Etiquette Analysis: Table Manners
Part One of Many
This post is just the first of many to address table manners. Table manners is likely the most familiar part of etiquette and I highly recommend reading a book or two on the topic.
“All the rules of table manners are made to avoid ugliness. To let anyone see what you have in your mouth is repulsive; to make a noise is to suggest an animal; to make a mess is disgusting.” - Emily Post, Etiquette 1945, pg. 485
Clearly Emily Post feels very strongly about table manners and quite frankly, I do too. Eating a meal is a really enjoyable moment and I believe anyone who interrupts that moment should be relegated to sit in a separate room with only their bad manners for company.
I do intend to review the specifics of table manners in future posts, like what fork to use, what water glass is yours, at what point do you butter your roll and how. The list of lessons to learn is endless. But before all of that, I want to answer the question of why does this matter? Table manners are a set of social norms that in theory, we all follow while seated at a table, eating a meal. Table manners are pretty standard, by country at least and therefore, if everyone at the table is following the same set of rules, the chances of an awkward moment occurring are significantly lessened. For example, if you know your water glass is on your right-hand side, you will never sip from another person’s water glass, assuming the person seated to your right knows where their water glass is.
And on that note, the first table manner lesson: glassware is placed on the right-hand side of your setting while your bread plate is placed on the left-hand side. A helpful tip to remember this is by placing your hands in front of you and pressing your thumb and pointer finger together to form a “b” for bread with your left hand and “d” for drink with your right hand.
There’s a lot to learn so study up! Might I recommend the following books to help with your studies?