Gilded Age Etiquette: Sensible Humor

“… there is a sensible reason for that rule. You are very liable to cut your mouth with the knife. That is one reason why you should always use your fork in conveying food to your mouth.” Above: Sir Alec Guinness looks on in bemusement as Sir John Mills eats food straight from his knife in 1946’s “Great Expectations.” By the latter half of the 19th century, etiquette books were decrying the practice of eating from one’s knife, though it had earlier been perfectly acceptable behavior in England for hundreds of years.

“Etiquette”

“Pardon me, Cousin Jay, but you should not eat with your knife,” said Mrs. Cittily, addressing her rural relative. “It is not according to the rules of etiquette, you know.”

“Hoh! What's the sense of eterket, anyhow?” airily answered the visitor from the wilds of the Wayback County, passing in the midst of an interesting exhibition of amateur sword-swallowing. “I ain't no dude.”

“I know you are not, Cousin Jay, but there is a sensible reason for that rule. You are very liable to cut your mouth with the knife. That is one reason why you should always use your fork in conveying food to your mouth.”

“Hoh! That ain't no reason at all! A feller that ain’t got sense enough to keep from cuttin’ his mouth with a knife would be just as likely to jab it with a fork.” – In “The World,” 1896

 

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Etiquette in “Fine Manners”

Squabs should not be gnawed from the fingers - they, must be dismembered with a fork on the plate. – Lobby card for the 1926 film Fine Manners.

“Don't Gnaw Squab From the Fingers,” Advice in Gloria Swanson's Latest Picture

Under the head of “etiquette,” on a poster advertising Gloria Swanson's latest Paramount starring production, “Fine Manners,” which starts showing at the Victoria Theatre next Sunday, the following has been observed:

• Peas should not be eaten with a knife-sword swallowers are de trop in good society.
• Don't drink from a finger bowl - someone may have used it before you.
• Squabs should not be gnawed from the fingers - they, must be dismembered with a fork on the plate.
• Asparagus should be gently nibbled from the fingers.
• Don't tuck a napkin under your pearl necklace– you might break the string and lose your beads.
• If you get a spot on the tablecloth, cover it with your glass.

All of which gives one. some slight idea of the laughs in store for the movie goers, who see Gloria as a little burlesque chorus girl taking a course in “Fine Manners.” Eugene O’Brien plays opposite the star. – San Pedro News Pilot, 1926

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Etiquette Teaches Legal Lesson

Sharp, steel bladed knives like this gilded age “Bird Knife” (above) designed for cutting an individual game or fowl course, could be disastrous if it was being used also to eat one’s food from, as opposed to just using it for the cutting of one’s food. – Image of Gorham’s Chantilly pattern, “Bird Knife and Fork Set” from the Etiquipedia private library.

 

 

Taught Him a Lesson

Etiquette is responsible for a queer legal decision. A traveler on a German railway train attempted to eat a lunch, and, while in the act of conveying food to his mouth, the train stopped suddenly, and his cheek was badly eut on the edge of the knife he was using. 

The man sued the railway company for damages, but his claim was defeated on the grounds that it was a breach of etiquette for him to eat with a knife. The court recited unto him the chestnut that, “A man can not take advantage of his own wrong.” – The Morning Union, 1890

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Fork History and Steel Blades on Knives

“…there are many varieties of food which deteriorate from even the slightest contact with steel, a metal still much in use for knives…” – In 1889, unless one had all silver flatware or gilded flatware, the blades of most knives were still made of steel. The steel would clash with the flavors of sauces or dressings which had citric acid in them –like orange or lemon juice– and those containing vinegar. Thus leaving fish and many salads inedible to most guests.

Although the four-pronged silver fork was in use upon the continent of Europe in the first decade of the present century, it is noticeable that the use of the knife in carrying food to the mouth is by no means obsolete among some of the most advanced of the European nations. One can easily draw a mental picture in which the dogmatists of etiquette a half century ago are seated about a tempting board, all eating with their knives, but using them daintily; and the retrospect need not go back of the times of those whose manners at table, as well as elsewhere, are defined as models of elegance.

Since then the steel fork has been banished, the knife subjugated and the spoon subdued. The reason for all this is commonly supposed to be the danger of cutting the lips with the knife, but such danger is very slight, unless one be persistently stupid in handling it. It is much more sensible to assume that mankind was not slow to perceive the more agreeable sensation of putting to the lips the delicate tines of a fork, which were close enough to convey all except liquid edibles with comfort and convenience. 

Then, too, there are many varieties of food which deteriorate from even the slightest contact with steel, a metal still much in use for knives. There is, however, an inclination to force the use of the fork to the point of affectation, and excess in this direction is quite as deplorable as the indiscriminate use of the knife. The proper use of any table implement at a table where one is a guest is no different from what it would be at the most informal meal, except as it may be influenced by the special preparation of an edible. – By Eliza M. Lavin, 1889

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

The Luxury and Etiquette of Utensils

During the middle ages, records show man using a knife for dining. The first table knife was designed with a flat, broad blade opposite the cutting edge. The flat part was recommended “for eating of peas and jelly.” It has been said that “he who dined out during the stirring days of the fifteenth century brought his own eating utensils with him.” One of the rules of etiquette the day was to “smack thy lips resoundingly if thou wouldst show due appreciation to thine host.” –Antique utensils and reproduction 18th century glassware work well when mixed with black and white transfer-ware on a rustic farm table. 

Eating Utensils for Dining – History is Revealing

It is hard to believe that the everyday convenience of knife, fork, and spoon were ever a luxury enjoyed only by the very rich and noble. In the fifteenth century man ate with his fingers most of the time, aided only by a homemade spoon. The first spoons, history tells us, were shells. Where shells were not available in the inland countries, spoons of a sort were cut from wood. Eventually, to make the shell a little easier to manage, handles of wood and bone were attached to the cup-shaped base. In excavations of ancient ruins relics of spoons of bone and ivory have been found. In this way, we are able to trace the history of the first designs and usage of eating utensils.

It is interesting to note that in the beginning people carried their own spoons. Knives made of flintstone were usually carried in a scabbard at the belt. But the knife was not generally brought to the table for the purpose of dismembering or slicing. It was used mainly for hunting. A metal knife was not developed until many years later. In areas where copper, silver, bronze, or gold were found, those who could afford it had spoons and knives fashioned of these precious metals. The kind of material a man’s knife was made of often was a clue to his station and wealth.

Spoons were sometimes designed so that they could fold and were more easily carried. In England, spoons of copper, pewter, or brass were used by people of limited means as early as the sixteenth century. During the reign of the Tudors and Stuarts, a fashionable gift at Christmas time was an Apostle spoon. To own a collection of the twelve Apostles was considered a luxury that few Englishmen could afford. A thirteenth “Master” spoon was one fashioned after the figure of Christ, a coveted possession.

There was not too much of a problem about packing the family flatware when early settlers came to America. A “personal spoon” is all a man or woman needed.

During the middle ages, records show man using a knife for dining. The first table knife was designed with a flat, broad blade opposite the cutting edge. The flat part was recommended “for eating of peas and jelly.” It has been said that “he who dined out during the stirring days of the fifteenth century brought his own eating utensils with him.” One of the rules of etiquette the day was to “smack thy lips resoundingly if thou wouldst show due appreciation to thine host.”

The fork was a later introduction after the knife and spoon. At first forks were used just for serving. But we can imagine that the earliest forks were those cut of sticks and used to hold meat over a fire for roasting. Forks were not a table implement until the sixteenth century.

Italy is accredited with being the first country where forks were used. However, it was only the nobility and upper classes who enjoyed this additional eating utensil. Historians do not credit the Italians with the invention of the fork. It was supposed to have been brought to Italy by visitors from the Byzantine Empire.

Even though the fork was very useful as an eating assistant, it was not accepted by the middle classes, because they regarded its use as something effeminate. It took about ten or twenty years after the introduction of the fork for its use to become generally accepted. In spite of slow means of transportation, the idea finally became widespread. Forks were not used in England until the seventeenth century. This was true possibly because the clergy would not approve the use of forks. They claimed it a sacrilege and that man should use his fingers “as God intended.” In spite of these protests, however, the fork was too useful to be given up once it became generally known.

Italy, the seat of culture and art, produced forks of great artistry and beauty. The first ones were designed with two, three, or four prongs, but the two pronged fork was the most popular. People were still carrying eating utensils in a scabbard at the waist when the fork was introduced. Sometimes both fork and spoon were designed with one handle, and often the spoon was designed so that it folded as a part of the fork.

When a man could not afford silver eating utensils he sometimes had them fashioned of pewter, copper, or bronze. Shell, bone, and wood had to be good enough for the very poor.

— From Patricia Kroh’s 1966 book, “Contemporary Table Settings” 

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Knifing of Food to Saucering of Drinks

 

In the region within a radius of 50 miles around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the knife was commonly, but not always, used by men over 50, but rarely by those under 50, or by women, among “genteel people,” up to about 1875... — Some men owned handcrafted knives (designed like this one pictured above) to more easily eat their food from knives, as opposed to learning how to use forks. 

'Knifing' of Food Went Out With 'Saucering' of Coffee

To the Editor of the New York Times:

Perhaps Charles U. Powell can use data from various parts of the country in clearing up the period when the fork replaced the knife as an instrument for carrying food to the mouth.

In the region within a radius of 50 miles around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the knife was commonly, but not always, used by men over 50, but rarely by those under 50, or by women, among “genteel people,” up to about 1875.

The change may have been due to a regard for the niceties of social usage. About the same. Those older men stopped pouring coffee into the saucer, and also removed the spoon from the cup when they drank.

That conditions varied in other parts of the country, and later seems indicated by the usage on steamers in the Great Lakes early in the century. At a certain stage, the steward put his head between the double doors in the kitchen and advised: “Keep your knives, gents; there's pie.”

It is interesting that in an early guide to etiquette, prepared by Christopher Dock, “the pious schoolmaster of the Skippack,” for his pupils, about the time of the Revolution, they were urged to not to convey food to their mouths with their knives or fingers, but only with forks or spoons. — George Dock, Pasadena California, October 1940

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Tidbits of Victorian Etiquette

 
According to Judith Martin, aka “Miss Manners,” during the 1800s, “... until well into the century, lower- , middle- and rural upper-class Englishmen ate with their knives, and that until the latter part of the century, when a fork was used, it was used in the same manner as Americans use it today, switching it back and forth from right hand for eating to left hand when something was being cut.

Judith Martin, the etiquette columnist of The Washington Post, at a 1981, four-day symposium, especially on a subject as esoteric as “Dining and Drinking in the 19th Century,” noted that the Victorians kept erecting bigger and bigger hurdles in manners “so that they could sneer at those not familiar with them. There was never a period of time when the right way and the wrong way was stronger than during the Victorian era,”  she said. “Someone was always doing something wrong so it kept life interesting.” 

Some of the Victoriana she offered was that dinner guests were never assured of getting a napkin and therefore advised to use the edge of the tablecloth or a handkerchief, that until well into the century, lower- , middle- and rural upper-class Englishmen ate with their knives, and that until the latter part of the century, when a fork was used, it was used in the same manner as Americans use it today, switching it back and forth from right hand for eating to left hand when something was being cut. She looked back nostalgically at some Victorian practices, among them the professional guest, a man who was hired to come to dinner if someone dropped out unexpectedly.— The New a York Times, 1981

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia