Etiquette for Eating Chicken

It is never correct or even permissible to take up any sort of bone in the fingers. It is quite permissible to get the meat from the bone by means of the knife and fork and it is really impossible to take any bone in the right hand without causing the fingers to become greasy or sticky. 

Q. “I read somewhere that it was all right to take up a chicken bone in the fingers, if you did it with your left hand, but I can't remember where I read it. Will you tell me the correct form in this regard.”

A. It is never correct or even permissible to take up any sort of bone in the fingers. It is quite permissible to get the meat from the bone by means of the knife and fork and it is really impossible to take any bone in the right hand without causing the fingers to become greasy or sticky. 

Some persons seem to think that the reason sometimes paper frills are put on drumsticks and rib chops is to facilitate the task of picking up the bone, but this is not so. — By Mary Marshall Duffee, 1918

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