Table manners. Ever since Pdawg sat down and broke bread with my family and told the kids it was impolite to put elbows on the table a new battleground has been created for me. Thanks, Pdawg. But it's probably not what you think. They are telling me and each other to get elbows off the table and GTC is chiming in on it as well (as he loudly farts and admonishes the barking spider). I totally disagree with this one. Before I get started here, can anyone tell me WHY it is impolite to put your elbows on the table? Yeah, don't strain yourselves to come up with a clever answer because there just isn't one. I did some quick research and the best explanation I saw was the one that came from the olden days in England when people were seated on only one side of somewhat shaky tables and if folks leaned on the thing that was the end of dinnertime at least on top of the table. Makes sense. That would be totally impolite to tip a table and dump dinner.
It reminds me of the pot roast story some may have heard where a young woman, the third generation in her family, took her turn at hosting dinner and cooking the infamous "Granny's Pot Roast." After she prepared the meat to cook with the top secret recipe she grabbed a carving knife and cut the top third of the roast off before placing it in the oven. Her husband walks by and asks, "Why did you cut the top off?" She replies, "It's right here in grandma's recipe. And I've seen grandma do this many, many times." Then her mother arrives and her dad looks in on the roast. Her dad comments, "I've always wondered why they cut the top of that perfectly good meat," to which his wife replies, "It's in my mom's recipe. She's always done that." Though everyone is clueless as to why they have continued to do this. When the grandma arrives her granddaughter works up the nerve to ask her why the top of the roast is cut off. The grandma tells her, "My oven was never big enough so I had to cut the top off."
As so it goes for elbows on the table. Sometimes "because" or "because I said so" works just fine when I correct the kids but not on this one.
2 comments:
It's rude to put one's elbows on the table because it exposes one's forearms and one's forearms are generally ugly. Except for yours Ahole, they are lovely.
don't kiss ahole's ass, GTC.
it is rude because my Grandma said it was rude, dammit.
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