All posts by Yan Yang

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There are something interesting when I have dinner with my homestay. I remembered one time I tried to lick the butter on the knife the homestay stopped me immediately, telling me not to do that because it is not polite. And if you drop your knife on the floor, you cannot pick it up for yourself for it will bring your bad luck. So next time you see someone drop the knife on the floor, please pick it up for him or her.

——————————————————- From the talk with my homestay

Manners make a man.

In China,  table manners are also very important. Although we don’t use the fork and knife, we use chopsticks. When having dinner, you should never stick the chopsticks in the middle of the rice which will bring bad luck. Never use chopsticks to point to others, which is a rude behaviour. It’s implite to put your chopsticks into the dishes to pick the food for too long a time.

When the British lay the table, they place a dinner plate in the centre of the setting and lay forks to the left of the plate and knives and spoons to the right. They place the cutlery in the order that it will be used starting from the outside. Knife blades should be facing towards the plate and fork prongs facing upwards.

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Wait until everyone is seated before starting to eat.

During the meal, never lick the knife or eat off it. Ask someone to pass the food, rather than reach across the table. If using a knife and fork together, always keep the tines of the fork pointing downwards and push the food on to the fork. Chew with your mouth closed. When drinking, it’s rude to drink noisily. Never speak with your mouth full. Before eating a bread roll, you break it into pieces with your fingers.

When you finish the meal, place your knife and fork together in the “twenty past four” position.

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————————————————————————————   From the Internet