# Slightly unusual eating habits you (or someone you know) has **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2026, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370 "2026-08-17T01:07:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/201 "2026-08-21T02:39:45Z")
I don’t know if it was “standard”, but both i and my husband immediately assumed he was cooling his coffee, and I’m pretty sure we independently have heard of people drinking hot drinks that way for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/202 "2026-08-21T03:55:44Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > My apparent adamance about the knife-fork thing is mostly in jest, but I really do eat how I describe and find it perfectly natural. I honestly cannot imagine constantly switching knife and fork. At the very least, it’s wasted time and effort. 🙄 And I find it perfectly natural to use my dominant hand for whatever the task is, whether it’s cutting or lifting. There is literally _zero_ thought that goes into it, this whole “juggling act” you keep deriding isn’t a thing. You can write out a whole list of bulleted points about how to walk that makes it read like the most confusing and awkward thing ever and yet we all do it without even thinking. Other people do things differently from you. What a concept. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/203 "2026-08-21T04:02:23Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > You can write out a whole list of bulleted points about how to walk that makes it read like the most confusing and awkward thing ever and yet we all do it without even thinking. Not everyone! 😁 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5ptUMe9eqYE/maxresdefault.jpg "Ministry of Silly Walks | Monty Python (Official Sketch)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ptUMe9eqYE) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/204 "2026-08-21T09:09:19Z")
FWIW, my grandparents drank their coffee from the saucer. They weren’t wealthy, but they were genteel. They were born in the 19-oughts. When I was a kid, say early 1960s, an obvious minority of adults I saw did the same. My friend’s parents, people at other tables at a restaurant, etc. Also in those days, coffee was a standard end to dinner. So you got to see lots of people who weren’t just slamming their caffeine before work. Coffee savored from a saucer seemed so … luxurious. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/205 "2026-08-21T11:42:21Z")
And so unlikely to burn your lips! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/206 "2026-08-21T12:39:01Z")
I didn’t mean to suggest that people didn’t do it, only that I doubted that it was some sort of standard behavior among middle-and upper-class people. Contrary to @LSLGuy’s perception, to me it seems a rather low-class thing to do. Saucers are clearly not designed to be drunk from, or else they’d have handles. And the possibility of spilling the beverage onto one’s clothes is greater, which I think would make it less likely that people with expensive clothes would do it as a matter of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/207 "2026-08-21T12:48:38Z")
Do these Saucercoffeedrinkers drink the entire cup in that fashion? Or do they do it only at the beginning (hot) phase of the drinkage? I can’t imagine pouring coffee from a cup into a saucer without a substantial amount of spillage, not to mention spillage while drinking from the saucer. The entire process is difficult for me to grasp. mmm ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/208 "2026-08-21T13:31:00Z")
I asked Claude.ai, which found the following cites supporting my suspicion. (Ask your favorite AI, and you can probably find support for yours!) My prompt was: “Has Miss Manners or any other noted etiquette expert commented on the propriety of drinking coffee from the saucer to cool it. If so, please provide citations and/or links.” It didn’t find anything from the experts in their easily-searched syndicated columns, but gave these four cites: **[World Wide Words](https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa-sau1.html)** On the phrase “Saucered and Blowed” > Q _From Dave Hester_: Any thoughts on the phrase, _saucered and blowed_? This referred to coffee, too hot to drink until it was poured into the saucer for a moment, blown on, and then drunk from the saucer. I’ve heard this phrase all the time in West Texas and New Mexico. > > A The expression is certainly American, turning up at various times in the south and west of the country. I can’t find the exact form you mention earlier than this syndicated page-filler joke: > > Don Herold tells of the woman bus passenger hurrying into a restaurant stop for a quick cup of coffee. It was too hot to handle. So an observing and gallant longhorn next to her shoved his cup over with: “Take mine, mam. It’s been saucered and blowed.” > > The joke was widely repeated in various forms around this date and in the following decades. The implication, of course, was that only hicks from the sticks did such an ill-bred thing. **[The Hearty Soul](https://theheartysoul.com/people-drink-coffee-from-saucer/)** > Saucering continued into the 20th century, although it was become seen as less polite. If you are familiar with _The Little House_ series of books, you might remember an exert from the second installment, Farmer Boy, where Father Wilder [drank tea out of the saucer](https://quintessentialantiquedolls.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/please-come-to-tea-part-1-a-history-of-tea-and-equipage-in-england/) instead of using a cup. > > > _Eliza Jane was more bossy than ever. She said Almanzo’s boots made too much noise. She even told Mother that she was mortified because Father drank tea from his saucer._ > > > _“My land! How else would he cool it?”_ Mother asked. > > > _“It isn’t the style to drink out of saucers any more,”_ Eliza Jane said. _“Nice people drink out of the cup.”_ **[Blind Pig & the Acorn](https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/do-you-saucer-your-coffee/)** Various reader comments on a previous column that mentioned saucering and blowing: > Suzi Phillips said this: > > “I still love JFG and I remember being SHOCKED to discover saucering and blowing were “ill mannered”!” > _Saucered and Blowed_ written by Garland Davis > > I was in third grade where the teacher taught a weekly session on manners. I distinctly remember her saying that no ‘lady or gentleman’ poured their coffee or tea into the saucer. I was actually embarrassed for my family because of this method of drinking coffee. I stopped drinking from the saucer. **[The Food Republic](https://www.foodrepublic.com/1392278/etiquette-rules-dreamy-afternoon-tea/)** > The standard English tea set we know today — teacups with handles and matching saucers – first emerged in England the 1700s. The saucers helped make the cups easier to carry and also helped keep tables neat by catching any drips. Over time, some coffee and tea drinkers, especially in Scandinavia, discovered that pouring hot tea or coffee into their saucers was an efficient way to cool it down to a drinkable temperature. Thus, drinking directly from the saucer became a routine practice in some communities. > > Even British aristocracy took up the practice, albeit for different reasons – porcelain was expensive and hard to come by, so drinking from saucers eliminated the need for cups. But the practice of drinking from saucers has long fallen out of fashion, and is definitely not something you should do at an afternoon tea today. Instead, you should leave your saucer on the table and avoid moving it around. If you’re at a garden tea and carrying your cup and saucer, lift your cup to your mouth to drink, but don’t lift the saucer with it. In short, it’s best to handle your saucer as little as possible. Claude concludes: > 1. The practice was real and once widespread. > 2. It fell out of favor as a class marker, not by edict from a single named authority. > 3. Popular literature captured the shift toward impoliteness directly. > 4. Modern etiquette sources uniformly rule against it without citing a specific expert. Its sources confirm these conclusions, but for all I know there may be other contrary evidence out there. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/209 "2026-08-21T13:31:46Z")
I pour from cup to cup somewhat often. (Usually to cool a hot drink before “packing” it in a thermos for the road, but sometimes to split a drink at a restaurant) And… It depends on the shape of edge of the cup you are pouring from, but in general it’s not too hard. And a saucer is a big target, which would catch a few stray drops. What i wonder if of you continue holding the cup as you drink from the saucer, or if you put it down on the tablecloth with a drop or two of tea on the bottom. Or if you pour so nearly that you don’t even end up with a drop at the edge. I suppose probably the latter. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/210 "2026-08-21T13:35:49Z")
So, it sounds like it was once the “nice” things to do, but customs have changed. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/211 "2026-08-21T13:56:01Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Even British aristocracy took up the practice, albeit for different reasons – porcelain was expensive and hard to come by, so drinking from saucers eliminated the need for cups. I didn’t catch this from my last cite, but it seems very strange. Is this author claiming that the aristocracy poured coffee straight into saucers, and didn’t use cups at all? Because cups were too expensive? That doesn’t ring true to me. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/212 "2026-08-21T14:26:05Z")
Maybe the LLM made that up? I agree that it sounds odd. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/213 "2026-08-21T14:41:59Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I pour from cup to cup somewhat often … It depends on the shape of edge of the cup you are pouring from, but in general it’s not too hard. _(my diaresis above)_ I’m sure you will agree that A LOT of today’s popular coffee ~~cup~~ mug styles are a pain to pour neatly from: [![](https://www.stilllifeceramics.com/cdn/shop/products/IMG_4816_900x.jpg?w=150) ](https://www.stilllifeceramics.com/cdn/shop/products/IMG_4816_900x.jpg?w=150) [![](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-akbkqf8f9b/images/stencil/500x659/products/19413/295320/15-oz-large-el-grande-coffee-mugs-1015-group__64471.1786010478.jpg?h=167) ](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-akbkqf8f9b/images/stencil/500x659/products/19413/295320/15-oz-large-el-grande-coffee-mugs-1015-group__64471.1786010478.jpg?h=167) So much liquid just hugs the outside of the mug and dribbles down away from the cup you’re trying to pour into. You’re forced to tip the mug very quickly, pretty much a sharp abrupt motion, to overcome where the coffee wants to go … but then you splash a bunch of coffee into/out of the other cup (it basically bounces out). Gah! Pouring from a classic tea cup with a fluted rim is much easier and more precise: [![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQOS2nKsEDygJhX5hVrgKHhNu49dEZiAL319GeW4WCnBouCMQ_9FaJkLC4J&s=10) ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQOS2nKsEDygJhX5hVrgKHhNu49dEZiAL319GeW4WCnBouCMQ_9FaJkLC4J&s=10) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/214 "2026-08-21T14:45:08Z")
Here’s one YouTuber’s take on the history of the cup and saucer: > **[Why Is a Saucer Always Under Your Cup? (The True Reason)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFCb7HjMuW0%2F)** > > Cups and saucers seem inseparable—but this pairing has a fascinating story that goes back centuries. From cooling tea in saucers to silent etiquette codes, h... It has a lot of A.I. artwork, which makes me suspicious, but the verbal part is consistent with things I have heard elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/215 "2026-08-21T19:09:13Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I cannot imagine any problem with this arrangement, but maybe it’s because I’m so accustomed to it I’m a USA-an and have managed to switch to the British method. No one has asked me about it but I feel smug anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/216 "2026-08-21T19:35:49Z")
I love eating pizza crust first! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/217 "2026-08-21T19:37:19Z")
No, that wasn’t AI, it was one of the sources, which I assume was not AI-generated. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/218 "2026-08-21T20:26:01Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > I cannot imagine any problem with this arrangement, but maybe it’s because I’m so accustomed to it > > I’m a USA-an and have managed to switch to the British method. No one has asked me about it but I feel smug anyway. ;As befits a Canuck, I reject both the American and the British methods (the latter also called the “continental” method)! The American method seems needlessly clumsy, with an uncanny resemblance to a juggling act, while the British method is fine **except they hold the fork in the wrong hand** (unless the diner is a leftie). The fork being the primary eating utensil, it should be held in the dominant hand. Honestly, if I tried eating with the fork in my left hand, I’d probably stab myself! But I suppose a defense of the British method is that non-dominant hand dexterity can be acquired with practice. I cannot think of a similar defense of the American juggling tradition. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > You can write out a whole list of bulleted points about how to walk that makes it read like the most confusing and awkward thing ever and yet we all do it without even thinking. Except that all the operations involved in walking are all essential for efficient movement, a design achieved by millions of years of evolution. The loss or weakening of any of those capabilities degrades or entirely disables the ability to walk. Performing a juggling act at the dinner table is not something I would regard as “essential”. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Other people do things differently from you. What a concept. You’re talking this altogether too seriously. Although I’m genuinely defending my lifelong custom of holding cutlery, my alleged “criticism” of other customs is mostly in fun! ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/219 "2026-08-21T20:55:11Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Saucers are clearly not designed to be drunk from, or else they’d have handles. And the possibility of spilling the beverage onto one’s clothes is greater, which I think would make it less likely that people with expensive clothes would do it as a matter of course. There’s an apocryphal story about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and the cooling of coffee in a saucer. > [@](#): > > There is a tradition that Jefferson coming home from France, called Washington to account at the breakfast-table for having agreed to a second, and, as Jefferson thought, unnecessary legislative Chamber. > “Why,” asked Washington, “did you just now pour that coffee into your saucer, before drinking?” > “To cool it,” answered Jefferson, “my throat is not made of brass.” > “Even so,” rejoined Washington, “we pour our legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.” The story arose from the 1870s, and was published in Harper’s Magazine in 1884. Point being, at least in the later 1800s, it wasn’t considered strange to refer to aristocrats pouring coffee into a saucer to cool before consuming. [https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/senatorial-saucer](https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/senatorial-saucer) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370/220 "2026-08-21T21:12:37Z")
The ease of switching hands is just that you’re doing everything with your dominant hand, both cutting the meat and eating the food. The inefficiency is irrelevant, as you were supposed to pause between bites to chew. And you also likely spoke to others. You had plenty of time to switch hands or even put the silverware down. My eating habit I guess would be that, when I’m not out and about, I don’t use silverware unless necessary. I’m very likely to eat while moving about, using my hands for foods easily consumed that way. That just practically results in eating things separately, but it doesn’t matter much to me. One food I do use silverware for is cereal (though I may carry it around). Someone mentioned adding peanut butter: I will sometimes add syrup or other sweet things when I’m not using sweet (plant) milk or a sweet cereal. I also will use vanilla flavored (plant) milk sometimes. And, finally, I’m loathe to dirty up dishes or waste paper dishes, so, if I’m cooking for myself, I’m more likely to eat out of the pan. And, if I’m mobile while eating (not always, but commonly) I may go to the pan, eat a bit, then go on and do something else. If not, I’ll may carry the pan with me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-unusual-eating-habits-you-or-someone-you-know-has/1032370.md?page=12)