Using fork in right hand, knife in left..

[AG29]

I am aware it’s meant to be the other way round but I feel most comfortable with my fork in right hand and knife in left. The opposite feels uncomfortable and I was never taught any different growing up. It’s never caused me too many problems. I generally have good table manners.

My OH’s mum is a bit of a nightmare in general. If we eat there (not often thankfully but Christmas next week). She has told me to swap hands before but I don’t feel comfortable that way. To the point I avoid eating there as much as possible. OH reminds me to eat with fork in left if we are going over there too and I’m sick of being spoke to like a child.

Aibu to think they should just leave it be? Does it really matter. It’s not like I’m eating with my bloody hands!

@ohprettybaby I corrected myself a couple of posts later , I meant I’m right handed and wear my watch on my right wrist

And, by the way, your MILs manners are MUCH worse than yours! It's always considered unsavoury to bring criticism to the table...

I always thought that using your fork with your right hand was an American thing to do

Ie you use cutlery fork in left while eating out and in right hand for shovelling food like a takeaway Homer Simpson style

I wouldn’t say anything but I find it quite weird

Well if you put it out there on-line for judgement, that’s what you’ll get, surely?!

@JudgeRindersMinder just what I was going to say!

I’m right handed but have always eaten the left handed way. I can’t really do anything coordinated with my left hand so holding a fork in it seems all wrong.

I'd think you were naff tbh, many probably do they just aren't saying it. And I wouldn't hire you for anything that involved entertaining clients. But, that's just because it was drilled in to me from a young age - table manners are as important imo as everyday manners.

I figure if you can't hold a knife and fork properly then you'd possibly struggle with more complex things 😁

I eat left handed (I am not handed). Winds my mother up, but she dies t sat abytgjbg anymore, and has never (that I remember) tried to make me eat the other way round. DS does too. DD, abd all my siblings (3 of them) eat “properly”.

I’m left handed and use my fork in my left hand and knife in my right.... apparently this is the right handed way of eating? My hubby does the opposite and is right handed 🤔😂

Not sure of your age. My brother is late 20s and he does everything left handed except writing. Wears a watch on "wrong" hand, eats with his cutlery the other way round, etc. His left is his dominant side judging by his everyday mannerisms. However when he was in primary school, the teachers "encouraged" him to be right handed and made it awkward for him to be a leftie. Hence that only his writing is right handed. Could this be the same for you?

Even so, poor manners from OH and his mum for making you feel bad about it. I say really piss them off and refuse to use cutlery. Use your feet if you really want to enrage them

Your an adult.
Tell them no!!!!

I’m left handed and eat with my knife and fork the right handed way as that’s how I was taught and I taught my kids the same, and I’d have corrected them when they were learning to use cutlery. But it doesn’t signify a lack of manners or class to do it the other way FGS. Some of these comments are ridiculous. The one about not appointing someone to a role where they might have to dine with clients particularly made me snort in derision. Do you make eating a meal part of a job interview then?

OP I’d tell your husband to fuck off and if he didn’t pipe down you’d be saying the same to his mother, the snooty old bag.

I figure if you can't hold a knife and fork properly then you'd possibly struggle with more complex things 😁

Judging by your post I'd figure that you'd be an utterly insufferable twat.

joyfullittlehippo Plenty of posters have been vehement about their preferred use of cutlery. Are you wondering whether they are the same in real life?
I’m not bothered what your opinion of my Hyacinth Bucketicity is. If I was, I wouldn’t be engaging.
If I wished to eat with my paws I would.
AIBU is no place for the fragile.

As someone who often eats "unconventionally" due to neurological issues and nerve damage to my arms and hands this thread is incredibly depressing. And no not everyone who eats like this has a disability but many of us do, and others may have their own reasons. Regardless this is one of those conventions that really doesn't or shouldn't matter. It's an utterly pointless and often snobbish rule, unlike some other table manners which are followed for good reason.

Andysbestadventure This is it - it’s difficult to slacken off / do differently, when it’s how you’ve been reared.

I’d just ignore her it’s rude to comment on your cutlery handling however I’d secretly swap her scissors out for left handed ones - but I don’t plat well with others.

For those saying that they wouldn't employ people who eat unconventionally, in roles where they have to dine with clients I'm interested to know if they're including people like me who have disabilities in that?

DH and DS are both right handed but both of them use their knife in their left hand!

I've watched them try and neither of them seems able to co-ordinate using a knife in their right hand - they look visibly awkward!

There's no right or wrong, IMO do what works for you so tell MIL and OH to weesht

I am right handed but I always eat with my knife in the left hand and the fork in the right . 3 of my 4 children are the same though my parents eat with knife in right and fork in left .
DM laid out the cutlery, for years, the regular way and I would simply pick them up and swap hands . I cannot eat the other way round.

I use my cutlery this way around, I'm left handed. No one has ever mentioned it. On occasions I've mrntioned it yo people and they have always said its not even noticeable. On the other hand my two adult stepchildren both use their cutlery in the correct hands and have the most appalling table manners I've ever seen, so I cant really believe which hand you hold your knife in should be an issue if you have good manners. If someone picks holes in you over this I think they should be the ones sharpening up their manners pretty quickly.

@Andysbestadventure .

What a charmer !!
Its not done INTENTIONALLY ffs .

I grew up with a left handed parent and an ambidextrous one. I copied them often (as did my siblings - one of whom is also left handed) we all do many things opposite to the 'correct way'.
My dgp were always correcting us. One of whom smacked us on the hand every time we did something 'the wrong way'. It's very frustrating but you shouldn't have to change for others.