Bloody etiquette coaches! AIBU?

The best book (unofficially) on etiquette has to be "Class" by the late Jilly Cooper.

There is also a 'code' that you learn at finishing school.
(Don't worry, I saw this in a TV show.)
And it has to do with the angle at which you place your cutlery on the plate, to show if you have finished eating, so that the servants know if they should clear away your plate or not.

I beleive silver cutlery is tainted by the taste of fish therefore fish cutlery was used.

believe - beyond the pale.

Different metal?

kittylester

I beleive silver cutlery is tainted by the taste of fish therefore fish cutlery was used.

And, of course, if one is using one's silver cutlery, do get the maid to wash it all in hot soapy water, then rinse and dry with a linen cloth after the butler has polished it to remove the tarnish.
One would hate for one's guests to find any residual silver polish on their forks.

Even our youngest GC know all joints on the table will be carved

Our variation is "All joints on the table should be cooked" GrannyGravy13 😀

Heaven forfend 😁

Maremia

There is also a 'code' that you learn at finishing school.
(Don't worry, I saw this in a TV show.)
And it has to do with the angle at which you place your cutlery on the plate, to show if you have finished eating, so that the servants know if they should clear away your plate or not.

Which angle, Maremia?

I thought placing the knife and fork together straight in front of you denoted you had finished.

Have I been displaying bad manners all these years?
Heaven forbid! 😲

I put my silver cutlery in the dishwasher.

We have a cutlery tray at the top not a basket on the bottom shelf.

It comes out fine, just a quick rub with a tea towel.

The language of cutlery, who would thought it could say so much 🤷‍♀️

I seem to remember the task of "table laying" in Brownies towards some badge or other, I quite enjoyed that one, better than sock darning which got my mother to do thanks mum! who darns socks these days anyway chuck 'em out buy some nice new ones.

I was taught that cutlery atv25 minutes past signified kne had finished.

It was always my job to polish (then wash and polish dry) the cutlery - including the fish knives and forks which had ornate patterns on them. Thank heavens for stainless steel.

Gawd, my phone is playing silly whatsits.

I was taught that cutlery at 25 minutes past on the plate signified that one had finished.

kittylester

Gawd, my phone is playing silly whatsits.

I was taught that cutlery at 25 minutes past on the plate signified that one had finished.

Yep, still do that automatically

I use the cutlery that best facilitates my ability to eat in aclean and tidy manner.

There is nothing worse than watching people who cannot eat with chopsticks trying to eat a meal in a Chinese restaurant. At times it looks as if they are mocking the cuisine and those who present it. Simpler to ask quietly for a fork and spoon and eat cleanly and appreciatively using them.

Even in my own home it bothers me not what cutlery people use or how they use it. As long as they eat cleanly, and, as you say do not eat with their mouths open or talk with their mouthes full.

Fish eaters were a Victorian middle class affectation.

They were deemed common by the aristocracy and banned from Royal palaces and households.

Son and girlfriend staying with us for a few days, ordered a Waggamama meal that came without chopsticks, ruined the meal for them allegedly . I couldn't help saying "that's a rubbish first world dilemma if you don't mind me saying" at least he responded with "you"re right it is!" I'm not very adept with chopsticks

Maremia

There is also a 'code' that you learn at finishing school.
(Don't worry, I saw this in a TV show.)
And it has to do with the angle at which you place your cutlery on the plate, to show if you have finished eating, so that the servants know if they should clear away your plate or not.

..and I don't know where I learnt that one. Cutlery together = I've finished/please take my plate. Cutlery at angles to each other = I'm still eating.

Also crumpled napkin on table = I've finished.

Never did learn if there's one for "Keep your flippin' hands OFF my food - you can't have it". You can tell I live in West Wales now, ie large hippy contingent and I had to learn to speak fast or wave a fork around with prongs near the relevant hand for one particular guy who would often be in "eating lunch out" group - as he would reach for the food/any amount of food he could from anyone's plate (ie in preference to spending any of his own money to get some more for himself). That's a question that wasn't covered anywhere.....(ie how to deal with grabby human gannets trying to help themselves to your food).

Yep to foreign ideas on what's what re eating - but I'm blowed if I can use chopsticks and I'm not going to learn now 50 years after I stopped eating Chinese food. Also never learnt how to manage spaghetti neatly - so I just don't eat it whenever anyone else is around.

The one foreign thing I did pick up (from my first few boyfriends being Arabic and from an Arabic friend I had) was "I think shame on myself if a guest goes away from my table still hungry"....so I cater....and then I cater some more. Cue for one meal I'd asked two friends round for years back - they took one look at how much food I'd put on the table and one of them promptly asked me if she could invite a couple more people around - as I'd done so much. Cue for 5 of us eating that day.

An elderly resident at the care home where I volunteer whispered to me about a new resident, 'She's not PLU of course!' Luckily, I, obviously, am

There is nothing worse than watching people who cannot eat with chopsticks trying to eat a meal in a Chinese restaurant. At times it looks as if they are mocking the cuisine and those who present it. Simpler to ask quietly for a fork and spoon and eat cleanly and appreciatively using them

I never mastered the art of using chopsticks although I have been shown many times. DH is adept and can't understand it. I do try for a few morsels then resort to fork and possibly spoon.

I was clearing tables in a cafe one day and a lady called me back because I hadn't taken her plate. I apologised and explained that I had thought she was still eating as she hadn't put her cutlery together. "Well!" she said "I've never heard that one before"!

When I used the word ‘ joint’ my grandson was shocked as he thought I was talking about drugs!

Cabbie21

When I used the word ‘ joint’ my grandson was shocked as he thought I was talking about drugs!

😲 😂😂😂