I cut with either hand and use the fork with either hand. It varies during the meal.
i eat like a european: fork in the left, knife in the right. i don’t switch hands.
Steak knife in the right hand, fork in the left, cut off each piece as I want to eat it.
I used to not switch, but I’m trying to now to help myself eat more slowly.
Apart from BigT’s reason, why would anyone switch hands during a meal? Is this some weird American custom I have yet to encounter after living here 20+ years? 
Knife right, fork left, as standard English custom. If I need to eat slower, a little self-control is better than cutlery-juggling.
two hands, two pieces of cutlery - what’s the issue?
The issue for me is that sometimes neither way feels right.
Sometimes, knife in left and fork in right feels right. Sometimes it’s the other way round. Sometimes neither seems to work. Sometimes they keep changing. Sometimes, I take the fork in one hand, the knife in the other, and cut and eat. Sometimes, I take the fork in one hand, the knife in the other, cut, drop knife, switch hands with the fork, eat, switch fork back, grab knife, cut…
I don’t know how much of it is cross-dominance, but the last time Mom had the bollocks to claim that Middlebro was the only one who’s ever had “laterality issues” (he confuses bdpq when they’re typed, but not handwritten, and also does the cuttlery dance) and that it’s impossible that any of us could be left handed as “there’s nobody left-handed in the family” (just every single one of our 16 cousins on Dad’s side), we threatened with hitting her with a flowerpot if she didn’t stop rewriting history.
Yes, it’s considered proper American etiquette to hold fork in left hand, knife in right, cut off one piece, then put down the knife and take the fork up in the right hand to eat the cut piece. (Obviously, swap hands around if you’re a leftie.) From what I’ve read and IIRC, that was proper British etiquette that came over when the US was colonized, and we never changed to the other method. I think the justification is that fork in one hand, knife in the other, makes it look like you’re just shoveling in food. Similarly, cutting all your meat up at once also suggests the urge to rush through the meal, or is similar to what a parent might do for their kid (or, you’re not capable enough with a knife/manners to handle swapping).
Naturally, many Americans don’t follow etiquette standards.
heh…fork in left, knife in right, cut meat, stab with fork, add a little bit of vege onto BACK of fork, raise slowly to mouth, chew swallow.
If put down cutlery to talk, goes on plate, knife pointing towards middle from about 4 oclock, fork from about 8 oclock.
When satiated, knife and fork placed together on right side of plate, with the business end into middle of plate.
That’s the way its supposed to be done.
Two hands, one piece of meat…what’s the issue?
I rip it straight from the cow and eat it raw, just like God intended.
Nah, who needs hands? You just bend your head down, grab the side of the steak in your teeth, shake ferociously by whipping your head side to side, while making grrrrr noises, until a chunk rips off. Chewing is optional. Swallow.
I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t eat steak, but that’s how I eat my pancakes.
I’ll admit… I’m a switcher. My parents drilled this into my brain when I was little. I don’t even realize I’m doing it, and I know it would be easier not to, but that is the way my brain has been trained.
Knife in the right hand, fork in the left. I don’t switch.
It shouldn’t bother me, but it makes me grit my teeth to watch people hold their knife and fork in their fists.
[hijack]I was just thinking about this on the way in - does anybody cut all their meat up before they eat it? I don’t - it seems like something you’d do for a little kid, though I’d guess it’s more efficient.[/hijack]
If I were just eating a steak, I’d eat it like a European. But usually steak is served with other things that I can’t eat with the left hand. So I’ll cut off several pieces of the steak, then switch the fork to my right hand.
Your hijack makes me grit MY teeth. It IS childish, and it also makes your steak cool down too fast and leak all of its delicious juices out all over the plate. Not recommended.
Sometimes I will cut 2 or 3 bites at once, just because (like you say) it is more efficient. But I wouldn’t dream of cutting it all up at once.
There was a woman where I used to work who would regularly bring in grilled chicken or steak that needed to be cut. She would hold a plastic knife in one fist and a plastic fork in the other and cut the meat up all at the same time on a styrofoam plate. The sound of the plastic utensils screeching across the styrofoam were like nails on a chalkboard. The sight and sound of her preparing to eat were enough to have me running out of the break room if I saw that she was in there.
Because I’m very right-handed. The utensil that is doing the moving is always in my right hand, never the left. When the knife is cutting something up, it’s in my right hand. When the fork is moving from the plate to my face, it’s in my right hand. I might use my left hand to hold something in place with a fork, but that’s it.
I cut food up in a grid pattern, as my parents taught me to do. I’ll cut off one row, then cut it up into pieces before eating any of the pieces. Repeat until whatever was being cut up is gone.