Do you know your forks? Have you ever been in a dining situation, and you weren’t sure which fork to use? At a formal dinner, you could have four forks at your place setting. Do you know which one to use when? I heard a true story recently about this very situation. A group of ladies were at a luncheon, and the main course was a variety of salads. The table was set with two forks. The first fork starting from the outside was the dinner fork and the next fork was the salad fork. Which one would you use? Would you pick up the salad fork since you are eating salad or would you pick up the dinner fork? Those of you that have seen the movie Pretty Woman remember a similar scene such as this one. Julia Roberts is at an upscale restaurant and says”that’s the fork I know”, and she asks “where’s the salad?”. She was thrown a curve ball on the order of courses. She wasn’t sure which fork was to be used next. None of us want to be in a social situation and be faced with the unknown. Let’s get back to the luncheon story. The person telling me this said that she used the dinner fork while several people chose the salad fork. This lady looked around the table and began doubting her choice of forks. However, she stayed with her initial choice . The next course was dessert. Several of the ladies exclaimed,”Oh my. I’ve already used my dessert fork with the salad!” Would you know what to do? Which fork would you have chosen and why? What is the rule of thumb on the placement of the silverware?
Ginny Brown
The Etiquette School of Northeast Georgia
678-889-4814
Hoschton, Georgia (Hamilton Mill Area, Dacula)
