The Etiquette disagreement wrap up

Thank you everyone for your input to help resolve the disagreement regarding Cutlery etiquette.  Even though the responses where overwhelming in support of person 2, it seems we remain at a stalemate. To solve the mystery of who was person 1 and 2, well I was behind door number two.  Wow!!

Lucky differences are what make us more interesting. My girls will be taught to eat my way, but perhaps occasionally at home we can relax it a little.

I like this article I found on The Guardian page.

Please settle an argument

My husband and I are having a little disagreement and he suggested I send it out to you to settle.

I am not even going to tell you who is on which side of the disagreement but I am sure you'll work it out. I'll just say, I assume you are all people with excellent table manners.

The other night my husband was trying to get our girls to eat correctly at the table. I mentioned that I didn't think he was showing them the best way to hold utensils and demonstrated the way I thought it would be better for them to learn. I can't begin to tell you how well that went down. After quite a discussion and a search of Wikipedia - Eating utensil etiquette, we discovered that one of us eats in a more 'American' way and the other more 'European'.

Person one

• Believes the fork should curve upwards while you eat, so you can scoop up your food
• Utensils can be passed back and forth between hands
• You grip the cutlery with all fingers wrapped around (edit - it's more like holding it like a pencil.)
• It's okay to start eating before everyone is seated or has their food (You don't want your food to get cold)
• You can eat with your mouth open on the odd occasion, because it's 'fun'

Person two

• The fork must always curve down. You don't use the fork as a spoon - the spoon is the spoon.
• You don't change the cutlery between hands.
• You hold the utensil with three fingers and have the pointer along the top of the it.
• No elbows on table
• Wait for everyone to be seated and have their food before starting
• Keep your mouth closed when eating, even if it isn't as much fun

There are a few other differences, but we don't want to nit pick or point a finger at each other (pointing is also not good at the table). We have survived 19 years of watching each other eat but I would like our girls to eat in the way that it's most widely accepted where they live. I want them to be able dine out in nice restaurants and look like little ladies. You never know, one day they might marry royalty and this will be one less thing they'll have to learn in the princess training.

What are your thoughts on Utensil etiquette, are we too concerned about it? Are you more person one or two?