Do you know your etiquette?

Lee and I have been attending a four-day seminar given by Barbara Barrington Jones. The seminar focuses on how to go from college to the "working world". I find it a bit amusing that we are going to this seminar since we have both just left the "real world" to enter college again. Anyway the first class we attended was on etiquette. They separated the girls from the boys, evidently there is male and female rules of polite social behavior--who knew? The most amusing bit of information I learned was how to eat a salad when attending a formal dinner. Did you know that if your salad does not already have dressing on it you are suppose to put a puddle of dressing on your salad plate then discretely move it over your salad--kind of like buttering your lettuce :o) Then ladies, if the pieces of lettuce are too large, and they are crisp lettuce you may cut smaller portions as you eat it. However, and this one surprised me, if the lettuce is soft--like the baby Spring Mix lettuce--you are to wrap one piece of lettuce around your fork and then eat it. Can you image how long it is going to take you to eat an entire dinner salad? Now if you don't have an amusing picture in your head already--imagine this information being given to ladies from many different Asian and Polynesian cultures. The reaction to North American etiquette was often a source of smiles throughout the evening. We have an etiquette dinner to go to on Saturday, I will keep you posted.