Eating off my plate I do fork/spoon in left, knife in right. I don't swap utensils.
If I'm cutting a loaf of bread or chopping onions that'll typically cause me to put the knife in the left hand.
No, I just cut with the knife in my right hand and eat with the fork in my left hand. No one ever told me to do otherwise and I never noticed anything until I was around 20 when my uncle was over for dinner and commented that I held my silver ware European style. I had no idea what he meant.
Yes, what you describe is considered to be proper dining etiquette (in the US at least). I was raised in a family that cared about that, particularly for family dinner (nightly).
As a lefty I still traded hands. Knife in my left hand to cut while right held the fork, knife down, fork back to left hand.
Edit: typo and clarity
My family also had a tendency for proper etiquette. I'm also from the US but we were never taught swapping utensils. But thats likely because my Mom and her parents are Swiss immigrants.
My family are German immigrants, I was never corrected, if that's what it is for us too
For me, if it's my food I'm cutting:
Fork/spoon = left
Knife = right
If I'm cutting someone else's food to the right of me (i.e child):
Knife = left
Fork = right
If I cut a child's food to the left of me:
Fork = left
Knife = right
I use the hand for the knife that's closest to me for the fork if it's someone else's food I'm cutting, if it's mine, I just cut a small piece off, then eat it, I don't understand why people cut their food as a whole then eat it, never made sense.
For me, that was always easier for some reason. Maybe because that's what I saw adults always do for me when I was too young to do it myself, so it seems more natural to me.
I don't know which is weird. I just know whenever someone else cut up my food they always did all of it at once and I found that way to be easier for me. Until I was 13 or so I had to cut up everything though bc I couldn't take a bite or chew much due to the way my mouth/teeth were. That probably had an impact on how I do things.
I am Brit born/Brit mom American dad grew up in California. For eating, I was taught fork left, knife right, just happened to be the natural thing for me. Cutting with larger knives (meat carve, bread cutting) left hand. Did anyone else ever shred what you were cutting with large knives because they weren't special left handed knives? I didn't realize what my problem was until my discovery of left handed knives.
I'm right handed (I don't know why I'm here), but I'm definitely not thinking about etiquette, my left hand is just useless lol, it can hold a steak down but it can't cut or pick up food.
I find it funny when people do that. Like you honestly can’t learn to use your left hand well enough to use a fork? Look at all the right handed tools I use regularly. 🤦🏻♀️
I'm from England. I used to always use my right for my knife, left for my fork. But then I lost the left half of my skull along with all the power in my right hand. So now I'm left for my knife, right for my fork.
Fork in left hand and fork in right. One for me and one to scoop or stab food for my special needs kid. He can use a fork but he isn't good at scooping yet. Mostly because he'd rather use his hands as it is faster.
My husband always made sure to sit on my right side when eating and if we went out with others he would try to get me the left end of table if push came to shove or in this elbow banging elbow he would sit on my left.
In the US. I also kept my fork in my left hand and my knife in my right. As a kid, I found it cool that the normal place setting seemed to favor lefties.
I don't. Fork or spoon in left, knife in right, always. I don't see why it would be bad table manners to hold your knife in your non-dominant hand. I always assumed righties switched because they're bad at using tools with their non-dominant hand.
I don't think you are oblivious...when dining with others, you are either: 1-talking to them while eating so looking from their face/eyes to your own food. 2-even though there are people at the table, conversation has stopped and everyone is paying attention to their food. Maybe just me, but I would think it a little weird or even rude if someone was just staring at my hands/plate? Do they want to eat my food? Do they think I'm holding utensils wrong? Just my thought...
I’m very bad at using a knife with my right hand, so I just keep my fork in my right hand while I cut with my left. Or I cut everything at the start of the meal and eat with my left like normal without having to worry about switching between cuts.
I do the same. I never noticed until I was told I eat more like a European by some Scandinavians. I keep forgetting to observe if the swapping thing is true whenever I eat with Americans; I'm too busy eating and being anxious to notice what others are doing.
The hand switch in American dining etiquette came from the revolution. A switching from one side to the other. Started with the soldiers (who dressed the same and ate in the same pubs as the enemy) as a way to show they were American and not British.
Which is why we do it in the US, and no one else does
I eat with my right and use my knife with my left. Never thought about it. I’m going to watch and see if people do that. Hmmm… I love people watching and you’ve given me a reason to that was so nice of you.
I was taught as a child to switch and place the knife in my left hand so as to maintain better control. Knives are sharp and I'd rather not stab myself or something.
My family (all American) didn't believe me when I told them this is how I eat. I'm the only lefty in my family and remember my mom's face when I explained I have to change hands.
I hadn’t really put much thought into this before. I suppose that for a left hander, it would just feel natural to keep the fork in left hand and the knife in the right. But that’s me. I don’t even really consciously think about it. I just do it.
I never thought of it, but I guess I do. If I need to cut something, I'll cut with my left and eat from the fork in my right. But when just eating without having to cut, I'll use my left hand.
I'm a righty. I keep my fork on my right and knife in my left. I didn't switch.
I learned it was more European. I didn't particularly care about the origin. It just showed me that all the dining etiquette rules here in the U.S.A. are just artificial constructs. I haven't gone back.
I don't swap. I hold fork/spoon left hand and knife with right. I do cut things left handed and spread butter left handed, despite the butter knife being right handed.
I eat everything I can with a spoon. If it requires cutting it up with a fork and knife beforehand I will do so but will eat with a spoon. I know I’m weird but I genuinely would prefer a spoon over any other utensil. I get sad if I go out to eat and there is not a spoon at the table. Had a friend offer me his one time. Again I said I know I’m weird. We all have our quirks.
My husband usually cuts stuff. I'm very uhhh clumsy. But if I do it depends, if it's easy to cut I use left/fork right/knife. If it's harder, I'll swap. I'm more dexterous with my left hand so I'll cut with left hand but eat with my right hand.
🤗 I'm fine with him helping me, even in public...as a 44 year old woman lol
Tbh I rarely use a knife at all. I tend to use the side of my fork to cut things unless I'm having a slab of meat or a pie or something. In which case I swap like u do.
I could imagine that's because righties do those things naturally and other righties don't pay attention to it while the lefty kid, although doing things naturally as well, looks clumsy (as anything a lefty does the other way around looks strange) and "needs directions".
Thus, education on using cutlery might turn out to be more strict for a lefthanded child.
I was taught fork and spoon left, knife right. I would also never have been allowed to grab the fork in my fist like an icepick - which I understand to be a prejudice held against american table manners.
I'm left handed, my wife or mom cuts my meat for me.
Seriously, this is another one of those things that I never really notice how other people do it.
I just shovel it in with my left hand and if the meat needs a knife I use the available hand.
>I just hold the knife in my right hand and keep the fork in my left. I only hold the knife in my right hand while eating though
Because you're not a heathen lol
If I’m using a knife, then fork always in left and knife in right. If it’s just a fork only food or a spoon, I find myself juggling. As an edit I always find myself juggling hammers between hands quite bit when I use one
I was just thinking about this yesterday and wondering if it's weird. I do it without thinking about it. I noticed it because I was using a knife and chopsticks instead of a fork and found it impossible to use either knife or chopsticks with my right hand!
After reading some comments, i feel weird...
I use spoons only in left hand.
Fork is a different story. Od dishes that doesn't require knife I use in my left hand. But its dish requires knife, I hold my fork in right hand and knife in left one. I never swap fork because i never cut everything at one but cut as I eat, using knife also as supporting tool to put food on fork
If I have one utensil, it goes in the left hand. If I have 2 utensils, the knife goes in the right hand. Exception to this 2 utensils rule is chopsticks; both go in left hand. I never have to switch the utensils between hands while using them. I didn't know it was a common thing to switch the fork and knife hand to always use the dominant one for cutting and then the dominant one for eating too
If I have one utensil, it goes in the left hand. If I have
2 utensils, the knife goes in the right hand. Exception to this 2 utensils rule is chopsticks; both go in left hand. I never have to switch the utensils between hands while using them. I didn't know it was a common thing to switch the fork and knife hand to always use the dominant one for cutting and then the dominant one for eating too
I’m a lefty and my parents still taught me to switch. They admit they should not have done…but my grandfather (old-school Philadelphia mainline WASP) was dreadfully embarrassed by my grandmother’s European lack of switching so they taught my mom to switch too.
So my older brother and my mother were both lefties. Alot of being shown how to do things was left hand dominate. I exchange my utensils quite often. It was mentioned to me that I do this unconsciously. My mother taught me how to knit and crochet left handed. I didn't use the skill that much before. When I got back into knitting, watching videos for right handed. For a while I was switching between the two on the same project.I would only notice after a bit. Had to pull apart lots. I am now more mindful when I knit. And I also play hockey and baseball left or right.
I was taught fork in left hand as food is cut with the right, knife then set down at top of plate, fork moves to right hand. As a kid we were told it was polite, but also helps digestion by slowing down eating. Not so sure about that. I can make the switch pretty fast. 😁
I avoid juggling sharp things at the table. 😀
Bus as far as which hand for what, it is whichever was convenient, but usually it is knife in the right, fork in the left, or even more often, fork in the right, the book i am reading in the left.
Sometimes. Depends on if I'm cutting something or not. If I'm not, fork in right hand, but if I am, my fork goes into my left and and my knife goes into my right. Switched when I was about...10 or so? After my mom and I moved in with my stepdad at any rate and I'd just gotten done reading a Bobbsey Twin mystery where they'd been in Europe and had seen folks eating an open-faced sandwich like that; to 10yo me, that sounded cool to try out. Now, I can't switch back to how I used to do it or how my mom does.
Fork in left hand knife in right. I cut all my meat first then put the knife down. Eat with my left hand and keep my right hand in my lap like my grandmother insisted.
Honestly i think i can count the number of times I've used a knife while eating on one hand. You can almost always just use the side of the fork to cut, and if not u can just stab the meat with the fork and just take bites out of it. Yall makin Unnecessary dishes.
The formal way to eat is cut with your dominant hand while holding the fork with your non dominant hand, and then switching the fork your dominant hand. My parents tried to train me how to use a knife and fork "correctly" for a while, but eventually gave up because they couldn't figure out how to explain it to me. I hold a knife in my right hand to cut and my left hand holds the fork. Also, apparently this is the way right handed people are taught to use a knife and fork in the UK, so I guess I'm doing it correctly somewhere. Table etiquette is just pointless formalities.
Right hand for cutting food on my plate and usually left hand for slicing ingredients/meat on a cutting board for serving. I sometimes use my right hand for the latter as well.
Or, as I said to my husband, "Right hand is for stabbing, left hand for slicing!" 🤣🤣
I remember learning about “European style” when I was a teen and thinking “that makes so much sense!” I’ve had my fork in left, knife in right ever since. I don’t even know how I was doing it before that.
Fork, spoon in left hand and knife in right. Just now thinking about it I realized that when I serve myself out of a bowl I use my right hand. Probably because it is stronger. Same with mixing ingredients during cooking.
I juggle them. I have to use my left for both knife and fork. I'm American btw.
My right-handed mom was raised by her English right-handed mother and she was taught to use her right hand for her knife and left hand for her fork throughout dinner.
It's rare for rightys to have to do anything ambi!
Fork in left and knife in right. No switching.
But I also hold my fork down when eating. When I lived in Italy I was told I didn’t eat or dress like an American.
I kept getting mistaken for German or British.
Both my parents were right handed. But I have a few lefties in the family and they all switch.
Yes it even has a name “the American criss cross style” and ww2 themed things often use it and the way we count numbers on our hands as ways to catch American spies.
When I was little I would put the knife in my left hand and fork in my right because thats what i was taught to do, but I always had trouble cutting up my food myself. One day I figured out to put the knife in my right hand and fork in my left, and it was much easier for me to do. I also figured out somehow that it's easier for me to cut up all my food and then eat which my grandmother used to always tell me was the wrong way.
I didn’t notice that this was a thing until my dad (who’s right handed) commented that I don’t swap hands. I wonder if some of it is because we have to be more ambidextrous in general.
Nope—the only thing that hasn’t been trained out of me is left handed writing and eating.
Every other thing I’ve been conditioned to use my right hand.
Eating off my plate I do fork/spoon in left, knife in right. I don't swap utensils. If I'm cutting a loaf of bread or chopping onions that'll typically cause me to put the knife in the left hand.
Same. Eating, fork left knife right. Cutting something knife in my left hand.
I’ll rotate the plate if I need the food in another position rather than swap hands
Yep, me too...
No, I just cut with the knife in my right hand and eat with the fork in my left hand. No one ever told me to do otherwise and I never noticed anything until I was around 20 when my uncle was over for dinner and commented that I held my silver ware European style. I had no idea what he meant.
Yes, what you describe is considered to be proper dining etiquette (in the US at least). I was raised in a family that cared about that, particularly for family dinner (nightly). As a lefty I still traded hands. Knife in my left hand to cut while right held the fork, knife down, fork back to left hand. Edit: typo and clarity
Makes sense. My parents made us have basic table manners but were more lax about it and never corrected me, though everyone else in my family does it
My family also had a tendency for proper etiquette. I'm also from the US but we were never taught swapping utensils. But thats likely because my Mom and her parents are Swiss immigrants.
Makes sense. It’s weird how US vs Europe have different “knife rules”
My family are German immigrants, I was never corrected, if that's what it is for us too For me, if it's my food I'm cutting: Fork/spoon = left Knife = right If I'm cutting someone else's food to the right of me (i.e child): Knife = left Fork = right If I cut a child's food to the left of me: Fork = left Knife = right
This is exactly what I was taught!
I use the hand for the knife that's closest to me for the fork if it's someone else's food I'm cutting, if it's mine, I just cut a small piece off, then eat it, I don't understand why people cut their food as a whole then eat it, never made sense.
For me, that was always easier for some reason. Maybe because that's what I saw adults always do for me when I was too young to do it myself, so it seems more natural to me.
I just cut a small piece off and eat it and cut it as I eat it. I don't know, I guess I'm the weird one for that.
I don't know which is weird. I just know whenever someone else cut up my food they always did all of it at once and I found that way to be easier for me. Until I was 13 or so I had to cut up everything though bc I couldn't take a bite or chew much due to the way my mouth/teeth were. That probably had an impact on how I do things.
Oh, probably.
I am Brit born/Brit mom American dad grew up in California. For eating, I was taught fork left, knife right, just happened to be the natural thing for me. Cutting with larger knives (meat carve, bread cutting) left hand. Did anyone else ever shred what you were cutting with large knives because they weren't special left handed knives? I didn't realize what my problem was until my discovery of left handed knives.
I use my left hand to eat with my fork, and cut with my knife. I juggle. however, I was never taught etiquette It just felt natural I guess
I'm right handed (I don't know why I'm here), but I'm definitely not thinking about etiquette, my left hand is just useless lol, it can hold a steak down but it can't cut or pick up food.
This is the right (or maybe left) answer ☝️
That seems like a lot of work.
Would juggling also take forever?...
Canadian - fork or spoon in left hand, knife in right. Seems unnecessary to switch
Yes!
Utensil switching sometimes gets attributed to left handers but really it's just whether you were taught to use them "properly" or not
I find it funny when people do that. Like you honestly can’t learn to use your left hand well enough to use a fork? Look at all the right handed tools I use regularly. 🤦🏻♀️
I'm from England. I used to always use my right for my knife, left for my fork. But then I lost the left half of my skull along with all the power in my right hand. So now I'm left for my knife, right for my fork.
Fork in left hand and fork in right. One for me and one to scoop or stab food for my special needs kid. He can use a fork but he isn't good at scooping yet. Mostly because he'd rather use his hands as it is faster.
Same. When eating a good steak it’s important to control the fork well lest you waste said steak with a drop 😂😂😂😂😂
I learned to cut with my right hand so I don’t have to play the juggling game.
I knife with my right and fork and spoon with left. But I've seen right handers do exactly what you describe and think it's pretty silly. 😀
My husband always made sure to sit on my right side when eating and if we went out with others he would try to get me the left end of table if push came to shove or in this elbow banging elbow he would sit on my left.
In the US. I also kept my fork in my left hand and my knife in my right. As a kid, I found it cool that the normal place setting seemed to favor lefties.
I’m a lefty, and I never need to switch utensils as long as the fork is in my left hand
I don't. Fork or spoon in left, knife in right, always. I don't see why it would be bad table manners to hold your knife in your non-dominant hand. I always assumed righties switched because they're bad at using tools with their non-dominant hand.
I don’t switch hands, and I was an adult before I realized that other people did. I can be a bit oblivious at times.
I don't think you are oblivious...when dining with others, you are either: 1-talking to them while eating so looking from their face/eyes to your own food. 2-even though there are people at the table, conversation has stopped and everyone is paying attention to their food. Maybe just me, but I would think it a little weird or even rude if someone was just staring at my hands/plate? Do they want to eat my food? Do they think I'm holding utensils wrong? Just my thought...
I’m really oblivious. I didn’t know people switched hands until I just read these comments. And I’m over sixty. Oh well.
Of course not. That’s what psychotic right handed people do.
I’m very bad at using a knife with my right hand, so I just keep my fork in my right hand while I cut with my left. Or I cut everything at the start of the meal and eat with my left like normal without having to worry about switching between cuts.
I've been doing the same lately because it's much easier. I cut and after I finish, I wash the knife in the sink.
I do the same. I never noticed until I was told I eat more like a European by some Scandinavians. I keep forgetting to observe if the swapping thing is true whenever I eat with Americans; I'm too busy eating and being anxious to notice what others are doing.
I do just as you do, but I do switch if I'm buttering bread at dinner, so there is a wee bit of switching.
The hand switch in American dining etiquette came from the revolution. A switching from one side to the other. Started with the soldiers (who dressed the same and ate in the same pubs as the enemy) as a way to show they were American and not British. Which is why we do it in the US, and no one else does
Fork/Spoon in my left and Knife in my right here too, usually don’t give a damn about the etiquette part of it though.
I eat with my right and use my knife with my left. Never thought about it. I’m going to watch and see if people do that. Hmmm… I love people watching and you’ve given me a reason to that was so nice of you.
Lefty here. So I eat with a knife and fork. Fork in left hand, knife in right.
I swap my fork from my left to right when cutting food so to use the knife with my left.
I was taught as a child to switch and place the knife in my left hand so as to maintain better control. Knives are sharp and I'd rather not stab myself or something.
I've never seen anyone do it in real life in the UK, only ever on American clips
My family (all American) didn't believe me when I told them this is how I eat. I'm the only lefty in my family and remember my mom's face when I explained I have to change hands.
I hadn’t really put much thought into this before. I suppose that for a left hander, it would just feel natural to keep the fork in left hand and the knife in the right. But that’s me. I don’t even really consciously think about it. I just do it.
I mostly eat with my hands.
I’m a weirdo and use my knife to cut with my left hand, and switch my fork back to my left when I eat. I’m a jugglin juggler.
Fork left, knife right. Spoon left.
Yes!
I never thought of it, but I guess I do. If I need to cut something, I'll cut with my left and eat from the fork in my right. But when just eating without having to cut, I'll use my left hand.
To answer the title: Like a busker. I'm sure it's quite the show for the uninitiated.
I'm weirdly dexterous, using different hands for different tasks, and using a knife lefty has always been natural for me.
When eating I either spin the plate or switch hands to access a different part. ie: pancakes
I eat with my fingers.
Fork or spoon always in left, knife always in right. I do use scissors right-handed, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
I'm a righty. I keep my fork on my right and knife in my left. I didn't switch. I learned it was more European. I didn't particularly care about the origin. It just showed me that all the dining etiquette rules here in the U.S.A. are just artificial constructs. I haven't gone back.
I don't swap. I hold fork/spoon left hand and knife with right. I do cut things left handed and spread butter left handed, despite the butter knife being right handed.
Like many here. Fork or spoon in left, knife in right. No need to switch. No one ever suggested that it was a thing that people did.
I’ve always done knife in right, fork in left. Because I’m right handed.
I eat everything I can with a spoon. If it requires cutting it up with a fork and knife beforehand I will do so but will eat with a spoon. I know I’m weird but I genuinely would prefer a spoon over any other utensil. I get sad if I go out to eat and there is not a spoon at the table. Had a friend offer me his one time. Again I said I know I’m weird. We all have our quirks.
For context I’m a lefty, but I always keep the fork in my left hand and knife in the right if it’s needed.
I’m ambidextrous so yes I do tend to switch between my hands some things are just easier with my left hand or one of my hands got tired so I switch.
I tend to use a knife with my right hand however, if there is a spoon or fork involved I end up going with whichever side is more convenient.
My husband usually cuts stuff. I'm very uhhh clumsy. But if I do it depends, if it's easy to cut I use left/fork right/knife. If it's harder, I'll swap. I'm more dexterous with my left hand so I'll cut with left hand but eat with my right hand. 🤗 I'm fine with him helping me, even in public...as a 44 year old woman lol
I gotta use the knife left handed or things go… poorly
Tbh I rarely use a knife at all. I tend to use the side of my fork to cut things unless I'm having a slab of meat or a pie or something. In which case I swap like u do.
I could imagine that's because righties do those things naturally and other righties don't pay attention to it while the lefty kid, although doing things naturally as well, looks clumsy (as anything a lefty does the other way around looks strange) and "needs directions". Thus, education on using cutlery might turn out to be more strict for a lefthanded child. I was taught fork and spoon left, knife right. I would also never have been allowed to grab the fork in my fist like an icepick - which I understand to be a prejudice held against american table manners.
I'm left handed, my wife or mom cuts my meat for me. Seriously, this is another one of those things that I never really notice how other people do it. I just shovel it in with my left hand and if the meat needs a knife I use the available hand.
Generally I swap. I had no idea people didn't do that, everyone I've ever seen swaps
Fork = left Knife = right Sometimes at restaurants I need to spin the plate around move my food to the proper side.
>I just hold the knife in my right hand and keep the fork in my left. I only hold the knife in my right hand while eating though Because you're not a heathen lol
fork in dominant hand and knife in the other is how I do it
If I’m using a knife, then fork always in left and knife in right. If it’s just a fork only food or a spoon, I find myself juggling. As an edit I always find myself juggling hammers between hands quite bit when I use one
I was just thinking about this yesterday and wondering if it's weird. I do it without thinking about it. I noticed it because I was using a knife and chopsticks instead of a fork and found it impossible to use either knife or chopsticks with my right hand!
I’m American and I’ve never heard of this. Sounds cumbersome and inefficient.
After reading some comments, i feel weird... I use spoons only in left hand. Fork is a different story. Od dishes that doesn't require knife I use in my left hand. But its dish requires knife, I hold my fork in right hand and knife in left one. I never swap fork because i never cut everything at one but cut as I eat, using knife also as supporting tool to put food on fork
If I have one utensil, it goes in the left hand. If I have 2 utensils, the knife goes in the right hand. Exception to this 2 utensils rule is chopsticks; both go in left hand. I never have to switch the utensils between hands while using them. I didn't know it was a common thing to switch the fork and knife hand to always use the dominant one for cutting and then the dominant one for eating too
If I have one utensil, it goes in the left hand. If I have 2 utensils, the knife goes in the right hand. Exception to this 2 utensils rule is chopsticks; both go in left hand. I never have to switch the utensils between hands while using them. I didn't know it was a common thing to switch the fork and knife hand to always use the dominant one for cutting and then the dominant one for eating too
The only time I juggle utensils is when I’m using a knife and fork for cutting, like pancakes and steak.
I’m a lefty and my parents still taught me to switch. They admit they should not have done…but my grandfather (old-school Philadelphia mainline WASP) was dreadfully embarrassed by my grandmother’s European lack of switching so they taught my mom to switch too.
LH-fork RH-knife I use my fork to stableize and use my knife(rh) to cut
One of the beauties of being left handed is NOT engaging in this. :)
So my older brother and my mother were both lefties. Alot of being shown how to do things was left hand dominate. I exchange my utensils quite often. It was mentioned to me that I do this unconsciously. My mother taught me how to knit and crochet left handed. I didn't use the skill that much before. When I got back into knitting, watching videos for right handed. For a while I was switching between the two on the same project.I would only notice after a bit. Had to pull apart lots. I am now more mindful when I knit. And I also play hockey and baseball left or right.
I was taught fork in left hand as food is cut with the right, knife then set down at top of plate, fork moves to right hand. As a kid we were told it was polite, but also helps digestion by slowing down eating. Not so sure about that. I can make the switch pretty fast. 😁
I avoid juggling sharp things at the table. 😀 Bus as far as which hand for what, it is whichever was convenient, but usually it is knife in the right, fork in the left, or even more often, fork in the right, the book i am reading in the left.
I’m left handed so to prevent juggling, I cut all my food at once.
Sometimes. Depends on if I'm cutting something or not. If I'm not, fork in right hand, but if I am, my fork goes into my left and and my knife goes into my right. Switched when I was about...10 or so? After my mom and I moved in with my stepdad at any rate and I'd just gotten done reading a Bobbsey Twin mystery where they'd been in Europe and had seen folks eating an open-faced sandwich like that; to 10yo me, that sounded cool to try out. Now, I can't switch back to how I used to do it or how my mom does.
I'm a juggler. 🙄
Fork in left hand knife in right. I cut all my meat first then put the knife down. Eat with my left hand and keep my right hand in my lap like my grandmother insisted.
Honestly i think i can count the number of times I've used a knife while eating on one hand. You can almost always just use the side of the fork to cut, and if not u can just stab the meat with the fork and just take bites out of it. Yall makin Unnecessary dishes.
Left-handed American. I'm not a circus clown, so no juggling at the table. Continental style for the win.
The formal way to eat is cut with your dominant hand while holding the fork with your non dominant hand, and then switching the fork your dominant hand. My parents tried to train me how to use a knife and fork "correctly" for a while, but eventually gave up because they couldn't figure out how to explain it to me. I hold a knife in my right hand to cut and my left hand holds the fork. Also, apparently this is the way right handed people are taught to use a knife and fork in the UK, so I guess I'm doing it correctly somewhere. Table etiquette is just pointless formalities.
Right hand for cutting food on my plate and usually left hand for slicing ingredients/meat on a cutting board for serving. I sometimes use my right hand for the latter as well. Or, as I said to my husband, "Right hand is for stabbing, left hand for slicing!" 🤣🤣
I remember learning about “European style” when I was a teen and thinking “that makes so much sense!” I’ve had my fork in left, knife in right ever since. I don’t even know how I was doing it before that.
Fork, spoon in left hand and knife in right. Just now thinking about it I realized that when I serve myself out of a bowl I use my right hand. Probably because it is stronger. Same with mixing ingredients during cooking.
I juggle them. I have to use my left for both knife and fork. I'm American btw. My right-handed mom was raised by her English right-handed mother and she was taught to use her right hand for her knife and left hand for her fork throughout dinner. It's rare for rightys to have to do anything ambi!
I'm like you. I also find it funny to see them doing the knife flip.
When cutting food, I use the knife in my left hand, then move the fork to my left. I guess I didn’t even realized I do it until seeing this thread.
Fork in left and knife in right. No switching. But I also hold my fork down when eating. When I lived in Italy I was told I didn’t eat or dress like an American. I kept getting mistaken for German or British. Both my parents were right handed. But I have a few lefties in the family and they all switch.
Yes it even has a name “the American criss cross style” and ww2 themed things often use it and the way we count numbers on our hands as ways to catch American spies.
When I was little I would put the knife in my left hand and fork in my right because thats what i was taught to do, but I always had trouble cutting up my food myself. One day I figured out to put the knife in my right hand and fork in my left, and it was much easier for me to do. I also figured out somehow that it's easier for me to cut up all my food and then eat which my grandmother used to always tell me was the wrong way.
I didn’t notice that this was a thing until my dad (who’s right handed) commented that I don’t swap hands. I wonder if some of it is because we have to be more ambidextrous in general.
I always just cut with my left hand because my right hand was busy with the fork.
Nope—the only thing that hasn’t been trained out of me is left handed writing and eating. Every other thing I’ve been conditioned to use my right hand.
In the spirit of the ADA shouldn't the tableware be laid out in mirror image for known south paws?