> the knife is a secondary tool It is secondary overall, but during the act of cutting itself it is the primary tool — the fork merely holds the food in place.

> the knife is a secondary tool It is secondary overall, but during the act of cutting itself it is the primary tool — the fork merely holds the food in place. Thus the differing "European" and American etiquette standards for utensil-holding (maintain fork in left hand vs. switch when cutting). ("European" in quotes because it is not ubiquitous across Europe [1]) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_utensil_etiquette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_utensil_etiquette What is most interesting to me is that we even have these arbitrary standards for social class judgement. When I was in Europe I made myself surprisingly uncomfortable trying to emulate the utensil etiquette of the people I was eating with. It was doubly painful when we ate pizza, which I wanted to pick up, fold in half and eat with my hands.