As I tell my son, if your elbows are not on the table, your plate or glass is less likely to end up on the floor.
That is rude on your co-diners’ part. The next course should always wait until every one is finished. On the other hand, you should also not deliberately eat at a snails pace and force everyone to wait for you. I’m not saying you do this. I’m a slow eater, too. One way I compensate is to take smaller portions, and then take seconds if there is time. (If not, there’s always room for pie.)
A lot of table manners are rooted in practical reasons. Scooping soup away from you makes sense (It is counter-intuitive), because you wouldn’t want to accidentally dip your sleeve in you soup.
Holding the fork in the left while cutting and also for eating is the “European style”, and switching the fork between is “American style.” I don’t know the history. I am American but eat “European style” for no particular reason other than switching hands seems silly to me. But Miss Manners has written about this saying that Americans who eat European style are equivalent to someone using a phony foreign accent. :rolleyes:
It’s not that it’s so horrible to allow an elbow to touch the table, but it’s slovenly to eat while leaning over your place supported by your elbows. It makes you look like a dog over his food bowl. I think the “no elbows” rule is a simplified objective guideline rather than judging how far over you are leaning.
You haven’t met me Not sure what you do, but it’s not especially appetizing to look next to me to see someone’s buttered bread with their tooth marks on it sitting on their bread plate.
Not sure what you do, but it’s not especially appetizing to look next to me to see someone’s buttered bread with their tooth marks on it sitting on their bread plate.