Always interesting to see the analogs of island vs continental culture when comparing UK <-> America and Japan <-> China. Seems like islanders, due to their reliance on trade, naturally get specialized and autistic about their craft so they can have a comparative advantage, and their obsessions carry over into stuffy traditional practices.

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fsckboy 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>Always interesting to see the analogs of island vs continental culture when comparing UK <-> America and Japan <-> China.

when America was settled/founded by Britains, etiquette had not been standardized in GB either so the differences are due to parallel development, not island vs continent. That probably holds even more for differences between Japan and China.

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0x3f 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I counter with the American swap-the-fork-hand-after-you-cut thing. Diabolical.

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bot403 9 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

It's considered polite in American culture.

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kibwen 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

As an American, I don't think I have ever seen anyone do this.

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gnabgib 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's like you've never met someone who's left handed

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gavmor 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Really? You hold the fork with your dominant hand, and cut with your non-dominant hand?

	▲	kibwen 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yes. For the record, Americans also don't wear their shoes indoors, except for maybe some people in extremely dry climates.

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jnwatson 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Really? You don't know any Naval Academy graduates then.

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dgxyz 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That’s just mental. Does my head in when I see it.

	▲	mlhpdx 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		American raised by a Brit here, and I was literally just doing this during lunch out. I consider the upside down fork just plain torture.

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dugidugout 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Would you mind sharing your insight? I'd be interested to hear!

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Sprotch 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What stuffy traditional practices does the UK have?