Poll: knife and fork handling.
- Thread starter Schizo
- Start date
It has everything to do with it. Generally breaking the rules of etiquette is considered bad manners. The rules state that the knife goes in the right hand and the fork goes in the left. It's not like it's abitrary or a new thing, there are written rules of how to behave in civilised company that have been around for decades if not centuries. If you want to come across as refined and not an oaf then you follow these rules.
The amount of stick I have got from my mum about this is insane. I always use fork in right and knife in left. I can't stand all that "brought up properly" stuff I mean who cares if I do it the "wrong" way? It's like I'm inferior in every way if I eat like that. There's poverty and death in the world and my mum is in tears about my fork/knife handling technique 
The amount of stick I have got from my mum about this is insane. I always use fork in right and knife in left. I can't stand all that "brought up properly" stuff I mean who cares if I do it the "wrong" way? It's like I'm inferior in every way if I eat like that. There's poverty and death in the world and my mum is in tears about my fork/knife handling technique
u mad you look like an inbred when you eat?
I know it's weird... I always got told as a kid and I'm glad I did because it makes me cringe how some people hold a knife and fork...
it's not even as though they do it because it's easier or more comfortable... you can see em struggling
Well I always find I use cutlery in a mirror image of someone who uses it the "right" way. I never struggle to eat haha
My mum tells me I'll go to a restaurant, dig in and promptly get kicked out for using the knife and fork in the wrong hands. Well at least get weird looks...
My mum tells me I'll go to a restaurant, dig in and promptly get kicked out for using the knife and fork in the wrong hands. Well at least get weird looks...
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Like a lot on here if I'm eating something with the fork on it's own, such as a pasta, then I use the fork in my right hand......but if I'm using a knife and fork then the fork is in my left and the knife in my right.
The proper way.....I lol'd
The proper way.....I lol'd
This. And I almost never use a spoon unless I'm eating cereal, they re just annoying...
I'm left handed and use a fork in left hand and knife in right hand. If i use a fork or spoon on it's own then i use my left hand.
Funny thing is i'm totally right handed when it comes to keyboard and mouse. I cannot use a mouse in my left hand, i swear it's impossible.
My grandfather was the only other left handed person in my family and he was forced to write/eat right handed when he was growing up.
Funny thing is i'm totally right handed when it comes to keyboard and mouse. I cannot use a mouse in my left hand, i swear it's impossible.
My grandfather was the only other left handed person in my family and he was forced to write/eat right handed when he was growing up.
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Basically it make sense to use the knife in whichever of your hands is the most dominant or dexterous.
I'm left handed but use my knife right handed & more often than not I end up pulling food apart instead of cutting & for that reason I'm out
I'm left handed but use my knife right handed & more often than not I end up pulling food apart instead of cutting & for that reason I'm out
That just seems bizarre to me, that people have to conform to some written rules on how to eat using cutlery.
Meh, I'll just continue to eat like and oaf I guess
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Soldato
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For all you people who think its normal to use your fork in your right hand and knife in the left, do you never wonder why every restaurant you go to seems to set the table wrong?
I agree that it makes more sense to use the knife in your dominant hand if you're using both a knife and a fork. The results for left-handed people are interesting for that reason - at the moment, the number of left-handed people who use their dominant hand for their fork is 11 times as high as the number who use it for their knife. That's very different to the proportion for right-handed people. Perhaps that's due to many left-handed people conforming to the norm for their country even if it's less convenient for them.
I think the custom might go back some way in the past, when an eating knife was more of a knife than the blunt knife-shaped object commonly used for eating today.
Soldato
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Agreed. The knife is supposed to be held by your dominant hand.
But I do the reverse. I am right handed and use the fork in the right and knife in the left. I always put this down to sitting opposite my mum watching her so it is reversed.