AIBU not to use a fish-knife for my fishcakes?

[seoladair]

Husband and I sat down for a quick dinner of fishcakes with his parents last night. MIL suddenly leapt up and said "Oh no! We need fish-knives!"
She then berated my husband for his lack of etiquette in laying the table with ordinary knives.
The thing is, it was quite tricky to eat fish-cakes with fish-knives. I struggled on, but spotted MIL giving up and using her fork!

Fish knives and forks came into being because silver is tainted by fish and this would make other food taste odd when using knives and forks that had been used for eating fish. Apparently.

If that were true, why did the aristocracy manage perfectly well with fish-tainted silver?

I subscribe to the ergonomic theory.

Well, that and the fact that the old guard had teams of servants to polish it all unlike your Nouveau riche Victorian who would have needed the fish knife.

I have to confess that although I am common as muck - I had table etiquette drummed into me from a very early age and therefore have to have the table perfect! Dessert forks, side plates with a butter knife etc - my dh went as pale as a sheet first time he ate at my parents house (not long after we met) because of the amount of cutlery on the table!

I must add though - I own fish knives but have never used them!