Elbows appear to be back on the table with mobile phones also out at dinner time as Generation-Z are shunning “outdated” table manners.
A new study has found around 60 percent of people aged 12 to 27 – Gen-Z – think traditional table ettiquette is no longer relevant to the modern world, reports Censuswide.
A third of Gen-Z say they have their phone out on the dinner table. However, the study showed the older generations are more likely to stick with traditions.
Overall though, the poll of 2,000 diners found around 54 percent think table manners should be consigned to being a “thing of the past.”
According to The Telegraph, diners main bugbears included chewing loudly, picking food off other people’s plates without asking, using their phone at the table, or having pets around while eating.
However, those surveyed said more traditional faux pas like answer calls and texts during dinner, not waiting for all food to arrive before starting and elbows on tables were most often forgotten.
The survey has prompted a warning from 250-year-old etiquette coaching company Debrett’s.
Etiquette adviser Liz Wyse says it could be young diners look “greedy, voracious or over-casual,” while people with good manners are seen as “a considerate person who thinks about others before satisfying your own greed”.
Debretts says: “The most effective table manners are the ones that will never get you noticed, or cause dismay or consternation in your fellow diners.
“If you sit up straight, chew with your mouth closed, serve other diners, resist bolting your food and manage to talk civilly to your neighbour as well as eating, you will certainly pass muster.
“The main aim is not to look greedy, voracious, or over-casual, which might be offensive to hosts who have taken the trouble to prepare delicious food.
“Any small errors in relation to the more arcane rules of cutlery-wielding, salt-shaking, bread-buttering, and fingerbowl-dipping will be overlooked because your demeanour is civilised and courteous.”
