# Are you still doing the "cut'n'switch" while eating? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748 "2015-11-05T19:05:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/21 "2015-11-05T20:20:50Z")
I was reprimanded as a kid for holding my knife after cutting my food. My parents considered it bad manners. It looks clumsy having both hands gripping cutlery during the entire meal. Ham-fisted. YMMV but I taught both my daughters to lay down the knife when its not being used. I’m ambidextrous and alternate hands holding a fork. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/22 "2015-11-05T20:31:17Z")
I was taught to eat in the European style (keep fork in left hand). A [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=729468) on the subject, from 2014. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/23 "2015-11-05T20:37:08Z")
Yes, that’s how I eat. I’m an American so that is likely the cause of that ;). I find it slows down my eating, so is useful (I tend to eat way too quickly, which can cause overeating). ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/24 "2015-11-05T20:41:13Z")
Same as Omar Little and MoonMoon…a no-switch lefty. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/25 "2015-11-05T20:44:01Z")
> [@Doughbag](#): > > Something my American buddy called the "cut’n’switch"came up while we’re having dinner, after/while/during myself making fun of him for his clumsy eating habits. > > For some weird reason he’s only ever using one hand (in his case the right one) while eating and only picks up the knife when he has to cut something, for which he has to switch the fork into the left hand to cut with the right. > Then the knife gets put down and the fork is back in the right hand. > > While everyone else used the fork in the left hand and knife in the right - all the time. > > I’ve only ever seen kids do this,people with some impairment or have some coordination problem. > > While I found [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_utensil_etiquette#American_style), I wanted to ask the dopers input if this is still the normal style of eating habit in the USA? Hell no, never did. • I’m lefthanded • That’s a stupid way of eating. That’s “too stupid to feed yourself” behavior. • How on earth did such a weird behavior get propagated in the first place? Were kindergarten teachers going around providing these odd instructions? Parents? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/26 "2015-11-05T20:49:04Z")
Why would you keep holding the knife when you’re not using it? It seems silly. If you put down the knife, that frees your hand for gesturing with conversation without accidentally menacing your co-diners. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/27 "2015-11-05T20:49:22Z")
This thread provides me with further evidence that right-handed people are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/28 "2015-11-05T20:50:59Z")
The American way seems barbaric to the rest of the civilized world: just saying. There’s no reason for it and it certainly comes across as very bad table manners, especially the closed-fisted stabbing of previously cut meat with the fork protruding from the pinky side of the right fist. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/29 "2015-11-05T21:16:44Z")
If I’m cutting a roast or carving a bird, the knife is in my right hand, but if I’m eating at the table, I cut my meat with my left hand, and use the fork with my right. No switching. That’s just weird. I’ve never seen anybody do it, but apparently it’s a thing. Why is this called the “American” way? I’ve never seen anyone do it, I’ve only ever read about people who do. Is this like the “Brits eat eel and kidney pie all day with their gnarled teeth” thing? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/30 "2015-11-05T21:24:40Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > … > Why is this called the “American” way? I’ve never seen anyone do it, I’ve only ever read about people who do. Is this like the “Brits eat eel and kidney pie all day with their gnarled teeth” thing? It’s called “the American way” because no other country (who use knives and forks) eats like that. My parents (from the UK) made sure we all had appropriate table manners as kids, and that included tines down in left hand, napkin on lap, elbows off table, and other proper habits. ---
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/31 "2015-11-05T21:35:17Z")
I’m a right-handed switcher. I’m also a first-generation American. My German-born dad is still alive, I’m pretty sure he’s a switcher. My French-born mother is deceased, but I’m pretty sure she was a switcher, too. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/32 "2015-11-05T21:41:54Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Why would you keep holding the knife when you’re not using it? What is this “not using it” of which you speak? I mean, I don’t use my knife when I’m eating soup, but generally if I’m using a fork, I’m using the knife to move bits of food _onto_ the fork. Knives: they’re not just for cutting things ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/33 "2015-11-05T21:47:59Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > I myself switch and I have never seen any American who did not. I’m amazed at the Americans in here who say they don’t switch. I’ve lived in California, Illinois, and now Texas. All I see are switchers. Next time I have a chance to observe I’ll see if they are all around me and I just never noticed, or not. I promise you I don’t switch and find it a little irritating when I notice other people doing it because it is a stupid and useless custom. I have two hands for a reason. Very few people have ever commented on it and, we they have, they just noticed it as a semi-rare curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/34 "2015-11-05T21:50:10Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > What is this “not using it” of which you speak? > > I mean, I don’t use my knife when I’m eating soup, but generally if I’m using a fork, I’m using the knife to move bits of food _onto_ the fork. > > Knives: they’re not just for cutting things No, they pretty much are just for cutting things, here. We pick up the bits of food with the fork itself. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/35 "2015-11-05T21:52:35Z")
I am an American but eat in the “European style” when I’m eating, say, a steak. I also go tines-down and occasionally use the knife to smear a bit of potato onto the bite before I eat it. It’s all very posh. 🙂 Honestly though, I can’t imagine switching back and forth. Especially given that you are only “supposed” to cut up one bite at a time. If there’s a steak to be eaten, I’m not messing around with all that switching nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/36 "2015-11-05T21:53:22Z")
What the hell is a cunt switch? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/37 "2015-11-05T21:55:37Z")
I just have my mom do the cutting. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/38 "2015-11-05T22:01:30Z")
It’s interest to seeing this called the “American way” because when I was raised (here in America), we always referred to the most proper manners possible as “for when the Queen comes over.” The idea was always that this isn’t how most people normally eat, but those really formal Europeans will expect you to do it that way. So apparently, we were taught an American custom in the guise of something they do in Europe. Maybe we should only have done it while eating French fries. 🙂 Anyway, I still switch out of habit… however, I do cut more than one bite at a time. Using a steak as an example, I might cut one long strip off the steak, then cut that into three or four bites. Then I can put the knife down for a while before any more cutting is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/39 "2015-11-05T22:03:14Z")
I was taught to switch. After living in Euope for a while, I observed what people did and decided that cutting with my right hand and eating with my left was more efficient and mostly do it that way, but not always. I don’t know why people make a fuss about it. Once when I was in Germany, I saw a guy eat a peach. He speared with his fork in his left hand, then holding it in the air with a knife in his right hand, he daintily peeled it, then put it back down on his plate and cut slices off it and ate them. Me, I pick up the peach in my right hand and suck it down. I suppose the German would consider me gross. Tough! ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748/40 "2015-11-05T22:29:45Z")
FWIW, the “american way” seems to be pretty dominant in Canada as well. At least in my circles, everyone seems to eat like that. I never thought it was strange until now … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-doing-the-cutnswitch-while-eating/736748.md?page=3)