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Child Item

Knife and Fork, Which Hand?

the purple tin

Which hand do you hold your fork in when you eat?
There seems to be a divide, the older generations were always taught to use the left hand for their fork, right hand for the knife (table manners, for some reason

).
That seems to have almost died out now and most people go the other way.

Americans used to have a strange way of eating as well where they were constantly switching the fork from one hand to the other, maybe that has gone by the wayside too?

And does it make a difference if you are left of right handed?

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Darc19

Knife/fork/left/right doesn't matter.

Once you eat quietly and keep your mouth shut if there's food in it.

Quantum Erasure

hibble

gipi wrote: »

I'm left handed, but have always used knife in right hand, fork in left. Traditional knives have the blade on the inner side when held in the right hand, they're more awkward to use with the left as the blade is on the outside.

I too am left handed and always use knife and fork as above.

Dessert spoon always set for and 99% of the time used with the left hand.

Play darts right handed????

Never let my wife forget that she threw out my left handed Lancashire peeler when she moved in with me 31 years ago.... haven't peeled a potato since!

Lewis_Benson

Why would anyone need to ask this?

[Deleted User]

Fork left, knife right.

Good table manners are some of the most basic things a parent should be able to teach their children.

If they don’t it helps the rest of us spot the social degenerates and look down on them as sub-human.

I note every time this question comes up here that more and more people think it’s a ridiculous notion. Degeneration in effect.

Meanwhile, many of the same people wonder why they struggle to get on in life or why things are stacked against them from their perspective.

Well, learn good table manners now and stop that gradual slide towards eating your dinner from a trough or a bucket. You’ll do better in life.

Chris_Heilong

You are meant to use your strong hand for cutting.

[Deleted User]

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

You are meant to use your strong hand for cutting.

No, you’re not. You’re supposed to use an appropriate knife and simply coordinate your hand movements. The knife does the cutting. If you need to use your ‘strong hand’ you have some physical impediment or need to stop using a butter knife to eat your dinner with. Or tell cook to stop overdoing the roast.

kowloonkev

Agreed you're not cutting down trees, if taught properly how to use cutlery then from the habit alone it should be no problem cutting a bit of meat with one's weaker hand.

Good manners, just like fine attire can take you a long way whether you think so or not. If you don't want to climb the ladder fine, but at least teach your kids and set an example because they might be more ambitious than you.

SoupMonster

kowloonkev wrote: »

Agreed you're not cutting down trees, if taught properly how to use cutlery then from the habit alone it should be no problem cutting a bit of meat with one's weaker hand.

Good manners, just like fine attire can take you a long way whether you think so or not. If you don't want to climb the ladder fine, but at least teach your kids and set an example because they might be more ambitious than you.

Catherine de Medici would be proud of you. She strongly believed that the use of knife and (the newfangled) fork was what marked out the civilized from the savages. By 1600, no European court was without a large set of forks.

Hamsterchops

the purple tin wrote: »

Which hand do you hold your fork in when you eat?
There seems to be a divide, the older generations were always taught to use the left hand for their fork, right hand for the knife (table manners, for some reason ).
That seems to have almost died out now and most people go the other way.

Americans used to have a strange way of eating as well where they were constantly switching the fork from one hand to the other, maybe that has gone by the wayside too?

And does it make a difference if you are left of right handed?

Same standards apply today as they did thirty years ago (in a dinner setting at the dinner table).

Fork in left hand, knife in right, spoon right too...
Tuck in and eat away, with closed mouth while you're eating.

Ferris_Bueller

JayZeus wrote: »

Fork left, knife right.

Good table manners are some of the most basic things a parent should be able to teach their children.

If they don’t it helps the rest of us spot the social degenerates and look down on them as sub-human.

I note every time this question comes up here that more and more people think it’s a ridiculous notion. Degeneration in effect.

Meanwhile, many of the same people wonder why they struggle to get on in life or why things are stacked against them from their perspective.

Well, learn good table manners now and stop that gradual slide towards eating your dinner from a trough or a bucket. You’ll do better in life.

Can't tell if this is a p**s take or not, but if someone judged someone based on what hand they held their knife or fork I think it says a lot more about them than it does the other person.

Deleted User wrote: »

I was never taught table-etiquette growing up so I've spent most of my life being mostly oblivious to it. I've spent most of my life using the side of my fork in place of a knife. Although if I was eating something that really requires cutting, like a steak, I used a knife to cut it into little pieces and then put it down when I was finished cutting so I could hold my fork again in my right hand. In recent years I've realised that other people were taught certain table manners at a young age and I have tried to implement them when I'm in a situation where I can be negatively judged for not doing so, but it's mostly a big act for me. It's just an aspect of our culture at this moment in time and the rules were different centuries ago and will be different in centuries to come. A way for people to try to demonstrate to themselves and others that they are elevated above others, without there being any actual substance behind it.

I would be fairly identical to that, I would try and follow the 'etiquette' in certain company or if you are somewhere fancy but it is definitely a big act, at home I will use the side of a fork to cut a lot of things! I've never really understood the whole table etiquette and why it exists.

gutenberg

Fork in the left hand, knife in the right hand (I'm right-handed).

If it's a dish that just requires a fork, with no cutting (pasta for example) I'd use the fork in my right hand, as I would a spoon.

CrankyHaus

JayZeus wrote: »

Meanwhile, many of the same people wonder why they struggle to get on in life or why things are stacked against them from their perspective.

Well, learn good table manners now and stop that gradual slide towards eating your dinner from a trough or a bucket. You’ll do better in life.

I was wondering what was holding me back.
Especially after I got passed over for that last promotion.

Now it all makes sense.
Shuold have copped it when Lord Reamsbotham dropped his monocle after he saw me use the wrong spoon in our Private Members Club in Mayfair.

PsychoPete

Fork in the right hand and knife in the left when eating, swap them over for cutting then swap them back for eating

Badly Drunk Boy

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Anyone use a spoon? (Not for soup/dessert/cereal).

We had an Indian guy over in work a while ago. Went down to the canteen and there was potatoes, peas and lamb on. We all grabbed a knife and fork, he got a desert spoon too. While we were all wrestling with getting a couple of peas to balance or stick on the fork, he just looked bewildered at us and shovelled them up with the spoon. He asked us why we didn’t use one, and we didn’t have a good answer.

Yes, I'm a philistine too.

I prefer a tablespoon if I'm having a curry. I was going to jokingly say I only use a ladle but that'd be silly.

I'd never eat peas though. I'm not a sicko...

o1s1n

I had good table manners drilled into me as a kid by my grandmother. Eating with cutlery in the correct hands, using the correct cutlery for the correct food etc.

I wouldn't say I'd 'look down' on someone for using a fork in their right hand or tilting a bowl the wrong way when eating soup, but my brain would still interpret it as bad manners.

Eggs For Dinner

PsychoPete wrote: »

Fork in the right hand and knife in the left when eating, swap them over for cutting then swap them back for eating

User name is apt 😜

[Deleted User]

Dravokivich wrote: »

Yeah, while at my brothers wedding last year, I opted for fish and was provided with an alternative knife, that seems to be specifically for fish, and designed to only be held in the right hand (holding it in the left hand, meant a very blunt unusable edge). It seems etiquette is set in such a way, that it is not just about table manners, the knife is supposed to be in the right hand.

But if I'm to be wrong, I don't get it. The other way around makes no sense to me at all.

It's called a fish knife. It has a blunt edge so it won't cut through any fish bones.

Unless the fish has been cooked so long that its tough, a fish knife should easily cut through the fish.

Homelander

Fork in left if I'm using a knife, if I'm solely using a fork I'll use right hand.

Greyfox

Fork in my right hand always, fork in my left hand feels unnatural and weird, thank god the table manners police are dying out

[Deleted User]

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Can't tell if this is a p**s take or not, but if someone judged someone based on what hand they held their knife or fork I think it says a lot more about them than it does the other person.

You're quite right. It's simple stuff.

To put it plainly, watching an adult who can't use a knife and fork correctly is like watching somebody fail a basic development test for children.

Square block into a round hole etc. Some might think the hole should be square in the first place. The rest of us just see a bit of a dim-wit.

stoneill

The silence of etiquette :
Knife and fork crossed on the plate: I am not finished
Knife and fork together at 12 to 6: I am finished and it was good
Knife and fork together at 3 to 9: I am finished, it was not good.

kowloonkev

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Can't tell if this is a p**s take or not, but if someone judged someone based on what hand they held their knife or fork I think it says a lot more about them than it does the other person.

I would be fairly identical to that, I would try and follow the 'etiquette' in certain company or if you are somewhere fancy but it is definitely a big act, at home I will use the side of a fork to cut a lot of things! I've never really understood the whole table etiquette and why it exists.

The thing is it may not be very noticable on its own if one uses the fork and knife in the wrong hands. That is one small thing. But combined with the other bad habits they will almost certainly have it becomes obvious that they are untrained in how to behave at the dinner table.

Why does table etiquette exist? That's an interesting question, but you may as well ask why does height or weight exist? Dining etiquette would be on a scale or standard. It's just that you are probably in the normal range of table manners and you're complaining about those with higher standards, but forgetting those with lower standards who may also annoy you. For example if you were eating dinner with a work colleague would you think it appropriate if he slurped his drink, licked his plate, or stuck his finger into your soup? Would you enjoy other people's children running around the restaurant screaming their adorable little heads off? What if these people in the underclass of dinner manners were to say to you they never understood table etiquette or why it exists?

boardlady

o1s1n wrote: »

I had good table manners drilled into me as a kid by my grandmother. Eating with cutlery in the correct hands, using the correct cutlery for the correct food etc.

I wouldn't say I'd 'look down' on someone for using a fork in their right hand or tilting a bowl the wrong way when eating soup, but my brain would still interpret it as bad manners.

I'd have to agree too. The manners were so drummed in that I would notice the lack of 'training' when someone else is eating. I'd like to think i'm not so shallow as to judge the person's overall merit based on their eating habits ...

We had a special woman come to our school who used to teach us a variety of social and etiquette 'skills'. Amongst teaching us the proper way to eat at a full table service, she covered BO, make up (for the girls), keeping good fingernails, drink and drugs and sex! She was amazing in fairness - and i'm only 47 so not a hundred years ago either ..

[Deleted User]

boardlady wrote: »

I'd have to agree too. The manners were so drummed in that I would notice the lack of 'training' when someone else is eating. I'd like to think i'm not so shallow as to judge the person's overall merit based on their eating habits ...

We had a special woman come to our school who used to teach us a variety of social and etiquette 'skills'. Amongst teaching us the proper way to eat at a full table service, she covered BO, make up (for the girls), keeping good fingernails, drink and drugs and sex! She was amazing in fairness - and i'm only 47 so not a hundred years ago either ..

It's no different to someone who keeps their fingernails dirty, picks their nose, spits or wouldn't know how to polish their shoes or wears dirty clothes to work. Similarly, people who chew their food open-mouthed, who cough or sneeze unguarded, fail to hold a door open for the person behind them, skip queues or push past people. Every one of these things is a sign of an inadequate education or inability to show consideration for others and to have a minimal level of awareness about how they hold and present themselves to the world.

Shallow? Pffft. Virtue signalling aside, you already judge others on the basis of how you were taught to behave. You might like to think otherwise but that's simply not possible. If you notice it and can't equate some cultural factor to their oftentimes reprehensible conduct, you will absolutely judge them. I do and I make no apologies for it.

It's always amusing how those who think things like table manners are worthless rarely understand that they're not the ones to make that call. Do what you will at home (apparently to the detriment of ones children) but behave like a poorly educated, uncultured dimwit and the people around you may well decide to treat you as a more contemptible specimen than those who know how to use a knife and fork, as an example.

It's often said that it costs nothing to have good manners. I'd say it only costs a little time and effort to pull yourself up out of the slop tray, especially when even YouTube will provide ample opportunity to learn how you should behave at mealtime, as a supposedly intelligent and capable adult.

Giblet

JayZeus wrote: »

You're quite right. It's simple stuff.

To put it plainly, watching an adult who can't use a knife and fork correctly is like watching somebody fail a basic development test for children.

Square block into a round hole etc. Some might think the hole should be square in the first place. The rest of us just see a bit of a dim-wit.

I do better than you in life, and I use a knife in my left hand.

You follow the queen, I follow my own beat. Hence why I do better than you.

Dravokivich

Deleted User wrote: »

It's called a fish knife. It has a blunt edge so it won't cut through any fish bones.

Unless the fish has been cooked so long that its tough, a fish knife should easily cut through the fish.

You should try holding one of these opposite hand so.

3154rkSlDcL._AC_SY400_.jpg

ShatterAlan

Depends on what I'm eating. If cutting is required like for a fryup or sunday roast / xmas dinner then it's fork in left, knife in right all the way.

If it's a meal that requires no or very little cutting like a shepherds pie, curry, pasta bolognese then I'll discard the knife and just use the fork in my right hand.

Spaghetti......fork in right, spoon in left.

Chinese food....chopsticks.

Burger and chips........eat it all with my hands, MAN!

Gwynplaine

Doesnt matter really, whatever you're more comfortable with. But, do not put the knife in your mouth.

The Bishop Basher

o1s1n wrote: »

I had good table manners drilled into me as a kid by my grandmother. Eating with cutlery in the correct hands, using the correct cutlery for the correct food etc.

I wouldn't say I'd 'look down' on someone for using a fork in their right hand or tilting a bowl the wrong way when eating soup, but my brain would still interpret it as bad manners.

Same as this, we were taught good table manners growing up and I’ve passed them on to my own kids because I know it’ll stand to them in the future and anyway, why not.

I personally couldn’t give a rashers how anyone else eats as long as they’re not speaking with their mouth full or spitting all over my food and I’ll often just eat with a fork or whatever when at home but most of us will have been at meals where it does matter to some extent and it quickly becomes apparent when someone hasn’t been taught the basics.