Question

Why is it considered impolite to place your elbows on the table?

Answer 1

I was taught the reason is that it looks like you are all involved with your food and sending a signal that your fellow diners are less interesting to you than what's on your plate. Also if there is not that much room at the table, for instance at a dinner party, you're going to be crowding the people next to you.. If I'm just chowing something at home, I put my elbows wherever, but at a seated dinner with others I watch myself.

Answer 2

Because you used to have to have your elbows covered. Besides the fact that you take up more room if your elbows are on the table. I don't know if the first part is right.

Answer 3

Because society says so. I tend to disagree, I think it shows you are comfortable around ppl

Answer 4

Do you wash your elbows before you eat?. . Also, if your elvow is on the table, your hand is flinging around in the air. Does it hold a fork, or food? Not kosher to wave food around either.

Answer 5

Nope, but is a matter of good manners only...so is up to how you were raised in your family.

Answer 6

When I was growing up I was told that it was rude. However, society and culture have changed, and in normal, casual settings I don't think that it's rude anymore. However, if you are attending a more formal dinner, I would say it's best to keep you elbows off the table.

Answer 7

Putting ones elbows on the table demonstrates low class and self disrespect.

Answer 8

But i don't think so dear........... . its the way that u r showing ,..u have been brought up by ur parents....n one can b upto his/her own limits only.........

Answer 9

becuase it takes up space of either the other persons next to you, or a dish that needs to be on the table. Elbows n the table also lend themselves to messy eating.

Answer 10

Why is it considered bad manners to have elbows on the table?. Edited by Harriet Veitch. July 30, 2005. . Page Tools. Email to a friend Printer format . The great houses and castles of England during the middle ages did not have dining tables in the great halls, so tables were made from trestles and covered with a cloth. The diners sat along one side only; if they put their elbows on the table and leant too heavily, the table could collapse.. . Tony Muir, Tamarama. . It is bad manners to eat with your elbows on the table because my mum said so - nuff said.. . Christian Carter, Bellevue Hill. . There is no answer. As my old auntie used to say, 'It's not the done thing.' This seems to have been necessary and sufficient justification for everything. Specifically parsley (... that's garnish ... you don't eat the garnish ... that's etiquette). Don't expect to do any better with elbows.. . David Mathers, Lidcombe. . Most animals don't have elbows. Humans and various species of monkeys do. Since the majority of humans can't bear the thought of being linked to monkeys, we subconsciously keep our elbows off the table, and out of sight, while eating.. . Advertisement. AdvertisementOliver McKenzie, Annadale. . It's taken me the best part of 50 years to work out what the elbows on the table thing is all about and I now realise my parents didn't understand it at all. If they had, they would have explained it to me. When you eat with your elbows on the table, your upper spine is bent forward, your ribs are pushed inwards and - most importantly - your stomach is squeezed between the two. It's incredibly bad for your digestion. I wish my parents had understood that. If they'd explained it, I might have taken some notice - and my digestive system would work so much better than it does today.. . Will Kemp, Lismore