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thread: Calling All Right Handed People

  1. #1
    Registered User

    Dec 2006
    In the Angelic Realm
    1,675

    Question Calling All Right Handed People

    Am I the only weirdo??

    I am right handed but when it comes to using a knife and fork to eat, i hold the fork in my right hand and the knife in my left hand. I always get told off and that i'm a weirdo. I've tried holding the knife with my right and the fork with the left and i feel unco.

    Which hand do you hold the fork with when using a knife and fork to eat??

    Just curious to see if I'm the only weirdo?? Probably am.

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Feb 2008
    Near the Snowies!
    2,975

    If I'm only using a fork then I'll use my right hand to hold it. If I've got knife and fork then I use fork in left hand, knife in right hand. I can't use the fork in my left hand by itself

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Oct 2008
    SA
    1,078

    I'm exactly the same as you ss! Sorry TD!!

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Dec 2005
    In Bankworld with Barbara
    14,222

    'Proper' etiquiette is to hold the knife in the right and the fork in the left according to wiki and is the 'american method'
    The knife is held in the right hand and the fork in the left. Holding food to the plate with the fork tines-down, a single bite-sized piece is cut with the knife. The knife is then placed on the right edge of the plate (with the blade facing inward) and the fork transferred to the right hand, with the left hand falling to the lap. The cut piece is then speared (if not already during the cut) or scooped and eaten using the fork in a tines-up orientation. The fork is held in the right hand or put down on the plate while chewing. The fork is then transferred back into the left hand, the right hand picks up the knife, and the process is repeated as necessary. A left-handed consumer can retain the fork in the stronger hand, although the knife is still released
    The 'european method' is this
    European style
    The European manner is to hold the fork and knife, in the left and right hands respectively, throughout consumption. Once a bite-sized piece of food has been cut, it is conducted straight to the mouth by the left hand. There is no need to put down the knife.
    The hand grasp is also different: outside of North America it is considered better manners not to hold a knife or fork as one would hold a pen, but instead to have the handle running along the palm and extending out to be held by thumb and forefinger. This style is sometimes called 'hidden handle'. This method is also common in Canada and other former parts of the British Empire. In contrast to the American method of using a fork much like a spoon (tines up), in this style of eating the tines must be pointed down.
    The cause of the difference in custom is uncertain. It is believed to have originated because the 17th century American colonists had established themselves before the fork, and any custom of its use, had become widespread in Europe. The implement did not become widespread in Europe (certainly northern Europe) until the 18th century, and was not adopted in the United States until the 19th century. The American use of blunt-ended knives was also a factor.
    I'm left handed and I eat 'right handed' but I was a left handed girl brought up in a right handed world LOL
    Last edited by Trillian; January 29th, 2010 at 09:12 AM.

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Jan 2008
    3,305

    fork in right and knife in left as a child i would swap over to cut food now i dont swap i cut with left hand. i am right handed.

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Add Kazbah on Facebook Follow Kazbah On Twitter

    Sep 2006
    Dandy Ranges ;)
    7,526

    The knife was held in the right hand as traditionally daggers were used at the table to cut the meat, and then to eat with the left hand - leaving the right hand (weapon hand) free to fight

    That's why it's impolite to have the blade of your knife pointing to your neighbour, as they may take offence and fight you. Far better to have the sharp blade pointing inwards, showing no aggression

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Add Cupcake on Facebook

    Nov 2008
    North Haven, NSW
    3,474

    (after walking to the kitchen at work to experiment) I hold the fork in my left hand when cutting as i have more control over the knife in my right, but if im just eating with a fork, like ss_storm i'll hold it in my right

  8. #8
    Registered User

    Jul 2007
    melb
    8,498

    (after walking to the kitchen at work to experiment) I hold the fork in my left hand when cutting as i have more control over the knife in my right, but if im just eating with a fork, like ss_storm i'll hold it in my right
    I do same

  9. #9
    Registered User

    Dec 2007
    Taking a ride on my grdonkey :D
    2,716

    I switch lol. When I'm cutting my food, the knife is in my right hand, then as soon as I'm done cutting I switch cutlery and eat with my fork in my right hand. I'm far too unco to eat with my left hand, it's good for helping me type but that's all lol.
    You're not alone TD, I've always been roused on since I was a kid for eating 'left-handed'!

  10. #10
    Registered User

    Dec 2006
    In the Angelic Realm
    1,675

    so far i am the weirdo then!

    come on there must be somebody else for sure!

  11. #11

    Feb 2008
    With my awesome cherubs
    2,975

    im right handed and have fork in left hand knife in the right (i think lol) my family have always said i did it the wrong way around, now im confused lol

  12. #12
    Registered User
    Add *TripleJ* on Facebook

    Jan 2009
    Diggers Rest VIC
    2,945

    im left handed and eat right handed but i used to eat that way and i was told off as a kid and now thats why i eat right handed

  13. #13
    Registered User

    Sep 2008
    South West Sydney, NSW
    2,454

    TD you are not alone!

    I am predominately right handed... but I hold my knife in my left hand - I always get looked at funny when I pick up utensils and promptly change hands!

    I also crochet left handed and tend to carry heavier things in my left hand though with DD I always carry her on the right hand

    So now you aren't weird (unless I am too )

  14. #14
    Registered User

    Jun 2009
    vic
    2,886

    I am the same as you Turkish Delight, I have the fork in my right hand always and knife in my left.

  15. #15
    Registered User

    Aug 2006
    On the other side of this screen!!!
    11,129

    TD if you buy some Splaydes or Sporks, then you can fork away legitimately with your right hand and never worry about a knife every again

  16. #16
    Registered User

    Jan 2007
    where cosmopolitans and margaritas flow all night
    2,794

    I'm a rightie but I always hold my fork in left hand and knife in right...if I have no knife then I hold the fork in my right hand.

    DH is like you though and I always have to set the table opposite for him. DH thinks that fork in right hand, knife in left is the Australian way and that it's only Americans who eat the other way around...I always then ask him why when eating out it's set with fork on left and knife on right. He hasn't come up with an answer to that.

  17. #17
    Registered User

    Dec 2005
    5,951

    Fork in the left, knife in the right here. Unless I'm eating something like peas, then the fork is in the right. But that's what I learnt at deportment class when I was a teenager, and it's always stuck.

  18. #18
    Registered User
    Add UntoldAngel on Facebook

    Nov 2009
    Between concrete walls
    1,885

    I'm a rightie but can use my knife and fork either way. Generally if it's just a fork i'm using, I'll use my right hand, but if I have a knife it will mainly be knife in left hand fork in right, but it switches depending on the day
    My brother is a rightie but can only eat with his knife in left hand and we also thought it was odd...
    You're not a weirdo, you're unique

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