suit and dine with the chimps at their daily tea party?

Oafs.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

:eek::lol:

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

pffft, you're about 7 pages too late for that one. And the code word is 'savages'. :)

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Here's a related item. In the US people will typically rest their hand in their lap if it's not using a knife or fork during a meal. That is considered polite.

In Europe I believe I learned that both hands were to be seen at all times. (Presumably because they would be engaged in knife/fork action at all times?? that part was left out.)

So I've since been confused and have rested my wrists on the table when they're not in use. (Not elbows, which are a definite no no.)

Why does it have to be so hard? :o

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

I will say a good friend of mine who is Vietnamese spins her chopsticks during a meal, meaning - if she is picking something up to put on her plate she uses the thick end, then rotates the chopsticks and eats with the narrow end. So basically the part of the chopstick that goes into her mouth never touches the communal food. Makes sense.

I've tried that but when the thick end gets gunky what are you supposed to do? :confused:

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

I believe that's so we don't engage in a mid-dinner wank tbh.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

sod that... I prefer to carve and use a plastic spork whenever possible... no washing up afterwards.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

The infamous Pixie sandwich from 'The Breakfast Club'. Well done. :)

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Well of course. Isn't it a relief to do things the American way now? :cool:

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

And it's only ok to rest your head on the table if you're very, very drunk.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

But if there's food around isn't that a good enough reason to give the poor thing a rest?

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

I do own a spork

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

So hubby says -- I hate plastic :rolleyes: As for me, I use a proper plate and cutlery even out camping -- and why not. I do the washing up anyways ;)

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Showoff!!:p

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

So many frightfully uncouth and non-U practices.

When you have finished eating, using a knife and fork properly, you place them side by side on your plate. Not only does this indicate you have finished, but it is aesthetically pleasing.

Fish knives and forks are a ghastly bourgeois concept. The truly classy eschew such affectations.

Hamburgers are not for the refined dinner table and thus, as with bananas, should be eaten with the hands.

When not engaged in the act of eating, your hands may rest in your lap, or on th edge of the table, but never the elbows.

If you are brought up properly the above practices are second nature.

-

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Exactly :)

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

I was taught that you never put the knife (or fork, obviously) down during a meal - you hold your knife at all times. This 'training' was pretty heavily ingrained and even today, I tend to sit there eating with the knife in my hand when I have little use for it. I was also trained that you never turn the fork so the tines are pointing upwards; you are supposed to 'push' food onto the slope - even mashed potatoes and peas!

It doesn't have to be so hard but you have to be willing to say 'this is a crock of shit' and do your own thing, whichever country you are in. Anyone in any country who pays too much attention to this stuff, quite simply, doesn't have enough to occupy their minds.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Meow : If you are brought up properly the above practices are second nature
Desdemona : Exactly

What you both mean, of course by 'brought up properly' is brought up by parents, just like yours.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Interesting ... my g/f is Asian and a natural chop-stick user, plus we eat out in lots of Asian restaurants in the Bay Area and this is a new one to me. Makes sense, but I've never seen it in action. You bring up a whole 'nother' subject when you talk about communal dishes ... ! We tend to use serving spoons to move food from communal dishes to personal plate.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

One of the benefits and challenges of being born in one culture and living in another culture is that you get to question the 'rules' that you were brought up with. This page outlines the differences between US and UK usage. 'Proper' in one country is not proper in another. So do you stick to what you were brought up with, or do you adapt?

In my opinion, you do what the hell you want. Once you realize it's not a universal rule, you get to pick. The key is not to judge others according to 'your' standards since they are probably behaving exactly how they were 'trained' to. If you are invited to an American home (first meeting with the new in-laws, perhaps) or having an important business dinner, you may want to 'adapt' to the local custom simply because you don't want to draw attention to yourself.

Personally, I'll never get used to the US custom of putting the knife down all the time; conversely, the 'UK' practice of keeping the damn fork pointing downwards at all times is just plain stupid - piling mashed potatoes on the 'back' of the fork is nuts.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

:thumbsup:

Or Anal Retentive just doesn't do justice for some people. :D

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

That's what everyone who uses chopsticks does though.

The goop thing isn't a problem usually, because proper chopsticks are a bit long like...it's only the throw away ones that are stumpy.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

No they just know proper manners.

Fork in left hand, pointed DOWN, knife in right hand being used at all times, no elbows on table, no open mouth chewing. AND NEVER EVER KNIFE IN MOUTH!!

It's not difficult and it is so much more polite.

Putting a knife in your mouth, or shovelling mashed potato is the equivalent of meeting someone new and telling them to "**** off".

Sorry but there is no excuse for bad manners!

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

So if the fork is in the left hand and the knife is in the right - at all times - how the hell are you supposed to scratch your arse or pick your nose?

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Hmm I'm not sure about that. I remember being very impressed by a posh boy's family when I was a kid because they would put the cutlery down and talk during the meal, rather than "eyes down look in" and gobble down all the food.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Not to mention adjusting your balls because you stupidly decided that those tight bluejeans could easily be worn one more day.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

But of course :huh: Every culture appears to have it's own code of etiquette as far as table manners. Different depending but important all the same. And who best to teach it to a child than a parent. Check it out :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_manners

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

How the bloody hell do you drink your wine like that, do I need to get a straw

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

No. You bong it before you start the meal.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

From what I read in other posts, you haven't even arrived here yet ... maybe you should settle down a bit before criticizing local customs :) What is 'proper manners' to you may not be proper manners to a 'local' (of equal social standing) and you may want to take stock before automatically assuming they are exhibiting 'bad manners'.

Speaking with food in your mouth does seem to be pretty universally outlawed ... but struggling to eat 'everything' with an inverted fork is likely to make people think you are suffering a disability ...

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

I think my parents were satisfied with our table manners as long my brother and I weren't slinging food at each other and weren't speaking with our mouths' full. :D

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Of course. Properly.

Read and learn...

-

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

11 pages?:blink:

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

11 pages is nothing. This is the English we are talking about so you should see this as a preamble.

Keep in mind they once went to war over which way up an egg should be opened.

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Are you threatening me?

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

;):)

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

The biggest thing regarding table manners that shocks me still over here is how people at the table start eating as soon as they are served, and I'm still waiting for my food!
My wife likes to cut her entire meal into bitesize portions before she starts to eat it. :eek:
Also I might be the only person who finds it easier to eat with the fork pointing down?

Re: Knife and fork usage
 

Yeah, I will always wait for everyone to have their food before starting to eat. Even at home I'll sit and wait until my wife (or whoever cooked/is serving the food) has sat down and taken her first bite before beginning my own meal.

I can't get used to the table etiquette here - I'm still getting used to being the only one using a knife. This may be just my own experience but the worst thing for me is the bloody noise. I don't know what the difference is, but I sometimes can't eat with all the slurping and smacking going on. Or being looked at like I have two heads because I am waiting to finish my mouthful of food before answering a question.

I hate sounding like an arse, but certain things get to me and that is one of them unfortunately. Being one who likes to fade into the background, I make it a point to be as quiet as possible when I eat so no-one notices me. Honestly sometimes I think I was just not made to be around others :(

This is not a country that is friendly to introverts, that is for sure. But even for all that, I still enjoy being here :eek: