Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if you put your knife and fork together when you've finished your meal?

115 replies

m0therofdragons · 07/01/2015 16:39

I've always done this and never actually thought of it as a thing until I met dh. He'd just leave his cutlery wherever on the plate. I can't remember but I guess I said something as he's been putting them together for years and I forgot he ever didn't. Recently he's been forgetting which apparently drives me nuts for no logical reason. In my mind it's just standard etiquette. Just wondered how weird I am really.

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 07/01/2015 17:43

Never, ever heard of 5.25.

And I'm proper old!

Always together, straight up. Tines up and knife turned in.

Norfolkandchance1234 · 07/01/2015 17:46

Yes I do and always have, it's second nature. Esp as I eat out a lot at restaurants and you need to do it so they know you have finished your meal to take the plate away. I ate out a lot as a child as do my DC with me. Although tonight we ate at McDonald's because I had to pop to the supermarket where of course there is no cutlery involved or plates for that matter. Something I hadn't really though about before.

Norfolkandchance1234 · 07/01/2015 17:48

And yes I do automatically place them in the 5/6 o'clock position. No idea why but I do.

Muskey · 07/01/2015 17:52

I put them at 12 o clock so I guess I am going to be drummed out of mn now Grin

marmaladegranny · 07/01/2015 18:00

Was only thinking about this at weekend when DS's GF put her knife and fork at 3 & 9 o'clock!! She's Australian / German though nationalised British. Cutlery etiquette obviously does not feature in British Citizenship test!!

DuchessDisaster · 07/01/2015 18:09

Yes, always, with the blade of the knife pointing towards the fork. I know people who turn the knife and it drives me wild.
Interestingly, where I live it is considered "polite" to place your knife and fork at 7 o'clock to indicate that you have enjoyed your meal (for example in a restaurant) and at 5 o'clock to indicate that you did not enjoy the food.
I also know people who turn their forks over and other people who cross them on the plate.

Iggi999 · 07/01/2015 18:18

I do too.
I was hoping this was going to be a shoes on/shoes off type thread, but seems everyone here does the right thing! Wink

Garcia10 · 07/01/2015 18:20

According to Debrett's, cutlery should be placed bottom centre when you've finished a meal:

www.debretts.com/british-etiquette/food-drink/table-manners/how-use-cutlery

googoodolly · 07/01/2015 18:24

Always, at 5 o'clock. I was taught it was to show you'd finished eating. I do it all the time even if we're just eating off trays in front of the TV at home!

longtallsally2 · 07/01/2015 18:25

Ah! this site says 6 o'clock or 4 o'clock for the cutlery, but some useful suggestions for what to do with your napkin.

longtallsally2 · 07/01/2015 18:28

Ooh and this site says that 4 or 5 o'clock is the American style whereas 6 o'clock is European. Well, who knew!

ZingTheGreat · 07/01/2015 18:30

I eat with my hands

seaoflove · 07/01/2015 18:30

I do.

DH leaves his in an X, with the knife intersecting the prongs of the fork. Bloody weirdo.

IHaveBrilloHair · 07/01/2015 18:32

Yes, always.

MelanieCheeks · 07/01/2015 18:34

5.25 sounds very odd. Really? The tips are in the middle of the plate and then they come out at a slight angle?

I put my knife and fork together, straight up and down. Not everyone else does. I don't judge.

Libitina · 07/01/2015 18:36

Together and at 5 o'clock. Signifies you have finished the meal.

DrSeuss · 07/01/2015 18:39

If you pause in eating, the cutlery goes at about seven o'clock and five, if you finish, it's both together at 6. That was what I was taught to do as a child, never known why. Now I realise that it probably was originally to signify to the footman that you had finished!

maras2 · 07/01/2015 18:41

Me,DH,both adult kids and 3 DGC's always do this but I've thought about this and do you know,I never notice what anyone else does.Is that odd?

iseenodust · 07/01/2015 18:42

6 o'clock. Always. Anything else is deeply disturbing. Wink

UterusUterusGhali · 07/01/2015 18:42

Yes of course I do.
In the 18:30 position.
I'm not a monster. Hmm

RobinHumphries · 07/01/2015 18:42

Aways, 6.30 fork tines up and knife blade facing fork.

InanimateCarbonRod · 07/01/2015 18:45

Yes always. As does DH and DD.

HippyPottyMouth · 07/01/2015 18:47

The only time I've seen anyone not do this was the family of a university friend, who put their cutlery back at the sides of the plate where they'd started. They were Indian, but I don't know if it's a cultural thing or a "their family" thing. They certainly weren't common.

missknows · 07/01/2015 18:55

I had this drummed into me so much as a child that if I'm ever in a restaurant and put my cutlery down mid meal for whatever reason- I consciously separate them to ensure my plate doesn't get swiped by someone thinking in finished!

OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat · 07/01/2015 19:05

Might 5.25 be how they naturally sit for right handed people. Does anyone left handed put them at 7.35?