4 ms·
Sure it's silly. But it'd be sillier to either (a) invent a whole new etiquette system from scratch or (b) descend into thunderdome-level anything-goes anar
by kgo 16y ago
Sure it's silly. But it'd be sillier to either
(a) invent a whole new etiquette system from scratch
or
(b) descend into thunderdome-level anything-goes anarchy
at the dinner table just to prove we're not silly.
Before you know it, people would be cracking open eggs at the big end.
- dkarl 16y agoYou forgot (c) don't panic and abandon your current system as invalid just because it doesn't match somebody else's system. It's false to regard one system as trumping another. We do not regard it as a breach in etiquette when someone eats in the "Continental" way in a setting where the American style prevails. The only reason to be embarrassed about the opposite is our American tendency to assume that European manners are more refined than our own, to the extent that we feel a little guilty when we go straight home after a soccer game without beating anyone up.