I remember reading it. My mum was in America for 3 weeks last year. I don't remember her commenting on any eating habits .... just how very big the portions were.

"British" now, is it?!
Since I learned it in Europe, it's always the 'European method' to me.

Just give me a large (soup) spoon and I can handle just about anything...if the meat is too tough to cut with the side of the spoon, it probably needed to picked up and gnawed off the bone anyway!

Oh ffs, did you take a poll on your generalization? We don't all eat at Denny's for heaven's sake!

And there, I think, lies the problem

But what are you going to lie on the plate when you're done?

My mum taught me that to push the plate out of the way was rude too

I agree this is just a difference of opinion / matter of taste. My visiting family complain about this, but I explain it's just the way it is done here - it is not done to rush people along. I personally prefer to see my plate removed once done, and my partner does not feel intimidated at all.

My personal gripe is when they try to clean the crumbs/etc off the table, expecting you to 'stand back' as it were ... at the end of a meal, I don't care if there are a few crumbs, I want to relax. Pausing the mood while some guy dutifully 'scrapes' the table is just an imposition, in my mind. But some folks appreciate it.

That's how we did it in Indonesia...

In addition to working as a server in a nice restaurant back during my college days (during the Civil War), I also have occasionally had meals with Americans here in America.

And no, the cutlery "signal" is not common here at all. When I was doing the job, I was forever having to ask customers if they were finished because I couldn't tell, given that the silverware was all over the place and that most customers didn't eat everything that was served to them.

The standard for table manners in the US is certainly less stringent that you'll find in Europe. You can decide for yourself whether that's better, worse, or just different, but whatever it is, it is less formalized.

That might depend on where in Europe as Italians leave their knife and fork willy nilly on the plate and don't place them neatly together at 20 past or 25 past 6 clockwise

OMG, this just tells me that too many people put too much formality into eating. I mean really? Somewhere people actually measure the exact placement they leave their silverware on their plate? That just seems way OTT to me. I guess I'm just not a formal person, and feel that too many people in this world take things way too seriously. Just leave your cutlery on the plate when you're done - what's so complicated about that?

Besides, I doubt many servers here would even know the 'universal signal' you all are speaking of.

Makes eating spag bol a bit of a chore

What bugs me most is no-one here understands the word 'cutlery', they all say 'silverware'. Even the take-out places that give you plastic, call it bloody 'silverware':curse:

Or flatware. I mean, what the duck's that about? :curse:

Errmmm While I accept that everyone has their own style I love eating out and dining out. I think there should be some ceremony over food, even when your at home.
I love food and someone has gone to a great deal of effort to present it to me.

How you hold your knife and fork, even how you lay out your cutlery is slightly different to in other countries, most notably the US, I disagree that its personal preference, I suspect it's parental preference.

I have a friend who stabs her food to her plate to cut it. It's like a toddler eating badly, but that's OK in this country. My husband, does not stab the food like that is also horrified, and has been practicing squishing peas on to his fork like I do...