Knife should be on the left and the spoons on the right. Fite me.
You think I’m worried about fighting someone that has to reach over the gentry silverware to grab the knife?
Well in fancy restaurants, which should be the example we all follow because of how much better than us they are, the knife is always pointed in towards the plate and closest to the plate. This reduces odds of getting cut accidentally. Otherwise the silverware should be arranged from the outside to the inside in order that they’re meant to be used for each course because trying to truck your guests is a signal that you want to embarrass them with knowledge they aren’t generally expected to actually have. Spoons and forks should be grouped.
I’ve always done it (big) spoon, fork, knife, then teaspoons in a smaller tray underneath the main 3. But I moved forks to the left and spoons to the right and now I’m always getting confused and it doesn’t feel right, even 3 months later
I don’t know how it applies to cutlery drawers, but my parents taught me that when setting the table, the silverware should be in alphabetical order.
Alphabetical order based on what language? Assuming English, since your comment is in English, but I’m curious if the rule would “translate” to other languages.
Indeed. Though my mother was quadrilingual and attempted to help me be at least bilingual, the only language in which I know more than a few words - written or spoken - is American English. As such, I’m not qualified to answer how diverse this system is, though I would be interested in hearing from someone who is.
Not to say etiquette isn’t arbitrary, but the two top results (all I bothered to check) for my search about silverware placement suggests that the “correct” order is fork on the left, knife first on the right, then spoon furthest right. This is, indeed, alphabetical order.
So while it may be arbitrary, it isn’t arbitrary on an individual level.
