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I counter with the American swap-the-fork-hand-after-you-cut thing. Diabolical.
by 0x3f 7mo ago
I counter with the American swap-the-fork-hand-after-you-cut thing. Diabolical.
- dgxyz 7mo agoThat’s just mental. Does my head in when I see it.
- mlhpdx 7mo agoAmerican raised by a Brit here, and I was literally just doing this during lunch out. I consider the upside down fork just plain torture.
- kibwen 7mo agoAs an American, I don't think I have ever seen anyone do this.
- jnwatson 7mo agoReally? You don't know any Naval Academy graduates then.
- gavmor 7mo agoReally? You hold the fork with your dominant hand, and cut with your non-dominant hand?
- kibwen 7mo agoYes. For the record, Americans also don't wear their shoes indoors, except for maybe some people in extremely dry climates.
- bigstrat2003 7mo agoPlenty of Americans wear their shoes indoors.
- kibwen 7mo agoSure, and plenty of Britons live in Gibraltar.
- tad_tough_anne 7mo agoDon't all younger Americans do this? Cutting food and pushing it onto the fork requires less dexterity than conveying it to one's mouth. I know Boomers who put down their knives after each cut (never using them to push) and swap their fork around before using it tines-down, and I think it's more comically affected than the tea–pinky thing.
- 0x3f 7mo agoYou're not supposed to use the fork like a shovel, is the thing. The tines are to skewer the food, which is why tines-down makes sense. Otherwise, why not a spoon? Also, the at-distance interaction between two tools requires much more dexterity than making your hand meet your mouth. The latter you should be able to do with your eyes closed.
- manarth 7mo agoIf I were eating a stereotypical British meal – say: meat, potatoes, and peas – I would use the fork as a "shovel" for the peas: guide the peas onto the fork with a knife, then raise and eat from the fork. I wouldn't switch from a fork to a spoon to eat the peas. Other vegetables are available. I'm not judging.
- 0x3f 7mo ago> I would use the fork as a "shovel" for the peas Well I don't personally mind, but this would be seen as poor form in the sense of the original article. You're 'supposed' to kind of spear them onto the end of the tines using the knife. Also, with the scoop method, if the peas are hard enough, I would think they're at great risk of rolling around and off the fork. If I were going scoop style, I'd have to mash or at least flatten them a little first to prevent this. No wonder robotics is hard.
- manarth 7mo ago> "No wonder robotics is hard" Imagine the furore when AGI realises humans frown on it for its table-manners! :-D
- gnabgib 7mo agoIt's like you've never met someone who's left handed
- zephen 7mo agoAs another American, I submit you really haven't been paying attention.
- bot403 7mo agoIt's considered polite in American culture.