# Help Defend (or not) My Stupid Prejudice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799 "2002-12-19T14:21:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/1 "2002-12-19T14:21:09Z")
I say some prejudices are **a good thing**. Take lions, for instance. I don’t know any lions, certainly not personally. I could probably count the number of lions I’ve ever met on the fingers of one hand. My exposure to lions is almost entirely through the medium of TV, films, books etc. Yet I’m completely prejudiced against them. I have the expectation that they may wish to do me harm. I have never experienced a lion doing anyone harm, only in TV, films, books etc, but we all know just how they stereo-type and sensationalise stuff. But I still believe that in the event of me meeting a lion this prejudice may well save my life. So I say prejudice can be a good thing. What I can’t, however, is justify this one particular **stupid prejudice**. It’s a prejudice that I hold against certain people, some of whom I know personally and I know they are **good people**. But I just can’t shake it. It’s a prejudice that bugs me and makes me think less of a person. But it’s completely unjustifiable. I can’t defend it for any reason. So I wish you to **help me defend my stupid prejudice**. Somebody somewhere must be able to come up with a plausible sounding excuse for it. Either that or give me a stern talking to that’ll shock me out of this nonsense. And here it is: Holding your knife like a pen when you’re eating. There are two people in the world; those who hold their knife **the proper way** like they would grip a walking stick or just about anything else, and those who grip it like a pen. Can anyone think of any justifiable foundation for this prejudice? Or a good argument why I should abandon it? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/2 "2002-12-19T14:30:04Z")
Well, at least you’ve got the hat. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/3 "2002-12-19T14:33:21Z")
Perhaps you should show them what for and use a pen to cut your steak. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/4 "2002-12-19T14:34:04Z")
The pen-hold is mightier than the sword-hold. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/5 "2002-12-19T15:37:37Z")
Why on earth would someone hold their knife like a pen? Unless, of course, they were about to cut a check… ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/6 "2002-12-19T16:17:24Z")
Embrace your prejudice. 🙂 Death to those dirty damn pen holders! ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/7 "2002-12-19T18:39:04Z")
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww… you associate with people who hold their knives like pens? I wouldn’t have such people anywhere near me! \ ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/8 "2002-12-19T18:48:03Z")
Have you considered that maybe they’ve got some orthopedic problem that prevents them from holding the knife properly? Perhaps you’re prejudiced against them because of a physical disability that they’ve learned to cope with, in which case you could be in Big Trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/9 "2002-12-19T19:19:13Z")
These people were born pen-holders into a society that will fear and hate them just because they’re different from what you’d consider “normal”. Just because your so-called ‘common sense’ dictates they should hold thier knife like you do doesn’t make it so. Pen-holders are people just like everybody else, who just happened to be born a little differently. Maybe you should think about that before you judge them. ---
**Author:** ![lothos2002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@lothos2002](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lothos2002)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-defend-or-not-my-stupid-prejudice/143799/10 "2002-12-19T20:17:26Z")
I am insulted by your use of the term “pen-holder” that is OUR word!!! Don’t ever let me hear you use it, ever again! Please use the term “especially gifted knife-holder” The NEERVE of some people!!!