I am going to live with the Bing-Bonga - - - Can I eat directly off my plate with out using my hands ???

Question

I need to know if I can eat directly off my plate with my mouth with out offending anyone.
I prefer to eat that way -
I like to be really close to my food so I can smell it and also to make sure that no bad person has snuck any bugs (like cockcaroaches) into it -
I mean I know that protien is an important thing to have in ones diet
BUT
I draw the line at eating BUGS -
I mean I am not Renfield (Dracula's servant) for godness sake !!!

Answer 1

bugga bugga

Answer 2

In sociology, manners are the unenforced standards of conduct which show the actor to be cultured, polite, and refined. They are like laws in that they codify or set a standard for human behavior, but they are unlike laws in that there is no formal system for punishing transgressions. They are a kind of norm. What is considered "mannerly" is highly susceptible to change with time, geographical location, social stratum, occasion, and other factors. That manners matter is evidenced by the fact that large books have been written on the subject, advice columns frequently deal with questions of mannerly behavior, and that schools have existed for the sole purpose of teaching manners. A lady is a term frequently used for a woman who follows proper manners; the term gentleman is used as a male counterpart; though these terms are also often used for members of a particular social class. They are also used a polite form of greeting for persons in general, especially in the common greeting towards a group or audience, "Ladies and gentlemen!".

Manners ease the stress of communal living, and mannerly behavior recognizes the right of others to share communal space. Many of our daily expressions of politeness reflect this function. Saying "excuse me," for example, shows that you recognize that you have invaded another's space, and regret the necessity of doing so. It is a basic tenet in law that it is wrongful to cause damages to another (see norm). Since there cannot be a law for every slight, daily causing of damage to another, manners serve to at least acknowledge, if not make recompense, for the damage.

One thinker, Judith Martin, (aka Miss Manners -- see Further Reading below) regrets that in recent times the idea that one should be "assertive" has gained currency, holding that being assertive is simply another name for "the Impulse Rude," which is to be resisted at all times. She prefers "the withering look, the insistent and repeated request, the cold voice, the report up the chain of command, and the tilted nose." She also rejects the idea that manners is all about making people comfortable, "as if etiquette weren't magnificently capable of being used to make others feel uncomfortable," all in the name of preserving peace in the public arena.

Answer 3

Nope. =P Not that I really want to try it, either... I'd waste more time trying to pick up the fruit with my mouth than I would getting a fork. If I could use my hands... why bother?