Putting napkin on your lap while eating

>putting napkin on your lap while eating

don't you fuckers know how to eat properly? how does one even turn into such a pig so his lap has to be protected from food while he's eating?

It's not there to protect your lap you plebeian.

Whas it there for??

So I don't stain my pants while you suck me off under the table.

how are your pants and lap not the same thing
do you not know what a lap is?

But I am genuinely interested how this became a thing

It seems horribly impractical

It's the same reason there's so many dumb different drinking glass shapes that are just for one type of drink, or so many fork sizes and spoon sizes but it's a foh paw to use the wrong one on the wrong course

white people with too much time on their hands after they enslaved the african-american

Well brought up Brit-chap, to the rescue.

It's not put on the lap for protection, it's there for ease of access.

The Moar you know.

>needing a napkin on your lap because you drop food

maybe eat normal and not spill your food all over autismo boy

it's easier to pick it off of a table, are you retarded?

You don't keep a napkin on the table you pleb.

The only time a napkin is returned to the table is when you have finished your meal.

It's really the result of a different, more stupid rule. "No elbows on the table"
because you can't lean forward over the table, over your plate, anything that drops off your fork or spoon is going to land on you because you bring it all the way over to your face (proper manners)

Hm. I thought you only do this when everyone at the table has finished the meal. Otherwise, you place the napkin on the seat of your chair should you need to get up and come back to the table.

If you have essential tremor like I do (because I am a massive alcoholic) then it's handy because half the fucking food you try to eat will spill all over you

Or you just shovel all the food straight into your face instead. Whatever works.

>cheers

That's about right, I don't see why you argued with me.

In proper dining etiquette, you're supposed to drape the napkin across your left shoulder until the person on your right has finished. Only once everyone has draped their napkins may you place them on the table.

kek

The distinction was that the other diners are still eating.

I hope you can get gelp

>"Oh excuse me you can take away my napkin, I won't need it"

Ahhh . . .OK I get you.

Maybe I'm not 100% but apart from squaring up my cutlery, I wouldn't put my napkin on the table until others have done so. (slow eaters are a pain) - I know it's not exact etiquette but that's how I roll.

Putting your napkin on your lap is the proper way to do it.

Otherwise you're putting a dirty fucking rag on a table where other people are eating, or tucking it into your shirt like a toddler with a bib.

No that's when you cross your silverware on your plate

You should never cross your silverware.

When you're done, place your fork and knife (or whatever you're using) parallel to one another on your plate, facing 10 o'clock.

>10 o'clock
>not 12
eh?

Like pic related is how I was brought up.

No. You don't cross your silverware. When you finish your meal, your cutlery is placed together parallel on the plate.

I'm not sure about this 10 o'clock position either, I've always been brought up with 12 o'clock.

Angle and shape changes depending on geography. Ask the closest quality waiter what to do.

Just leave your utensils along with your napkins and scraps on your plate, in your bowl, etc, you autists. Your waiter will know whether you're done when you ask for your check

I always thought parallel was when you are still eating

It's called manners

>he thinks he's doing anything right, that anyone appreciates, when he crumples up his napkin and throws it on his plate when he's done eating

There's honestly nothing that screams "low class" more than that.

American in Europe. Napkin in lap. What fuck are you doing?

>foh paw

>using all four tines on fork instead of just the 2 on the left side

barbarians, barbarians everywhere!

I've never understood why people do that. I don't drop food onto myself often enough to warrant keeping a napkin on my lap at all times while eating. Most of the time I'm eating over a table so anything I drop just goes back onto the plate. In fact, the other day I dropped some food on myself, and it went onto my chest, so having a napkin in my lap would've been useless. I just picked my napkin up off the table, wiped my shirt down, and continued with my meal.

Though I'll admit, when I was little I had a "spaghetti apron" that I'd wear whenever I ate spaghetti, because I always made a mess. But now that I'm an adult I no longer need the spaghetti apron, nor my special taco shirt. I just keep my napkin on the table, where I can reach it easily to wipe my hands and mouth.

>tfw you put the tablecloth down your collar by mistake then stand up at the end of the meal and smash everything

>Obscure old as fuck manners shit
Upside down fork in general means I'm done nowadays.

>people actually thinking it's to catch food and not just a convenient spot for when you need grab the napkin and wipe your mouth

I understand a lot of you eat frozen dinners and Burger King, but please just think for once

I always assumed it was a combination of ease of access and also so if your napkin gets gross (unlikely but possible) your guests and company will not have to look at a disgusting piece of cloth while they eat.

>a convenient spot

How could anyone think putting a napkin in your lap is convenient? How am I supposed to wipe my mouth with it if it's down in my lap? It's much more convenient to leave it on the table.

wa la!

You don't do it to protect your lap. You do it so that the other diners don't have to look at your dirty napkin.

The upside down fork in the "I'm finished" position is the only part I was never taught to do. Everything else is entirely proper.

If you leave it on the table, the chance of it getting dirty is way higher than if on your lap.

Is your own lap really considered inconvenient for you? Have you ever reached down to grab something out of your pocket and thought "damn I wish there was an easier way to get things from all the way down there?"

Thinking your lap isn't convenient is just dumb. Place your napkin on the table and you get crumbs and other spills that leaked onto it going right up to your mouth.

You're right user

It's a formality. The cloth is used in case you want to wipe your mouth. It is placed "on you" for easy access.

>Place your napkin on the table and you get crumbs and other spills that leaked onto it

What? Is that how you eat? You just fling crumbs and sauce everywhere? I always leave my napkin on the table, and the only times it gets noticeably dirty are when I'm eating something really greasy, in which case it's dirty because I've been wiping my hands on it constantly. That's another reason I don't keep it on my lap: I don't want that grease getting onto my pants. I'm more likely to make a mess of my clothes with the napkin in my lap than if it's on the table.

If it's for wiping your mouth, then why would you put it farther away from your face? How is that convenient? Just leave it on the table.

Leave your dirty napkin on the table? That's disgusting user.

All I see in this thread is a pleb not understanding a napkin on a table is dirty and uncouth.

I'm sorry you've never had a proper dinner, user.

Do you think I want to look at your crumpled mouth grease? Were you raised in a barn, where it didn't mater what the table looked like because the table was a feeding trough? Or did you just grow up thinking that the Golden Corral had a fine dining atmosphere?

Pleb.

Sometimes half eaten food looks gross to me, but I don't tell people to stick it on their lap because that would be retarded.

ITT: pretentious etiqucks getting btfo

>people brought up with manners are pretentious

Fucking millennials. Every day I care less and less about what happens after I'm gone.

I'm pretty sure there are 2 cues for when to put the napkins on the table. Both signify the meal is officially over. First, everyone is clearly done eating. Second, the host at the table puts his napkin on the table (which he theoretically won't do if someone is still eating). If there is a coffee or dessert course, then napkins stay off the table since the meal isn't technically finished.

Obviously the whole point of napkins being on your lap is that nobody wants to see dirty food-stained napkins or little pieces of abc food right next to you as you eat. Now I looked this up today out of curiosity; the whole thing about leaving a napkin on your chair if you get up mid-meal is for the same reason. but in restaurants when the servers are on point, they should offer you a fresh napkin when you come back. I think it's perfectly acceptable to ask for a fresh one if they missed it. I'm sure this doesn't apply to less formal restaurants or to home dinner parties where there aren't servers. I'm not a spreg or snob or anything. I just know enough to not be rude or gross anyone out.

You're probably a millenial yourself or just a gigantic manchild that is too old for this place

I have been to many high class places and to be quite frank, I have never had my napkin replaced after I have gone outside for a fag, inbetween courses.

>If there is a coffee or dessert course, then napkins stay off the table since the meal isn't technically finished.

>He takes his coffee at the table and not in the smoking or drawing room
Pleb

>I have gone outside for a fag