Right Handers & Left Handers On the Dining Table
  • Vote Up0Vote Down wonjyunyungwonjyunyung February 2008
    Posts: 357
    Hi,

    I am not sure if anyone out there had the same experience as I did when I was young.  In my younger days when my grandfather was still alive, I always remembered CNY , Tung Chi or special events whereby my family had to go back to my paternal grandparents' home, everytime when my dad and I wanted to dine in, we would be given a separate table where all the left handers would sit together with the womenfolk.

    From what I last remembered, my dad told me that becoz we were left handers that we had to sit separately from grandfather and the rest of the uncles.  Reasons being, when we eat,we hold the chopsticks on our left hands.  So while eating, it would "fight" with the right handers.

    So when I was young when I sit with my aunties and female distant relatives, I always noticed that all the nonya aunties when eating they got very good mannerisms.  E.g.

    (1)  when eating, they do not allow girls to cross the legs,
    (2)  do not allow girls to get up off the chair and reach out for the food over the other side of the table.  E.g. if a fish is in front of you, you like to eat the fish head, but the tail is facing the lady.  It would be rude to aim towards the head which is further away from you.  It is proper to reach out for the meat around the tail which is closer to oneself.
    (3)  Chatting is allowed on the table, but it is not okay to talk while they had food inside their mouth.

    Not too sure if there are anymore restrictions, but this is what I can remember as a kid back then.

    Rgds

    Jyun
  • 4 Comments sorted by
  • Vote Up0Vote Down sunflowersunflower March 2008
    Posts: 41
    Interesting! What is the reason for not allowing the girls to cross legs? I guess the reason for the rule no 2 is not allowing the girls to stand up from the chair to take the food? How about leaning the body forward to take the food without leaving the chair?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down bunga_telangbunga_telang March 2008
    Posts: 88
    I have not heard about right-handers not being able to eat on the same table as the left-handers.

    In the Peranakan culture, even the natural left-handers are forced to be right-handers. I was a natural left-hander when I was young but from about 4 or 5 years of age, my family forced me to be right-handed when doing things like eating, writing etc ...

    Being left-handed is thought to be unconventional and brings bad luck.

    The main reason why Peranakans eat with their right hands is because the left hand is the 'tangan chebok' and the tradtional ones in the old days ate with their hands ... So for obvious hygiene reasons, they MUST eat with their right hands.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down wonjyunyungwonjyunyung March 2008
    Posts: 357
    Hi Bunga,

    Maybe I was unlucky to be in such a family.  According to my mum, they tried to change but I could not change using my right hand.  So till today I am still a left handed.  But because my dad and I were left handers, we either sit on one side of the table where all left handers are, otherwise we sit on separate tables with my aunties to eat when there are more visitors at home.

    But I do heard from some friends that they were forced very terribly to change the habit of using left hands.  One of them told me that some of their nonya grandma dont like kids to chew on fingers and fingernails often use their sanggul to hit their hands. :o

    Heehee! ;)
  • Vote Up0Vote Down babacatbabacat May 2008
    Posts: 2
    actually from my experience, left hand "makan" was not really tolerated. but since "ah kong" had passed away,and forks and spoons had become commonplace. the issue of lefties or righties never really came up, except that, you were not supposed to serve your elders with only one hand.
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