Have you ever noticed

Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
How you do certain things a certain way, but to do it another way seems awkward?

An example: when I put on my shoes I always put the right shoe on first, then the left.

Mrs. Gramps puts her shoe on the left foot and then the right.

But if I try to put my left shoe on first, I really have to think it through. It does not seem right.

Mrs Gramps says it's the same with her, she cannot put on her right shoe first and not feel awkward.

Do you have similar habits you steps you always do one way but to do it another way caused some unease?

Or if there is something other people always seem to do only one way? Yet there are other ways the same activity can also be done.
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Comments

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Right sock, left sock...

    I remember watching her late Majesty doing an Official Opening, and thinking I'd never seen such economy of movement employed in unveiling a plaque. I'm sure that's what it comes down to. Repeating actions you've done innumerable times before: you cannot vary or omit, so choreograph them into a routine, spending as little time and thought as possible.
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    A thing I have noticed is the way the Europeans I have ate a meal with will eat with their left hand as the fork hand. The Americans I eat with will eat with the fork in the right hand. Yet, when we formally set a dinner table, the forks still go on the left side and the knives and spoons will go on the right. (Mrs Gramps is very particular about that--I am surprised she does not insist I use a ruler to measure the placements like they did on Downton Abbey) I have always wondered why.

    While I am at it, why are the buttons on a men's shirt on the right side, while the buttons on a woman's blouse on the left side?
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Foe Heaven we think.

    Doublethink, Admin
  • MarthaMartha Shipmate
    When I scalded my right hand, I was surprised to find that brushing my teeth left-handed was so uncomfortable. I would have assumed that was quite an ambidextrous activity.

    I get onto a bicycle from the left hand side, because (in the UK) that's the kerb side.
  • Meh. I'm having difficulty using left-handed scissors, as my California public schools upbringing never had any but the right-handed ones--and that's all I'm used to, now. I'm beginning to try the other hand, with the result that I am completely confusticated all the time.
  • Gramps49 wrote: »
    But if I try to put my left shoe on first, I really have to think it through. It does not seem right.

    I imagine I usually do it one way round, because I usually don't think about my shoes at all, so I assume I default to the same order. I know I have put shoes on in both orders recently, and neither ordering felt especially awkward.

    For socks, I tend to put the left one on first, which feels like a right hand dominant thing. Jackets are I think left sleeve first, probably for the same reason.
  • We have long and short kitchen knives. I feel safer using long knives, LKLspouse feels safer using short knives.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    A thing I have noticed is the way the Europeans I have ate a meal with will eat with their left hand as the fork hand. The Americans I eat with will eat with the fork in the right hand. Yet, when we formally set a dinner table, the forks still go on the left side and the knives and spoons will go on the right. (Mrs Gramps is very particular about that--I am surprised she does not insist I use a ruler to measure the placements like they did on Downton Abbey) I have always wondered why.

    While I am at it, why are the buttons on a men's shirt on the right side, while the buttons on a woman's blouse on the left side?

    Possible answers on buttons:

    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mens-shirts-button-on-the-right-why-do-womens-button-on-the-left-180957361/
  • PuzzlerPuzzler Shipmate
    Most daily actions are rituals. Getting dressed, cleaning teeth. Left foot first for socks and shoes. Even washing my hair follows a routine set of movements.
    When I broke a bone in my left hand everything took much longer, but it would have taken even longer if it had been my right hand.

    If we had to think about every little movement we’d never get anything done.
  • I keep putting my right foot forward when going up or down stairs. As I age, my left side seems weaker.
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    ChastMastr wrote: »
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    A thing I have noticed is the way the Europeans I have ate a meal with will eat with their left hand as the fork hand. The Americans I eat with will eat with the fork in the right hand. Yet, when we formally set a dinner table, the forks still go on the left side and the knives and spoons will go on the right. (Mrs Gramps is very particular about that--I am surprised she does not insist I use a ruler to measure the placements like they did on Downton Abbey) I have always wondered why.

    While I am at it, why are the buttons on a men's shirt on the right side, while the buttons on a woman's blouse on the left side?

    Possible answers on buttons:

    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mens-shirts-button-on-the-right-why-do-womens-button-on-the-left-180957361/

    Yes, I have heard the servant theory before, but as the article begins, it says nobody really knows.
  • Merry VoleMerry Vole Shipmate
    We have long and short kitchen knives. I feel safer using long knives, LKLspouse feels safer using short knives.

    Same in our house. And I can't bear to watch Mrs Vole doing vegetables slowly with a short knife and I have to take over with a quick efficient long knife.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited March 31
    Forks - non dominant hand if a knife is in use. Dominant if fork only. One thing we don't generally do in the UK is change from one to the other - you're either casually eating with fork only or you're using both, in which case the fork stays in the non-dominant hand.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I think most of my kitchen knives are in the 5 to 8 inch range - does that count as short or long? I have a small (3") serrated one specifically for slicing lemons, a long (10") bread knife, ditto carving (not much used) and an even more occasional big vegetable knife - say for halving cabbages.
  • RockyRogerRockyRoger Shipmate
    Puzzler wrote: »
    Most daily actions are rituals. Getting dressed, cleaning teeth. Left foot first for socks and shoes. Even washing my hair follows a routine set of movements.
    When I broke a bone in my left hand everything took much longer, but it would have taken even longer if it had been my right hand.

    If we had to think about every little movement we’d never get anything done.

    A Charles Williams' quote is apposite:
    "Action, after all, is a very difficult thing. The normal acts of our lives are either habitual or compulsory". (The English Poetic Mind, p.72).
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Forks - non dominant hand if a knife is in use. Dominant if fork only. One thing we don't generally do in the UK is change from one to the other - you're either casually eating with fork only or you're using both, in which case the fork stays in the non-dominant hand.

    I, along with three friends, were eating a meal with some Shipmates on the Isle of Man. Before our meal, our hosts had instructed their daughter to watch us eat and was fascinated to see us pass our forks from one hand to the other!

    Since we four were all raised in the US, we had no idea that people handle forks and knives differently!
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    jedijudy wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Forks - non dominant hand if a knife is in use. Dominant if fork only. One thing we don't generally do in the UK is change from one to the other - you're either casually eating with fork only or you're using both, in which case the fork stays in the non-dominant hand.

    I, along with three friends, were eating a meal with some Shipmates on the Isle of Man. Before our meal, our hosts had instructed their daughter to watch us eat and was fascinated to see us pass our forks from one hand to the other!

    Since we four were all raised in the US, we had no idea that people handle forks and knives differently!

    It seems very odd to us. Be constantly swapping every bite to cut the next one.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    KarlLB wrote: »
    jedijudy wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Forks - non dominant hand if a knife is in use. Dominant if fork only. One thing we don't generally do in the UK is change from one to the other - you're either casually eating with fork only or you're using both, in which case the fork stays in the non-dominant hand.

    I, along with three friends, were eating a meal with some Shipmates on the Isle of Man. Before our meal, our hosts had instructed their daughter to watch us eat and was fascinated to see us pass our forks from one hand to the other!

    Since we four were all raised in the US, we had no idea that people handle forks and knives differently!

    It seems very odd to us. Be constantly swapping every bite to cut the next one.
    Whereas we do it we without thinking or noticing.

    That said, if I’m eating something like steak, my fork sometimes stays in my left hand.


  • The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
    edited March 31
    True enough, @Nick Tamen, but the neat thing is that when I do that, I don't usually hold it in the same manner I would in my right hand -- it stays tines down, rather than tines up.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    The_Riv wrote: »
    True enough, @Nick Tamen, but the neat thing is that when I do that, I don't usually hold it in the same manner I would in my right hand -- it stays tines down, rather than tines up.
    Yep, same here.

  • The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
    And if you eat with a fork in your right hand -- tines down -- you're a Neanderthal!
  • PuzzlerPuzzler Shipmate
    I was amused when my late mother-in-law attempted to eat a savoury rice dish with a knife and fork in the British way.

    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, whereas in France they are taught to hold them as fists on the table when not in use for holding cutlery. Is this still the case @la vie en rouge ?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Depends what you're used to. We were dining with a Chinese friend who'd ordered pate as a starter. His struggle to use a knife to spread it was equivalent to our dexterity with chopsticks.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

  • HarryCHHarryCH Shipmate
    In the old "All in the family" show, there was a silly bit once in which Archie's son-in-law was putting on footware, and he put on a sock and then a boot and then a sock and then a boot. Archie maintained that was all wrong, that it had to be sock-sock-boot-boot.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Forks - non dominant hand if a knife is in use. Dominant if fork only. One thing we don't generally do in the UK is change from one to the other - you're either casually eating with fork only or you're using both, in which case the fork stays in the non-dominant hand.

    Or in my case (left-handed in the UK), fork is always in the left hand. I don't fancy trying to put something with points on near my face with my non-dominant hand! I do have enough control to cut cooked food with the right hand.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?
    Ah, I’m the guy who never butters corn on the cob.


  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?

    Sauce, butter or anything else getting on my hands is bad. It getting any further would totally freak me out. Those spiky corn eating things are absolutely required for me.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?
    Ah, I’m the guy who never butters corn on the cob.


    What! That's like pork without crackling, or tomatoes without salt.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Puzzler wrote: »
    I was amused when my late mother-in-law attempted to eat a savoury rice dish with a knife and fork in the British way.

    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, whereas in France they are taught to hold them as fists on the table when not in use for holding cutlery. Is this still the case @la vie en rouge ?

    I've never heard of this, but French table manners have changed in the last couple of decades. The old fashioned way is to cut your food up then hold your fork in your right hand and a bit of bread in your left for pushing with. Younger French people eat less bread than their parents and grandparents, so mostly use their implements the same way as the British.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?
    Ah, I’m the guy who never butters corn on the cob.


    What! That's like pork without crackling, or tomatoes without salt.
    I’m usually all for butter. But I think of buttering corn on the cob as gilding the lily.

    And I don’t salt tomatoes either—partly because I rarely salt anything at the table, and partly because I never eat raw tomatoes unless politeness compels it.


  • The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?
    Ah, I’m the guy who never butters corn on the cob.

    Blasphemer!
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?
    Ah, I’m the guy who never butters corn on the cob.


    What! That's like pork without crackling, or tomatoes without salt.

    Eh? Salt on tomatoes? I have never put salt on any salad item. Would ruin the taste completely!
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    I love salt and pepper on raw tomatoes.
  • TurquoiseTasticTurquoiseTastic Kerygmania Host
    Salt, pepper and olive oil on salad tomatoes was a complete game-changer for me and made me see why people would actively desire to eat salad tomatoes.
  • I know people who sugar tomatoes...
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I know people who sugar tomatoes...

    Totally allowable. If I ever make anything with a tomato sauce I add a good pinch of sugar to offset the acidity.

  • Firenze wrote: »
    I think most of my kitchen knives are in the 5 to 8 inch range - does that count as short or long? I have a small (3") serrated one specifically for slicing lemons, a long (10") bread knife, ditto carving (not much used) and an even more occasional big vegetable knife - say for halving cabbages.

    My long knives have 8 inch (20 cm) blades. The short ones come in varying lengths.

    I find sharp blades safer than the less sharp ones.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Salt, pepper and olive oil on salad tomatoes was a complete game-changer for me and made me see why people would actively desire to eat salad tomatoes.

    Getting good tomatoes was all I needed.
  • LatchKeyKidLatchKeyKid Shipmate
    My experience is, that Italians produce tomatoes for taste, while in Australia, apart from some farmers' markets, they are grown for transportability.
  • LatchKeyKidLatchKeyKid Shipmate
    My experience is, that Italians produce tomatoes for taste, while in Australia, apart from some farmers' markets, they are grown for transportability.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    RockyRoger wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    Most daily actions are rituals. Getting dressed, cleaning teeth. Left foot first for socks and shoes. Even washing my hair follows a routine set of movements.
    When I broke a bone in my left hand everything took much longer, but it would have taken even longer if it had been my right hand.

    If we had to think about every little movement we’d never get anything done.

    A Charles Williams' quote is apposite:
    "Action, after all, is a very difficult thing. The normal acts of our lives are either habitual or compulsory". (The English Poetic Mind, p.72).

    I need to read that. I love Charles Williams!!
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?

    Sauce, butter or anything else getting on my hands is bad. It getting any further would totally freak me out. Those spiky corn eating things are absolutely required for me.

    Do what I do—cut the corn off with a knife and fork! :)

    (I also eat chicken with bones—fried or otherwise—with two forks, one to hold it down, one to tear the meat off with.)

    (I had pizza tonight and just cut the slice up so I could eat it with a fork.)
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    KarlLB wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Puzzler wrote: »
    In the UK children are or used to be taught not to put their elbows on the table, or their hands, . . . .
    As are children, at least in my experience, in the US, though our family has always made an exception to the elbow rule for corn on the cob.

    Otherwise how can you get the butter to run down to your elbows?
    Ah, I’m the guy who never butters corn on the cob.


    What! That's like pork without crackling, or tomatoes without salt.

    Eh? Salt on tomatoes? I have never put salt on any salad item. Would ruin the taste completely!

    I avoid salt, though it’s already in everything.

  • LatchKeyKidLatchKeyKid Shipmate
    I try to have a low salt diet. We have a lot home cooking. Any commercial food has salt added to sweet items and sugar added to savoury items. I am happy to have a boiled egg sans salt, chips also, though they are a rarity for me.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    'Fingers made before a fork' as they say at home. There are definitely foods I would eat with my hands - besides obviously toast, sandwiches, rolls etc. Chicken wings, anything with a gnawable bone, like lamb chops, shell-on shellfish (don't see how you can eat mussels with a knife and fork), anything involving dips.

    And yes, electric knife sharpener a must.
  • LatchKeyKidLatchKeyKid Shipmate
    I use a sharpening block.
  • ChastMastrChastMastr Shipmate
    I think for me… The whole eating things with my hands concept puts me off and I could point to various probable reasons, ranging from being afraid to touch books and get food on them and of course my glasses – I have 20/400 vision! So if you have grease on your fingers, if you make a wrong move when pushing your glasses up (because they always slide down), suddenly you’re blind in that eye… but I prefer to not get food on my hands basically. Though with things like potato chips/crisps, cookies, etc. I will generally use my hands.

    I need to have tea again – I just remembered that one of the things I would do with tea and cookies would be to take a fragment of cookie and put it in the teaspoon and dip it into the tea and then eat it that way. Just starts to crumble as you eat it… 🥰
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Recalls a treat of my childhood - known as 'bones'. They were I think lamb vertebrae, which disappeared after BSE. Roasted until the fat crisped and there were little succulent nibblets of meat. Eaten with the fingers until you got grease on your ears.

    Remember, I am only one generation from the time and place where the meat you ate, you'd raised and killed.
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