Monday, June 1, 2009

A Knife? Nyet!

In the year 1717, during Peter the Great's reign, an etiquette manual was published in Russia with the following instructions:

Do not eat like pigs and do not blow into the bowl so it splashes everywhere.

. . . drink and eat only as much as you need; be the last one to finish eating . . . Do not lick your fingers and do not gnaw bones but rather take the meat off with a knife. Do not pick your teeth with a knife but use a toothpick . . .

Do not pick your teeth with a knife!? I'm willing to bet that a lot of people cut their gums up trying to do that.

No comments: