Can someone tell me what's the deal with Table Manners? When I was a boy in China my grandfathers would always have these big parties in holidays, and the whole family had around 20 people. The food was great and no one worried about measily "manners". We ate what we liked and did what we want, and no one did gross things such as burping, a certain degree decency is implied.
When I came to the states and joined some family dinners, everyone ate like robots. There's a spoon for soup, a fork for salad, a knife for cutting, a knife for butter, a knife for bread......... give me a fucking break!!! What if I use the fucking soup spoon to eat my beans, what if I just pick up the soup bowl and drink the soup like that, what if i use my right hand to hold the fork!!? people would give me that " this is not how we do it in america look". I know your stupid rules, I just don't want to do them. And I've even read some rules about how you're not supposed to touch your nose or hair? WTF???
Oh and another thing, Why in the world are americans so scared of food that fell on the floor? It could be a perfectly clean floor that has just been cleaned 5 minutes ago so clean it shines, but a cookie fell on the floor, OH NOES!!! The cookie touched the floor!!!! it must have somehow picked up all kinds of scary bacteria and dirt!!! Better throw it away...
NO! It's a perfectly good cookie and it picked up NOTHING from the floor. And you're just WASTING perfectly good food when you throw it away. Oh and newsflash!!! Your HANDS have more germs than the floor most of the time...I've seen this commercial where this guy dropped a candy on the floor and he picked it up and ate it, like it's supposed to be gross or something... so pretentious
I fart and belch when eating. I also pick nose. Though I am not very welcome during dinners.
>>1
I'm not an American, but if the floor was just cleaned five minutes ago (and indeed truly cleaned, and not just half-assedly), then the cookies should be more than fit to consume, especially considering that the normal human hand carries a great deal more bacteria than a floor that just got cleaned. But then again I'm paranoid about touching public handles and similar with my bare hands, and I wash my hands too often. Anyway! Excessive table manners tend to be more common in the more "posh" places, regardless if it's in USA or China or whatever. Excessive rules for behaviors is generally seen as one of the primary things that distinguish humans from animals, highly elaborate table manner included. They serve to make the meal more like a ritual of sophistication. In other words: Mental masturbation over how advanced and sophisticated ("certain"?) humans are.
Pip pip, cheerio and all that. ::adjusts imaginary monocle::
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I really think it depends on the situation. When I am around strangers or women and children or the likes I try to act so as not to distract draw attention or disturb the atmosphere however when i am with my boys chillin yo different story kid and anyone guy that gets offended by my mouth being open chewing on my rib in delight burping after i drank my drank then i draw attention to that man in anger and with the intention of violence for who shall dare take offense when we are lax but a fag but a fag i say but a fag and i do not take kindly to fags
>>4
Join your local anti-smokers activists then, since you mind fags so.
It depends on who you spend your time with.
I'm American, and there's a thing here we call "the five second rule", where people think it's okay to eat something that just fell on the floor, and I don't know anything about all those rules.
But this may be that I'm "lower class".
I think this goes beyond the 5 second rule, I agree with >>3
>>1 has problems following table manners in one culture. Well I have problems with people slurping loudly when drinking a soup based dish or the smacking sound people make when they chew or even leaving some food left on the plate to show gratitude to the cook.
Table manners are set generally by the "upper" class people to show a certain level of civility and the knowledge and ability to conduct certain table manners is used to indicate where the person came from.
It's a cultural and class thing.
I am poor but table manners and at least showing some class are important to me. What is so wrong with acting like a civil and cultured human being? Should I invite someone over to my house for dinner and they acted like >>1 they would never be allowed in my house again.
Maybe they won't want to come in your house again, if you're that anal about it.
yup. Five second rule. Love that thing. I've never really had a problem with table manners, but I myself do get irked when people I eat with have horrible habits. Eg, eating with mouth open while talking and spraying food bits everywhere. But I think that that would irritate just anyone. Oh, and the fags comment wasn't very nice.
I hate people that are anal about the fork and knife bit. I hold the knife in my left hand and the fork in my right. Most of the time. This is because my left arm is stronger (no comments about what I do in private, please) and my right arm is steadier. Easier to cut that way. Having a billion forks at the dinner table is a waste of time and water. The only people that do this are wealthy people who pay illegal immigrants to wash the dishes. You only really need one fork, one spoon, and one knife. Butter knives were invented in medieval times so that nobles wouldn't stab the other nobles at dinner with their normal multipurpose knives (which were checked at the door). A salad knife is just as good at stabbing crisp vegetables as a steak knife. The only other sort of fork you would need might be a crab fork if eating crab.
Now washing your hands, not touching your hair (Hair wax does NOT taste good), not picking your nose (mucus in your nose basically traps all the garbage you breathe in), are all hygiene related common sense rules. Those manners make sense.
But I will have none of this custard fork, seafood knife, popcorn spoon nonsense. It's all just silly pretentious idiocy,
As far as I know, it depends on the family and their costumes. I come from a very very rich family, but we were all very relaxed, and our table manners were basically unexisting, if you felt like eating with your hands, eat with your hands. And I'm from France.
Anyway, I respect people who are bitches about this, going all berserk because i picked up a tomato with my hand after opening a bathroom door HOURS AGO. Damn, you guys, there is a reason for which you clean your hands before eating.
>there is a reason for which you clean your hands before eating.
But everybody doesn't do this. It's more common not to wash your hands before a meal than to do so.
You french guys are really extremists regarding table manners. I've heard that in a formal french dinner a female cannot serve herself wine and that hands must always be in the visible range. It seems preposterous to me.
I'm in Australia at the moment and people here is way too laid back on table manners. Most people don't even wash their hands before eating.
JUST DO IT THE WAY YOU WANT TO DO IT, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF TABLE MANNERS.
>>15
Unless you're kidnapped by a demented serial killer named Sigjaw that wants to teach people a lesson in table manners by getting them to murder or mutilate their fellow dinner guests.
If you eat with your hands though, washing hands is preferable.
I think table manners are pretty much in decline.