Cack handed knife and fork usage......
Discussion
On a little holiday at an all inclusive resort. As such, most meals are in a 'buffet restruant'. Or canteen as you would normally describe it.
I noticed a young lady, maybe 22 or so, really struggling either food. And I mean struggling. She could barely control her knife and fork. I thought she might be drunk. But no, she was using her knife in her left hand, and the fork in her right. And she had virtually no control over what was on her plate and how to get it in the mouth.
I remarked on this to the wife, and she pointed out that many people were doing the same. And all struggling. I actually caught myself looking around in amazement at the sheer numbers of people that seemed to be using a knife and fork like it was some kind of alien concept that they had just been introduced to.
It wasn't just the 'youth' either. Many older adults were struggling to properly control their eating utensils and looked like three year olds who hadn't grasped yet how to feed themselves properly.
I've noticed resort is very popular with northerners and Scottish families. So is this a regional thing?
Not being snobby here. These people were struggling to feed themselves at times. I've only noticed one person at work canteen eating like this.
Yes I live in the southeast and have also struggled to understand the conversations around me on the holiday. I nod and smile a lot. Not many Europeans here though, just lots of Brits.
And tattoos, lots of tats. And women attempting make up technique my wife says is 'contouring' but looks like they've been in an accident.
I noticed a young lady, maybe 22 or so, really struggling either food. And I mean struggling. She could barely control her knife and fork. I thought she might be drunk. But no, she was using her knife in her left hand, and the fork in her right. And she had virtually no control over what was on her plate and how to get it in the mouth.
I remarked on this to the wife, and she pointed out that many people were doing the same. And all struggling. I actually caught myself looking around in amazement at the sheer numbers of people that seemed to be using a knife and fork like it was some kind of alien concept that they had just been introduced to.
It wasn't just the 'youth' either. Many older adults were struggling to properly control their eating utensils and looked like three year olds who hadn't grasped yet how to feed themselves properly.
I've noticed resort is very popular with northerners and Scottish families. So is this a regional thing?
Not being snobby here. These people were struggling to feed themselves at times. I've only noticed one person at work canteen eating like this.
Yes I live in the southeast and have also struggled to understand the conversations around me on the holiday. I nod and smile a lot. Not many Europeans here though, just lots of Brits.
And tattoos, lots of tats. And women attempting make up technique my wife says is 'contouring' but looks like they've been in an accident.
My girlfriend and I are from the North West. She and most of her extended family use a knife and fork in the 'wrong hands' if that makes sense. Their table manners are impeccable, but it makes me irrationally angry. None of them struggle to use them properly though.
My mum wouldn't have let that rest when I was growing up, so it seems as though their parents had a laissez-faire approach to table etiquette. Odd that it's apparent in her extended family though.
They aren't chavs and they're really nice, so there's that at least!
My mum wouldn't have let that rest when I was growing up, so it seems as though their parents had a laissez-faire approach to table etiquette. Odd that it's apparent in her extended family though.
They aren't chavs and they're really nice, so there's that at least!
I've noticed that it's becoming more widespread that people don't know how to hold utensils correctly. When I see it on TV it annoys me - it should be part of an actor's training that they're taught this sort of thing. Non-smoking actors have to learn how to hold and inhale, so why don't they learn the basics of table etiquette?
I get cheesed-off when they eat American-style, constantly swapping from knife to fork using one hand, but it's when they hold them like a baby with a huge paw gripping them like they're afraid to let go, that p^sses me completely. Didn't their parents teach them?
Maybe it's modern eating habits - pizza, burgers, picking at a bag of chips. How would they cope in a "proper" restaurant? It's so easy these days for nobodies to become C-list slebs, surely at some point they have to eat in a swish place, and get shown up for the monkeys they are?
I get cheesed-off when they eat American-style, constantly swapping from knife to fork using one hand, but it's when they hold them like a baby with a huge paw gripping them like they're afraid to let go, that p^sses me completely. Didn't their parents teach them?
Maybe it's modern eating habits - pizza, burgers, picking at a bag of chips. How would they cope in a "proper" restaurant? It's so easy these days for nobodies to become C-list slebs, surely at some point they have to eat in a swish place, and get shown up for the monkeys they are?
Chebble said:
My girlfriend and I are from the North West. She and most of her extended family use a knife and fork in the 'wrong hands' if that makes sense. Their table manners are impeccable, but it makes me irrationally angry. None of them struggle to use them properly though.
My mum wouldn't have let that rest when I was growing up, so it seems as though their parents had a laissez-faire approach to table etiquette. Odd that it's apparent in her extended family though.
They aren't chavs and they're really nice, so there's that at least!
Yes I guess most were fairly adept. The young lady I first noticed though, was stabbing the food in an attempt to cut it. My mum wouldn't have let that rest when I was growing up, so it seems as though their parents had a laissez-faire approach to table etiquette. Odd that it's apparent in her extended family though.
They aren't chavs and they're really nice, so there's that at least!
Utterly beautiful though. And no the people don't seem chavvy or anything.
Lots of northerners though, so I guess a regional thing? I've never been 'up north' really.
Unfortunately this is a relatively recent generational thing that's getting more prolific. You can indeed blame the parents. About two or three years ago I made a similar observation on a forum populated mostly by women. I was surprised that the vast majority of responses told me how it didn't matter and it was more important the child was fed and they didn't care about whether or not some snobby person was judging them.
Slovenly people. Shovelling matters.
Slovenly people. Shovelling matters.
MitchT said:
In the North the wages are so low that we can't afford to eat very often, so we get out of practice. 
Response of the week in my book.
According to a documentary on the SOE during WW2, (sorry no film reference immediately available), this was part of the training for Brits going on clandestine operations in Europe. Apparently the hand to hand swapping of utensils was quite common in the UK even then.
It is certainly seen a lot in North America.
Being left handed appears to be quite a disadvantage for a lot of people when they are aware they shouldn't swap hands, but just can't manage a delicately controlled sawing motion with their knife.
When I was living in Germany a few years ago, I remember some friends and colleagues looking on in amazement at how I held my knife and fork "the classic way that only Brits do". They were particularly amazed by the way I held my fork "upside down" so that the prongs were pointing toward the food rather than away from it. It seems that the British method is not at all like the continental method, where the fork itself is held either like a spoon, or held vertically between three fingers. Indeed I've witnessed my Italian colleagues in the UK hold their knives and forks in the most incredible way, usually vertically and held precariously from the end of the handle.
Table etiquette was drummed into me from a very early age, and it amazes me that the rest of the world obviously have their own rules when it comes to the simple task of using cutlery!
Table etiquette was drummed into me from a very early age, and it amazes me that the rest of the world obviously have their own rules when it comes to the simple task of using cutlery!
Another Nor' Wester here who's always been sinister with the knife. It probably came about because of developing predominantly right - handed. My left hand is perfectly OK but using k & f the 'right' way is utterly alien to me.
It might also have been influenced by something else. Here's the challenge. Find me one piece of US cowboy/war/gangster/spy film footage up to 1960 showing the hero holding a fork ( for eating) in the left hand. You may struggle.
Also, my parents were sufficiently enlightened to give me minimal grief about it...Even Gran was made to back off. Brother is 'normal' in the eating irons area.
It might also have been influenced by something else. Here's the challenge. Find me one piece of US cowboy/war/gangster/spy film footage up to 1960 showing the hero holding a fork ( for eating) in the left hand. You may struggle.
Also, my parents were sufficiently enlightened to give me minimal grief about it...Even Gran was made to back off. Brother is 'normal' in the eating irons area.
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