American Ilxors: Do you use Kettles to make tea?

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https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and-culture/aussie-twitter-just-found-americans-dont-have-kett/4aa07b84-faed-4d2e-98fe-e5da1264eaad.htm

Poll Results

OptionVotes
I use a kettle to boil water 47
I use an old fashioned stove kettle to boil water like your granny used 29
I am Not American and IM SHOCKED AND STUNNED Americans use the microwave!!! Savages!!!!1111 25
I use a microwave to boil water 13
Other 7
I use a saucepan to boil water 6


Odysseus, Saturday, 11 March 2017 15:54 (eight years ago)

I drink my tea iced, and sweet enough to give you instant diabetes.

Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 11 March 2017 15:57 (eight years ago)

I use a kettle. I have to make sure that the water is exactly 205 degrees when I pour it in the press pot, or else the coffee flavor crystals won't be able to find their new homes in the new order of hot liquid and my entire day will be ruined.

Karl Malone, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:01 (eight years ago)

The 13th Floor Elevators, a band from Austin, Texas, formed as an electric jug band, featuring Tommy Hall as electric jug player. A similar revival began in the UK in the 1960s, possibly as an offshoot of the revival in the United States.[citation needed]

mark s, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:01 (eight years ago)

Oops, this is about tea. I also use the kettle to make water for tea, in the 180 degree range

Karl Malone, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:02 (eight years ago)

Electric kettle. Mostly for coffee.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:06 (eight years ago)

Electric kettle for me.

scattered, smothered, covered, diced and chunked (WilliamC), Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:09 (eight years ago)

I used a kettle on the stovetop for those rare times I'd make tea.

Then I married an Australian, whose mother occasionally visits and prefers to make her coffee with an electric kettle. So now I use that when I need it, but mostly it stays unplugged in the corner for most of the year.

pplains, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:15 (eight years ago)

Actually, when I made hot chocolate this winter, I'd use the Keurig without a cup.

pplains, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:16 (eight years ago)

stovetop kettle tho i've v nearly gotten an electric on a number of occasions

jason waterfalls (gbx), Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:22 (eight years ago)

Once you get the electric you can't go back. The water is 118F...now it's 121F! How did I live before knowing this??

Karl Malone, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:28 (eight years ago)

The electric ones don't seem to be any faster than the stove kettles, which may have more to do with the 120/240 volt difference.

Electric ones don't whistle a song of their people when they're done either.

pplains, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:28 (eight years ago)

Update: it's 139 now

Karl Malone, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:29 (eight years ago)

Dang, mine's not that fancy. It won't even turn itself off when the water boils.

scattered, smothered, covered, diced and chunked (WilliamC), Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:29 (eight years ago)

It's just a cultural difference, but it was weird for me to visit Australian relatives and have them pull out this steampunk contraption to make coffee.

I mean, yeah, I guess they've never heard of Joe DiMaggio either except for that one song.

pplains, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:32 (eight years ago)

A Nice Cup of Tea
By George Orwell
Evening Standard, 12 January 1946.

If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.

Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.

Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

Odysseus, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:20 (eight years ago)

i microwave my water and i am too pretentious to even use teabags half the time (i have a spoon for looseleaf tea)

increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:26 (eight years ago)

i have an electric kettle and it's very fast; like it boils the water in about a minute and a half, as opposed to 10 with my stovetop kettle, which is now on a shelf in the garage

akm, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:28 (eight years ago)

Stove kettle, whistles and everything

El Tomboto, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:31 (eight years ago)

be interesting to compare the orwell with commentaries on japanese tea-making ceremonies -- orwell writing it (knowingly?) as if such didn't exist tho i feel he likely knew they did, via arts & crafts movement ppl

(bernard leach had invited hamada shoji over to st ives on his own return from japan in the 1920s: japanese rituals of teaware making and tea-making were intimately folded into one another -- orwell wasn't very kindly disposed to the arts & crafts movement but also wasn't very distant from it, class-wise and politics-wise)

pity skidmore isn't with us to talk about this :(

mark s, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:32 (eight years ago)

as soon as I read that first sentence I thought how much I'd love to talk about this with Martin.

Odysseus, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:51 (eight years ago)

George Orwell kind of a Nazi when it came to tea, ironically.

well the bitter comes out better on a stolen Switch cartridge (snoball), Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:51 (eight years ago)

Only thing I know about japanese tea-making ceremonies is that they always pour away he 1st cup undrunk.

Odysseus, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:52 (eight years ago)

My mum still does the hot water in the teapot then pour it out despite the fact it's bags she uses not leaves so it defeats the purpose and it wastes water.

Also if making it in a cup she will stir the bag in the cup ARGH.

also they put milk in my dads cup first. That is so wrong. It ends up far too often as too much or too little.

If you have milk with darjeeling you only need a splash. If it's assam or a strong builders tea you need more.

Odysseus, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:55 (eight years ago)

the handy thing for me re tea protocols of all and various stripe is i hate tea so i can ignore everyone one

mark s, Saturday, 11 March 2017 17:59 (eight years ago)

But I bet you still know how to make it for friends and family.

Odysseus, Saturday, 11 March 2017 18:00 (eight years ago)

Milk in the cup first is correct. Prevents cup staining.

Position Position, Saturday, 11 March 2017 18:01 (eight years ago)

But it doesn't prevent it staining

Odysseus, Saturday, 11 March 2017 18:03 (eight years ago)

I am American, I drink tea every morning, and I use a kettle. I drink it with soy milk and I would never pour the milk before the tea.

example (crüt), Saturday, 11 March 2017 18:18 (eight years ago)

how I handle mug staining: I wash them

example (crüt), Saturday, 11 March 2017 18:19 (eight years ago)

Why Only Fascists Wash Their Mugs
George Orwell
Evening Standard, 6 April 1944

mark s, Saturday, 11 March 2017 18:21 (eight years ago)

Bonavita electric kettle. I was also given a Breville automatic tea maker that's pretty awesome but it's still easier to just use the electric kettle.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 11 March 2017 18:55 (eight years ago)

i use a saucepan (for coffee anyway)

even my anglophilic mom who is absolutely obsessed with old english shit has upgraded from stove kettle to electric

qualx, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:00 (eight years ago)

Oops, this is about tea. I also use the kettle to make water for tea, in the 180 degree range

― Karl Malone, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:02 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Let's get one thing straight buck

In a poll about tea, water is steam at 180 degrees

U clear now?

brat_stuntin (darraghmac), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:19 (eight years ago)

American Ilxors: Do you use Kettles to make tea?

wins, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:21 (eight years ago)

Kettle electric.

Teapot stainless steel.

Water poured scalding hot onto bags (one per mug and one for the pot) and then onto the stove top until the bags develop sentient thought and pop out to remind you that the tea is now ready

Three sugars, added to mug with milk in advance.

brat_stuntin (darraghmac), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:23 (eight years ago)

The whistle in the morning is for instant espresso, Cafe Bustelo usually. The whistle in the evening is for tea, any kind of tea.

El Tomboto, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:24 (eight years ago)

i do not make or drink tea

mookieproof, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:24 (eight years ago)

microwave

can't imagine ever buying a kettle

a but (brimstead), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:25 (eight years ago)

didn't we just do this

a but (brimstead), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:27 (eight years ago)

You're thinking of POLL: ILX Puts the Kettle On. As polls go, they are fraternal, not identical, twins.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:32 (eight years ago)

US electrical mains are rated about 100 V lower than those in the UK, which is why US kettles come to a boil slowly enough that we might as well just use granny stovetop kettles (which I do).

Milkwalker's World (Old Lunch), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:35 (eight years ago)

lol @ microwaves

salthigh, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:36 (eight years ago)

American and use a stovetop kettle -- I put the kettle on, go outside and smoke a cigarette, come back in, water is ready for tea

sarahell, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:37 (eight years ago)

i tell the replicator 'tea, earl grey, hot'

mookieproof, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:37 (eight years ago)

xxpost A decent explanation of this phenomenon.

Milkwalker's World (Old Lunch), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:38 (eight years ago)

electric kettle is the way to go

ours is still rocking after like 13 years

the tune was space, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:40 (eight years ago)

American, rare but occasional tea drinker, electric kettle. I intend to brew a cuppa right now, bcz of this thread.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:42 (eight years ago)

personally, I don't see a reason to devote one of the precious few electrical outlets in my kitchen to a kettle, when I have a perfectly serviceable stove and stovetop kettles can be come by at the thrift store for $2. Being able to make tea during an electrical outage was a proud moment in my life.

sarahell, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:51 (eight years ago)

I want one of the fancy electric kettles that will heat water to the right temperature for green tea and opposed to letting it boil and then cool

mh 😏, Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:55 (eight years ago)

Don't forget in "European style" that when cutting your food you must spear it with your fork turned over so that the convex side of the tines is facing up - eg upside down - or be silently judged a disgusting savage

I do this sometimes then feel very pleased with myself for being high class

corman fave dick miller (Matt #2), Monday, 7 July 2025 22:51 (four weeks ago)

is it worse to make up these rules, to repeat them, to believe them or to follow them i wonder

its all coming out the same way lads, and i can translate that into european if you give me a minute

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Monday, 7 July 2025 23:00 (four weeks ago)

the fork turned over thing does lend a pleasing element of leverage to the spearing of one’s roasted haunch ime

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 00:00 (three weeks ago)

I remember reading about the Euro v USA "cut and switch" eating method, in my World Book encyclopedias as a kid! And thinking it was weird. Not that hard to spear a bit of food into ones mouth with the non dominant hand.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 00:02 (three weeks ago)

(and doing so "upside down" as it were, xpost)

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 00:03 (three weeks ago)

...actually I dont think of a fork convex-side-up as "upside down" now I think about it? It isnt a spoon.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 00:03 (three weeks ago)

My favorite method is also the easiest: keep fork in right hand, left hand remains empty; use the side of the fork to cut off bite size pieces of food. If food is too tough to be cut with the side of a fork, eat something else.

o. nate, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 00:16 (three weeks ago)

Splayds to the rescue!

https://teststatic.petersofkensington.com.au/images/ProductImages/293126-Zoom.jpg

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 00:19 (three weeks ago)

John Cleese's inspiration for Fawlty Towers came from staying in a crappy British hotel with Terry Gilliam in the early 70s (during filming of Holy Grail maybe?). When the proprietor saw TG eating he was so incensed he came over to the table and grabbed the cutlery from his hands. "Look! This is how we do it here!"

fetter, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 07:05 (three weeks ago)

o.nate, my husband often does this. he maintains that one of the best things I've bought him is a "Knork", combination knife and fork https://www.millercare.co.uk/products/knork-knife-fork-combination

although I regret enabling this savagery. notwithstanding my complemented table setting

kinder, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 15:25 (three weeks ago)

at least I think that's what he meant when he said etc etc

kinder, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 15:27 (three weeks ago)

The spork is the skort of spam

je ne sequoia (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 16:00 (three weeks ago)

wtf how are these any better than a standard fork? If they are actually sharp, it's not really worth the added hazard of cutting your lips off imho

maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 16:05 (three weeks ago)

well, exactly, but the savage does not listen to reason

kinder, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 16:50 (three weeks ago)

""Do you find it odd that I don't switch my fork when I eat, that I bring it to my mouth with my left hand? Actually, it's not odd at all, it's the European way.""

Lupita Geirhongro (The Yellow Kid), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 16:54 (three weeks ago)

two weeks pass...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jul/21/tea-in-the-microwave-why-gen-z-are-giving-up-on-kettles-to-make-a-brew

A survey of just over 2,000 UK energy bill payers by Uswitch has found that 58% of under-30s have used a microwave to make a cuppa, and one in six say they do it every day.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Wednesday, 23 July 2025 22:33 (one week ago)

My favorite method is also the easiest: keep fork in right hand, left hand remains empty; use the side of the fork to cut off bite size pieces of food. If food is too tough to be cut with the side of a fork, eat something else.

― o. nate, Monday, July 7, 2025 8:16 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh ime this really pisses non-Americans off *eyeroll*. I eat the euro way because that's what I was taught but I hate this discussion so much. If I see one more British or European criticize the way Americans eat I stg. It might be different but that is technically the correct dining etiquette in the US.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 24 July 2025 13:20 (one week ago)

We can right back atcha them WRT using knives to eat peas.

einstürzende louboutin (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2025 13:23 (one week ago)

why would a left handed person (me) hold their fork in their right hand?

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Thursday, 24 July 2025 14:25 (one week ago)

So that you could use your strong hand to saw through your gristly meat!

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 24 July 2025 14:43 (one week ago)

I’m a lefty and this is what I wind up doing ^^^

einstürzende louboutin (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2025 14:51 (one week ago)

I know a couple of (right-handed) people who I guess were never really taught "proper dining etiquette" who just use their fork in their right hand and whenever they need to cut something, just grab the knife with the left hand and cut whatever they have to. It looks weird to me but who cares really. I have definitely told my kids to use whatever hand they want for their fork/knife/spoon, just as long as they don't make a mess.

silverfish, Thursday, 24 July 2025 15:42 (one week ago)

The US was a lot slower than Europe in widespread adoption of fork use iirc; not until well into the 19th Century.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Thursday, 24 July 2025 16:13 (one week ago)

why would a left handed person (me) hold their fork in their right hand?

Isn’t the thinking that your knife should be in your most dexterous hand? Of course that thinking is imbued in all kinds of backward folk “wisdom” regarding left handed people.

On a separate note, but somewhat relevant to this thread, I was googling Tea & Sympathy which gets mentioned a lot in the Crazy Rich Asians series. It has an adjacent chipper called “A Salt and Battery.” Terrible name. Chippers should be called, like, Fred’s Fish Bar, or like…Gianni’s (in Ireland). Would personally steer clear of a chipper with a name like that.

from…Peru? (gyac), Friday, 25 July 2025 12:16 (one week ago)

Only Cod Can Judge Me

baka mitai guy (Noodle Vague), Friday, 25 July 2025 12:23 (one week ago)

Nothing will ever beat Fishcoteque for me.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, 25 July 2025 13:43 (one week ago)

why would a left handed person (me) hold their fork in their right hand?

― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Thursday, July 24, 2025 10:25 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Isn’t the thinking that your knife should be in your most dexterous hand?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yeah, the knife goes in whichever had is your dominant one and the fork in the other. I'm right handed so the fork is in the left hand and then knife in the right and I imagine it's just reversed for lefties?

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, 25 July 2025 13:46 (one week ago)

Idk — I have always held knife in right and fork in left and have always been a lefty. Switching at this point would scramble my brain.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Friday, 25 July 2025 13:54 (one week ago)

Yeah I'm left handed but I use the fork in my left and knife with my right. Tbf I bat and swing a golf club and strum a guitar (all badly) right handed anyway. And tin openers don't bother me

baka mitai guy (Noodle Vague), Friday, 25 July 2025 13:56 (one week ago)

Same here: left-handed, fork in left hand, knife in right. I've never understood the idea people seem to have that one's "other" hand is mostly just dangling there like a flipper. I can't write with my right hand, but I can do pretty much anything else I need to do with it, including relatively fine work (turning tiny screws, etc.).

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Friday, 25 July 2025 14:11 (one week ago)

Interesting, when playing guitar, that you do all the fiddly intricate bits with your "wrong" hand - but then strumming with my left hand is absolutely impossible - and it's kind of the opposite on piano.

Posts That Witness Madness (Tom D.), Friday, 25 July 2025 14:32 (one week ago)

Only Cod Can Judge Me

I wouldn’t go there SITO

from…Peru? (gyac), Friday, 25 July 2025 15:51 (one week ago)

I reckon most people who write with their left end up fairly ambidextrous because so much stuff in life is just easier if you can use your right

baka mitai guy (Noodle Vague), Friday, 25 July 2025 15:52 (one week ago)

xp lol

baka mitai guy (Noodle Vague), Friday, 25 July 2025 15:53 (one week ago)

Yeah, the knife goes in whichever had is your dominant one and the fork in the other.

I'm right-handed but i've always held fork in right hand, knife in left... this works for me and i've never thought anything about it.

However If i'm cutting something substantial (like, say, slicing bread ) then i'm using the knife in my dominant hand.

Kim Kimberly, Friday, 25 July 2025 16:19 (one week ago)

Interesting, when playing guitar, that you do all the fiddly intricate bits with your "wrong" hand - but then strumming with my left hand is absolutely impossible - and it's kind of the opposite on piano.

― Posts That Witness Madness (Tom D.), Friday, July 25, 2025 9:32 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this really depends on the style of guitar you're playing

budo jeru, Friday, 25 July 2025 16:24 (one week ago)

Yeah — when I’m cooking I cut/chop/dice/trim with my left hand but when I’m eating I use my right.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Friday, 25 July 2025 16:41 (one week ago)

how about when you're playing guitar and chopping vegetables at the same time?

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 25 July 2025 16:42 (one week ago)

Not a problem

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Friday, 25 July 2025 18:07 (one week ago)

(I don’t play guitar)

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Friday, 25 July 2025 18:07 (one week ago)

Somebody should manufacture a backwards piano for left-handed people so all the upper-register keys are on the left and the lower ones on the right.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Friday, 25 July 2025 18:55 (one week ago)

Interestingly lots of great pianists have been lefties: Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould.

o. nate, Friday, 25 July 2025 19:00 (one week ago)

I am generally left-handed on fine motor tasks and right-handed for gross motor tasks.

So I write with my left hand but do drums, guitar, mandolin as a righty would. Ditto swinging a golf club or baseball bat.

Note that this isn't from lack of access to left-handed equipment; it just always felt natural to use my stronger right arm.

I have never watched myself eat but I suspect I am doing it wrong (in somebody's eyes). Left hand has dexterity so it gets the fork or spoon. Cutting requires arm strength so I use a knife with the right.

Switching hands sounds bonkers to me. I simply pick a knife when needed, use it, then put it back down.

je ne sequoia (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 25 July 2025 19:32 (one week ago)

My dad was and my sister is ambidextrous. Chaos at the dinner table!

einstürzende louboutin (suzy), Friday, 25 July 2025 19:53 (one week ago)

the good thing about there not being any rules is that you dont have to be mad about the rules nobody really demanded of you, even better if anyone did and you just laughed at the idea of rules

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Friday, 25 July 2025 20:10 (one week ago)

my stepmother is very big on table manners and has often complained, tutted and eye-rolled at me "having the knife and fork the wrong way round" (I hold the fork in the right hand for doing almost everything, occasionally use the knife in my left hand for pushing food onto the fork, therefore I am an embarrassment who will never be invited to dinner with the queen) but arriving in China I found that after a month or two I could use chopsticks as well as anyone and there were no manners to follow, apart from a couple of things you shouldn't do as they are bad luck.

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 25 July 2025 20:30 (one week ago)

all that stabbing, sawing and pronging of food does seem best avoided anyway

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 25 July 2025 20:33 (one week ago)

yeah but how else are you gonna eat lasagna

octobeard, Friday, 25 July 2025 20:36 (one week ago)

first time I flew to China there was this HK businessman next to me on the plane, he held both his knife and his fork like pens and tried to balance morsels of food between them. to carry to his mouth, went on for a few minutes before the flight attendant saw him and gave him some chopsticks

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 25 July 2025 20:46 (one week ago)

haha that's amazing

Tracer Hand, Friday, 25 July 2025 22:00 (one week ago)


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