Table Manners....

[Bob NC]

IIRC, blowing your nose at the table in a public restaurant is actually against the law some places.

It may not be against the law here, but it IS against the Bob.

 

[wvjules]

Bacon is supposed to be eaten with a fork?

 

[usnuzuloose]

I guess if the bacon is extra crispy you can pick it up with your hand.

 

[Sorsha]

Bacon is supposed to be eaten with a fork?

I guess if the bacon is extra crispy you can pick it up with your hand.

Ok great. Now I am craving bacon.

 

[a1tinkfans]

two handed eating makes me nuts. For example....using a fork to shovel food into your face with one hand, while biting on a roll in your other hand.

well in my house, thats italian....well using two hands is, not "shoveling food in" its similar to using a spoon and fork for your spaghetti...

And to me, chewing with your mouth open, texting or talking on a cell, not using a napkin all Irk me...

 

[Kathi OD]

Ok, I haven't called anyone names or accused people of being infantile. Its no sweat off my back if people don't break their bread but that said,and in all fairness, breaking the bread in pieces IS kinda universal. I realize a lot of people might not have learned that , and that fine. But you will find this stated as the proper way to eat rolls in every major etiquette printing and lesson. I promise you, and no judgements here, but if you go to a fine dining establishment or a very formal dinner, that really is how it supposed be done

As far as the a pp asked about toast, I was taught to cut it in half, or triangles and then bit from the half.

No, you haven't called anyone names. My comment was directed only at the poster who did.

I totally get that tearing bread and buttering just a small piece is the proper way. To be honest, I'm grateful to learn something that I didn't know before. It's just the tone of some of those who were already aware of this rule.

Also, I have been trying to figure out why I was not aware of this supposedly basic rule of etiquette. My mother and grandmother were the "Queens of Etiquette." It finally ocurred to me that we rarely ate bread with our dinner! The only time we had bread with dinner was at a holiday, and then it wasn't bread, just small rolls where one pat of butter would suffice anyway. That's probably another major faux pas...but I'll leave that for another thread.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

1) lip smacking

2) at a restaurant, if I'm eating my food and you see me, don't come up to me wanting to shake my hand. I'M EATING! The last thing I want to do is shake your nasty hand. I will acknowledge you, but don't get mad if I don't touch you.

3) I HATE it when someone blows or picks their nose at the table when others are still eating. Go to the bathroom. So gross.

THANK YOU! I hate that! I see it on TV and in real life and I never understood why people did that. I've even seen the chef do it.

 

[cornflake]

OTOH, there's something to be said for blissful ignorance. You don't think about the bread thing because you learned it early on. I don't think about it because prior to this thread, I'd never heard of such a thing

Would you rather be blissfully ignorant or blissfully knowledgeable?

Plenty of people are utterly ignorant of basic rules of grammar too (another thing that, if a person learns early on, that person employs correctly and rarely thinks about but that if someone does not, may prove confounding). They might be perfectly content to be so. However, just like being ignorant of basic rules of dining etiquette, that lack of knowledge can hold a person back. I'd prefer the knowledge.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I find the idea of "tearing" off bits of food to be quite strange.

Frankly, if that's what was considered proper etiquette, I'm glad it's gone out of fashion or forgotten completely.

I don't know where you got the idea either condition exists. Simply because a bunch of people here never heard of it?

 

[kaytieeldr]

As evidenced by this thread I don't believe it is "basic etiguette". Most of us have never even heard of this. My mother was a stickler for table manners, as I am with my 6 year old daughter. I asked her about this and she said that she had never heard of it before. It was not something that either her mother or grandmother taught her or did themselves. They were also "very proper".

All due respect, my parents weren't sticklers for table manners that I recall - yet I've known these two (break/butter/bite; cut a bite at a time) for as long as I can remember. Not to imply we were allowed to act like heathens. I don't know where I learned, but I learned young.

 

[KristaTX]

Okay, this has been driving me bonkers this whole thread. I don't usually correct grammar on the DIS even though many things irritate me. I can usually just ignore these mistakes in one way or another.

But I can't hold this in anymore since a certain phrase keeps being used on this one thread .

With all due respect, it is "With all due respect." It is not just "All due respect."

I promise to break my bread into little bits and butter each piece individually the next time I go out to eat if someone will stop typing "All due respect" without the "With".

 

[fastergoofy]

This is so interesting! (Please note I'm just chatting for the sake of chatting and not trying to correct anyone.) Like many others in this thread, I was raised by members of the Etiquette Police. I know my forks and that fingerbowls are for fingers and what to do with a napkin. The only time I can ever recall having heard of a "bread rule" was when my mother mentioned it as a curious artifact of her childhood. This would have been early 1950s.

If I had to guess, a Modern Mary Poppins would say that the reason the bread rule existed (or continues to exist, according to the debate) was that it simply looks more polite to bring a smaller bite of food to one's face rather than an entire roll. To that, I say pishposh! The first rule of being a lady is to make one's companions feel comfortable. If my dinner guest prefers to daintily hold the roll while taking bites, that is perfectly fine by me. And if they stuff the whole roll in at once, I would simply carry on with the conversation and allow myself some mental preparation in the event that I must perform the Heimlich Maneuver.

 

[jujube]

This is so interesting! (Please note I'm just chatting for the sake of chatting and not trying to correct anyone.) Like many others in this thread, I was raised by members of the Etiquette Police. I know my forks and that fingerbowls are for fingers and what to do with a napkin. The only time I can ever recall having heard of a "bread rule" was when my mother mentioned it as a curious artifact of her childhood. This would have been early 1950s.

If I had to guess, a Modern Mary Poppins would say that the reason the bread rule existed (or continues to exist, according to the debate) was that it simply looks more polite to bring a smaller bite of food to one's face rather than an entire roll. To that, I say pishposh! The first rule of being a lady is to make one's companions feel comfortable. If my dinner guest prefers to daintily hold the roll while taking bites, that is perfectly fine by me. And if they stuff the whole roll in at once, I would simply carry on with the conversation and allow myself some mental preparation in the event that I must perform the Heimlich Maneuver.

LOL, I too was raised by the etiquette police. We were taught to butter the piece of bread by letting it rest on the plate. It is impolite to hold the bread as it is being buttered. Then, after it is buttered, break off a piece at a time to eat it.
We had to chew our food at least 30 times and my mom would stand at the table and count.
Also, pointing out other's etiquette mishaps were more impolite than the actual mishap, except if done by the police .
Further, not only ask to be excused from the table but also ask to be excused from the dining room.

 

[Heidict]

All due respect, my parents weren't sticklers for table manners that I recall - yet I've known these two (break/butter/bite; cut a bite at a time) for as long as I can remember. Not to imply we were allowed to act like heathens. I don't know where I learned, but I learned young.

Maybe it's regional? My family derives from Oklahoma and California. They have never heard of it.

 

[Missy1961]

Maybe it's regional? My family derives from Oklahoma and California. They have never heard of it.

I don't think that's it. I'm from NY, and I've never heard of it. Yet others on this thread that are from NY have. Who knows?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Would you rather be blissfully ignorant or blissfully knowledgeable?

That depends on whether or not that knowledge is of any use to me. I do not care for big globs of unmelted butter, so I fully intend to keep buttering my entire slice of bread (and both halves of my roll) immediately upon receiving them. So, knowing the "bread rule" is of no benefit to me. If anything, now it's something about which to feel self concious, which makes it less than useless knowledge "for me"

OTOH, if you see me walking around trailing 6' of toilet paper out of the top of my pants, I'd appreciate you letting me know before I head out in public. That's something I'd happily correct.

Some knowledge is useful, and some is just knowledge

 

[Gumbo4x4]

LOL, I too was raised by the etiquette police. We were taught to butter the piece of bread by letting it rest on the plate. It is impolite to hold the bread as it is being buttered. Then, after it is buttered, break off a piece at a time to eat it.

You tear off chunks of bread that's already been slathered in butter? Sounds messy At that point, I think I'd just eat it with a knife & fork.

 

[kaytieeldr]

With all due respect, it is "With all due respect." It is not just "All due respect."

This is a conundrum. The "with" is implied, because [we ] grammar sticklers are aware it's improper to either end or begin a sentence with a preposition.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Maybe it's regional? My family derives from Oklahoma and California. They have never heard of it.

I don't know. My family came from Eastern Europe.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That depends on whether or not that knowledge is of any use to me. I do not care for big globs of unmelted butter, so I fully intend to keep buttering my entire slice of bread (and both halves of my roll) immediately upon receiving them.

You're assuming (a) the bread is served warm in a vessel that won't keep it warm and (b) your host isn't providing you butter at spreadable consistency, such as whipped butter, or temperature? Restaurants are generally good about this.