第2个回答 2014-01-02
Table Manners Tips
There is no getting away from the need for good table manners, and knowing how to act at a dinner table is going to make your job of being a guest or gracious host a lot easier and more enjoyable – not to mention the favorable impression you’ll make on others.
Read through the following 100 table manner tips to brush up on your dining etiquette skills. For a comprehensive table manners guide, read our step-by-step table manners section.
Table Manners Tip #1 - Tasting
Accepting another person's offer to taste a morsel of her dish - or offering a bite of yours – are acceptable table manners as it's handled unobtrusively. Either hand your fork to the person, who can spear a bite-sized piece from her plate and hand the fork back to you, or (if the person is sitting close by) hold your plate toward her so that she can put a morsel on the edge. Don't be tempted to hold a forkful of food to somebody's mouth or reach over and spear something off someone else's plate.
Table Manners Tip #2 - Excusing Yourself
When you need to get up to go to the restroom, it isn't necessary to say where you're going-a simple "Excuse me, please; I'll be right back" is sufficient. At other times, a brief explanation is in order: "Please excuse me while I check with the babysitter." Leaving without a word is rude.
Table Manners Tip #3 - Posture
You needn't sit stiff as a rail at the dinner table, but hunching your shoulders over the plate (a posture often associated with using a fork like a shovel) is a definite "do not." Likewise, slouching back in your chair (which makes it look as if you're not interested in the meal) is bad table manners when eating with others.
Table Manners Tip #4 - Elbows
As for not putting your elbows on the table, this drummed-into-us taboo applies only when you are actually eating. It's a different story when no utensils are being used; in fact, putting your elbows on the table while leaning forward a bit during a mealtime conversation shows that you're listening intently.
Table Manners Tip #5 - Fidgeting
When waiting for the food to arrive or after the meal, you may want to keep your hands in your lap, if only to resist the temptation of fiddling with the utensils or other items. Refrain from drumming your fingers, jiggling your knee, or other fidgety habits, and always keep your hands away from your hair.
Table Manners Tip #6 - Cutting Food
Cut your food into only one or two bite-sized pieces at a time. Doing this makes sense, since a plateful of cut-up food is not only unattractive but cools and dries out more quickly than food that is mostly intact. (The exception to the rule is when you help a young child cut his food.)
Table Manners Tip #7 - Seasoning Food
When at a dinner party or restaurant, proper table manners dictate that you taste your food before seasoning it. Hastily covering a dish with salt or drowning it in ketchup implies that you think the cook's creation needs improving on.
Table Manners Tip #8 - Chewing Food
Once you start to eat, don't literally bite off more than you can chew: Take a manageable bite, chew it well, and swallow it before taking another. Also remember that smacking, slurping, and collecting food in a ball in one cheek are major faux pas. When you have a mouthful of food, it is bad table manners to do two more things: taking a drink and talking. If you have more than a few words to say, swallow your food, rest your fork on your plate, and speak before you resume eating.
Table Manners Tip #9 - Reaching
Just how close does something on the table have to be before you reach out and get it yourself? That's simple: within easy reach of your arm when you're leaning only slightly forward. Don't lean past the person sitting next to you or lunge to perform what's known as the boardinghouse reach. A request to "please pass the [item]" is required for everything beyond that invisible boundary, as is a thank-you to whoever does the passing.
Table Manners Tip #10 - Asking for a Second Helping
The circumstances determine whether or not it is acceptable to ask for a second helping. It is not proper table manners at a formal dinner but is permissible at an informal one. If there are no helpers and the host has served the entree from a sideboard, he or the hostess will usually urge guests to pass their plates for a second helping. To do this, leave the silver on the plate, making sure it is securely positioned. Never hold your silver in your hand or put it on the tablecloth when you pass your plate. As a courtesy, when only one person takes a second helping a considerate hostess will take a little too - that way, her guest won't feel self-conscious or that he is holding everyone else up.
Table Manners Tip #11 - Unfamiliar Food
You're faced with unfamiliar foods. If a food you're not sure how to eat comes on a platter of appetizers - a type of sushi, perhaps, or crab in the shell - you, as a polite diner, have three choices of how to proceed: (1) Wait until someone else starts to eat and follow suit. (2) Ask how the food should be eaten (fingers or fork, for example). (3) Avoid the food altogether.
Table Manners Tip #12 - Using a Finger Bowl
If you encounter a finger bowl (used either after eating a hands-on meal such as lobster or at a more formal meal when dessert is served), dip your fingers into the water and then dry them with your napkin.
Table Manners Tip #13 - Hot Towels
In some upscale restaurants, steamed hand towels are brought to diners at the end of the meal. Use the towel to wipe your hands and, if necessary, the area around your mouth. (Wiping the back of your neck or behind your ears is best not done in a restaurant.) Most waiters will take the towel away as soon as you've finished, If not, leave the towel at the left of your plate, on top of your loosely folded napkin.
Table Manners Tip #14 - Eating Quietly
The essence of good table manners is unobtrusiveness, a courtesy that includes eating quietly. Noise impedes conversation. Scraping a plate or loudly chewing ice is unpleasant to listen to and considered impolite.
Table Manners Tip #15 - Make Good Use of Your Napkin
Remember to make good use of your napkin, wiping your fingers as necessary. Also use a small area of the napkin to blot your lips fairly often.
Table Manners Tip #16 - Wayward Food
If a piece of food keeps eluding your fork, don't push it onto the tines with your finger. Instead, use a piece of bread or your knife as a pusher.
Table Manners Tip #17 - Sopping with Bread
Sop up extra gravy or sauce only with a piece of bread on the end of a fork; the soaked bread is then brought to the mouth with the fork.
Table Manners Tip #18 - Take Small Bites
Take only enough food to chew and swallow in one easy bite. Moreover, it makes conversation easier.
Table Manners Tip #19 - Don't Drink with a Full Mouth
To avoid leaving food on the rim of the vessel, make sure the mouth is free of food and blot the lips with a napkin before taking a sip of beverage.
Table Manners Tip #20 - Hot Beverages
To test the temperature of a hot beverage, take a single sip from the side of the spoon. When the sip proves too hot, give the beverage time to cool before lifting the cup to the mouth. When an extremely hot beverage is sipped, take a quick sip of water to decrease the effect of the burn