Knife in left hand?

[creamcheeseandlox]

I am right handed but when I eat I hold my knife in my left hand and fork in right, so in theory like a left hander. This often means I switch them when in a restaurant etc. It's never caused me any grief or bother. My dh always points it out as the 'wrong' way to eat and it winds me up. One of my dc also has randomly adopted this as well as was holding his knife in the left hand. My husband pointed this out and said it's the wrong way to eat and that he should switch it over. I got annoyed as there is no technical 'wrong or right' way. He eats what ever way he is comfortable. I then said that if he was left handed should he be forced to write with his left hand as that is the dominant way in society? He said that that is different . AIBU in just letting my dc get on with it?

I don't think it matters at all, except that it is generally a lot easier to control a knife with your dominant hand.

I'm left handed and 2 of my 5 are lefties. We all eat the right handed way. 2 of my right handers eat left handed. We're all very mixed up!

I didn't even notice till there was a thread on here a few years ago.

We all use cutlery the way that feels comfortable for us.

My nan has always told me that I hold a pen "wrong."

Still manage to write her f**king xmas cards out though don't I?

If it works, it works. Doubt any of us are dining with the queen.

I'd divorce you tbh. Common as muck to hold your cutlery that way

I bet you eat pasta with a knife too...

@Plexie

That's similar to what's always baffled me about the guitar. I'm right-handed, so you'd think that the technical work on frets and strings would be with the most competent hand... nope.

• @TrinitySquirrel *

...AND cuts up spaghetti!

@plexie if you think the fork is the dominant instrument you're eating your food wrong.

The fork is a vessel. The knife is where all the skill is involved . How odd.

DH does the same as you op and nothing bad appears to have befallen him.

I'm right handed, spent my childhood refusing to put my knife in my right hand until people gave up.
My argument being that the dominant hand has the most control, and thus is the one you want bringing food up to your mouth - less likely to make a mess that way (plus its the way it feels right for me).
The deliverer of food is always in my right hand.

@etap well now I just feel queasy...

DS (30) is right handed but has always held his knife in his left hand. He is dyslexic but in any case, even without that, what does it matter? Knives and forks are to convey food to the mouth, no more, no less. HIBU, you are definitely not.

My DH is the same. I sometimes joke that he eats the ‘wrong’ way but not in a mean way and I’d never expect him to change the way he eats.

My family are a whole mess of left/right handed mix and matchers. Some are left handed who eat the right way. Some are rights that eat the left way. Some write with one hand but do everything with the other dominant hand etc. We just eat the way it suits us individually. We eat 'properly' we use the correct cutlery for each meal, we close our mouths when we chew, we are polite and share the food etc. The hand we hold out knife in is inconsequential to our manners.

I'm the same. If I use my fork in my left hand I get food everywhere.

The knife is where all the skill is involved

Nope, the fork does most of the work, repetitively navigating food from the plate to the mouth without dropping any. You need good hand-to-mouth co-ordination to eat, therefore the fork is the dominant implement. (Although perhaps 'dominant' is the wrong word.)

I agree with negomi90

My dad is (what my nan referred to as) crack handed, we jus make sure he sits to the left so he does poke us with his elbow. He is right handed.

My younger brother was left handed and held his crockery ‘correctly’. Like someone previously said, there is no wrong or right, just everyone is different.

My right handed DS1 holds his knife and for "left handed".

I'm left handed and hold them "right handed".

IT'S A KNIFE AND FUCKING FORK FFS

Unless you're shovelling food in overhand with bad table manners, there is no wrong way.

I'm the same. Can eat either way but knife in left hand is easier. Sick of people asking if I'm left handed.

I've been asked a number of times if I'm left-handed - apparently I do things like sharpen pencils and stuff envelopes left-handed. I can never remember which way to set a table because both ways feels right to me.

No idea where I get it from. My DF is left-handed but does all the above right-handed so I didn't learn it from him. My grandmother is a possibility, she's naturally left-handed but had her hand tied behind her back as a child to force her to use her right hand, pretty sure she did everything right-handed though.

DH is a right hander who eats left handed. I'm not going to lie, somewhere inside me is an old judgmental woman who thinks it is wrong and that it contravenes table manners luckily a far larger part of me is a logical sensible person who accepts that it doesn't bloody matter and it would be exceptionally rude to comment. So I don't. Except when he lays the table for a dinner party and I tsk at him for laying it backwards 😂 (when laying a table I do make sure his set is how he likes it polishes halo )

Both of my kids (right handers) do this. They claim that the fork is the more-used utensil and should be in the more dominant had......... and that I'm wrong for holding them the "normal" way

There is a wrong way. I've watched people who hold cutlery in the incorrect hands, they hold in place with the knife and saw with the fork. It's awkward and it looks stupid. I understand I'll be in the minority as no one seems to know how to use cutlery any more. Learn and teach your children!

My theory is that young children learn to feed themselves with just one implement, which they hold in their dominant hand. When a second implement (knife) is introduced they continue to use the primary implement (fork) in their dominant hand unless someone intervenes and tells them to swap hands when using both a fork and knife.

I kind of agree with whatshallidonowpeople. Anyone who I’ve seen eating the ‘wrong’ way (admittedly that’s only two)..but they both seemed to just be hacking/pulling their food apart, rather than letting the knife do the cutting. I’m guessing because the knife is harder to control with the less dominant hand.

I get that the fork is the more used utensil but it’s easier to put food into your mouth than it is to cut a steak.

I kind of want to eat my dinner the wrong way tomorrow to see how difficult it is.

YABU, I'm with your DH on this one. Knife on the left hand side, fork on the right.
Basic table manner etiquette, innit.