>Also, do you know why one always faces the cutting edge of the knife >into the plate instead of toward the diner to one's right? Please >consider: were the dangerous edge of the knife faced outward one >would run of risk of causing a fellow diner grevious harm. This >custom of courtesy to one's companions is of many centuries duration. > > >Pat > And how is one to pick up said knife, Pat? The sharper edge always points down when I pick it up. I infer that is incorrect, so I would be drummed out of polite society in the South, were I to venture there. There have been dining companions -- even Southerners -- upon whom I would have liked to have used the sharp edge. Margaret L