MacBooks at a geek convention
 

I just came back from the annual Asterisk conference (Asterisk is an open source VoIP platform that I work with). I was shocked at the percentage of MacBook Pros in use by the fellow attendees. I'd say it was easily 40% Macs overall, with most being Pro models and a few standard MacBooks. In the tech labs the Mac presence was actually much higher. Oddly enough the marketing and sales droids were more likely to use Windows while the core tech staffs had mostly Macs.

Most presentations were done in Keynote.

Yep, Keynote is very good. It's at the top of my ranking (Keynote -> LaTeX Beamer class -> OpenOffice -> Overhead Transparencies -> ms PowerPoint).

Say, how many left-handed people are at these conferences? I've never done an official count but it seems like there is an unusually high percentage of left-handed folks in fields like computer tech and basic research.

Not sure how I'd know in general, but at the lunch/dinner gatherings I've never noticed any.

Well they just look sinister!.

How can you tell? Unlike Europeans, Americans don’t necessarily eat with a knife and fork – and by that I mean one in each hand, throughout the main course.

I mean, I can tell at meals, but I don't think there would be any way to tell at other times. It's not like anyone uses pen and paper at these things...

Oh, that's easy. You can (usually) tell both if someone is or is not American and which hand they favor.

If someone eats with utensils in both hands, and the fork stays on the left, it's a European. If the fork is on the right, it's a right-handed American whether or not the knife is in use. If the fork is on the left and there is no knife in the right hand, it's probably a left-handed American.

The dead giveaway for an American, regardless of handedness, is that they'll use the knife with their dominant hand and then switch utensils to put the fork in the dominant hand. The European will be able to cut with the dominant hand and fork it with the other hand without having to switch.

For the life of me I’ve never figured out why someone would eat in such an awkward manner. I know, I know – even men in suits at business luncheons do it; but that’s no excuse. Don’t they teach people how to properly use a knife and fork in America? ;)

I mean even my eight-year-old brother had been practicing that trick for many years before we emigrated to California... :p

I plan on moving to Asia some time, so I started eating with Chop-sticks on a fairly regular basis. That might seem awkward at first, but you get used to it. I'd imagine holding a knife and fork in a different hand than one might be used to is similar.

I eat that way, but I've never been to Europe. I've been to Canada, but I don't think I had a sit down dinner there - college road trips. ;)

Chop sticks are good to eat with too!

Although now after reading this thread, I have to try eating with chopsticks lefthanded.

Don't think I'll attempt holding one in each hand, though. :D

Maybe not. But if you’re ever on a diet, you might consider making do with one. ;)

That just means you value efficiency!:D

Consider yourself an honorary European. :cool:

Dull tidbit on the recognition of "handedness"....

There was a WWII era movie in which an American agent was discovered due to the "American" way of switching hands with the knife and fork...

I've been using the "Continental" method for years... it just is more convenient..... guess I could be a spy....

That's funny because my mother used to talk about that when we were kids and she was teaching us to use utensils. I guess she had seen the movie!

The continental way is more convenient though.

so how do Americans eat?... just a fork... just a knife.... hands?..... feet?!!! :D

I thought eating with a knife and fork was universal and almost archetypal...

It's not exclusively American, as I was taught this in Cuba also as a child. I was taught that anything else was boorish and for the lower classes (but not WHY that is so). To this day the European method initially makes me feel the person is impolite, at first.

FYI: not all Asians use chop-sticks. I'm serious. :)

Which part of America are you referring to? Brazil, Cananda, or the Dominican Republic?

I've found that a knife is almost useless as an eating utensil if the food that you are eating is properly prepared. So, with that in mind, why would anyone use the fork with any hand other than the dominant hand? The knife is generally only useful if a) you are eating something very tough, and b) it's too big to get into your mouth.

It sounds like you guys are eating the wrong kinds of foods to me. :rolleyes:

Not wrong. There's nothing like a nice juicy steak! A spicy marinade, and cooked medium rare, the meat still red on the inside when you cut into it... mmmm!

Funny, I was taught exactly the opposite. You've got to admit that the typical US American looks pretty goofy with a fist clenching their fork. To me it looks as if they expect to fight the beast lying on their plate.

Loud groan!!!!!

Many years ago, due to an injury to the right wrist, I couldn't hold a fork in the standard manner of folks in the U.S. and supinate the forearm to get the food to my mouth. I disliked holding the fork in the palm down fashion, and have the elbow stick out to the side, so I learned to eat holding the fork in my left. I found it rather efficient to keep the knife in the right.

The right wrist functions well now, but I still eat with fork in left, knife in right. Having the fortunate opportunity to interact with folks from all around the world, I'm often mistaken for having come from Europe.

The flat bladed utensil is quite useful for dredging the flotsam and jetsam onto the conveyance utensil.:)

That's way overcooked. Heathen.