Do you realize that trying to eat steak with a fish or shellfish fork would be pretty awkward?
Likewise trying to dig morsels of meat out of shrimp, crab, and snail shells is darn near impossible if you’re using a steak fork? And trying to stir your coffee with a soup spoon or slurping soup with a teaspoon?
In 7th grade (in 1954-5) (on the SF peninsula) we had an interesting hour. The first two quarters we boys had three days in woodshop and the girls had cooking class. The other two days the genders swapped classes. In the second half of the year, boys had metal shop and girls had sewing for three days. The two-day class was combined and was etiquette. We all learned how to plan menus, set tables, serve food. I actually mastered the art of holding a tray or platter with one hand whie serving using a large fork and spoon chopstix style with the other hand! And yes, we learned the basic minimal semi-formal place setting of two spoons, two forks, two knives, and where to place them.
Pro tip: S L L R (slur) is how to remember where the glasses go: solids left, liquids right. That is, the bread plate is solid, so it’s above and to the left of your dinner plate. Wine glasses (one for red, one for white), water glass, and coffee service goes to the upper right.
Sadly, such classes as these, as well as art, music, speech, have been gone for decades.☕️
