[lazibratt]

I went to eat with my friend and her mom and they like stared at me while I held my chopsticks b/c I held it improperly or something. They said it's supposed to be : one is on that part between thumb and index and the other between middle and index and you move it with the middle finger. I can do that with pencils and pens but I can't do it with chopsticks
Ok the weird thing is when I think about HOW to hold chopsticks or anything of that matter, I forget HOW I hold them so i can't describe how I hold them but I think my way is ok b/c I'm able to pick up tofu with it. Oh yea, my firend's mom said that it's more polite to grab it from the side? I don't know.. I thought they only do that with sushi!

How do YOU hold chopstick? I'm like that kinda person who thinks.. as long as it works, then it's ok. I'm also the one who eats chicken tenders with my hands while my friends are eating it with forks I feel lowly.. lol

[rapunzel283]

I've been told constantly by my parents that I hold my chopsticks wrong. I hold them like a pen. Admittedly, its not the "traditional" way to hold them - but goddamnit I get the food in my mouth!

But when I ask what's the correct way, they both show me two different ways of holding them.

I don't know if there's truly a right way... there's probably quite a few "correct" ways of holding chopsticks, but I think its more the way it looks.

Maybe if we follow the directions on the chopstick packets at restaurants, that's the right way.

But then, I could be talking crap. Who knows. IMO as long as you can use them for getting food and putting it in your mouth, GOOD FOR YOU.

Random - I wonder why they're called "chopsticks"?.... *goes to Google*

edit

Just thought I'd add - most of the people I know in my generation [mostly Australian born Asians], they hold chopsticks like me.

[Classic Example]

I hold mine like a pen too. My mom says the right way to do it is to hold it like a pen but put the ring finger on the bottom chopstick and stick your pinky to your ring finger too. Sorry if that's kind of confusing, but I guess it's different for everyone

[sosays i]

how is this supposed to be explain this online? lol.
i guess...where the end is together while the top is apart.

that was a bad explanation.
like, where it's like you're holding a tall, upside triangle...

[alicimoo]

I hold it wrong. I dont put the chopstick between the hole that my fingers form. My thumb touches both chopsticks, it's reaaally hard to explain. xD

Proper way to hold:

[chubzzy]

^ yea i hold like that, but just higher up hehe...

i heard people say that the higher up u hold ur chopsticks, the later u'll get married. i wonder how true that is.

[EMA]

i hold them like in that picture . i learnt to use chopsticks in the second grade , from my friend , and since then i've been fine using them (i'm from a non-asian family) . i went to japan last year , and even older people said i held chopsticks well . hahah it's one of few things i'm proud of my abilities in - holding chopsticks . what a champion .

[xmoogle]

I hold them the same way my parents hold them. The traditional way.

[kimchibabygurl]

when you hold the chopsticks..it must be sort of parallel..there mush be a gap between two sticks. quite difficult to explain..but for sure i hold it the correct way..

[SwtMsT]

I stick the first one in that nook between my thumb and pointer and rest it against my middle finger so it doesn't move. Then I squeeze the other one with my pointer and thumb.
My friends Korean Grandma taught me how to hold it b/c she saw me struggling . My friends say I hold it too close to the bottom, which is sorta true, but otherwise I feel like I'm gonna lose my food!

[sj22]

i dont even remember how i hold it...

[_obsession]

i hold it like that..

[pgirl]

^--i hold like that too but sometimes i use my middle finger instead, dunno why

[angelzstar]

I hold it wrong. I dont put the chopstick between the hole that my fingers form. My thumb touches both chopsticks, it's reaaally hard to explain. xD

Proper way to hold:

I hold it like that. I used to hold it the "improper way" where I hold the two chopsticks together tightly.... but my dad.....oh gosh, he yelled at me for holding the wrong way and he placed a SINGLE rice on the table, and made me pick it up with the proper way. And that was how i learned to hold it the proper way.

[made in cHiNa]

i hold it totally wrong!!

my sticks cross..haha

[Tranberry]

I hold my chopsticks like the picture somebody posted above, so I guess I hold them right.

[lazibratt]

I guess my friend and I both hold it wront -__- I'm going to try to hold it like the picture from now on lol

[MUXU]

my mom is the only one that can hold it the right way...XD
i hold it wrong
but i think what u said is right

[inocupcake]

I think I hold it wrong because I hold it like a pen. Nobody really "taught" me... my parents tried to teach me, but hey, even though it crosses everytime I pick up something, it works!

[vondunker]

i think its this way:

hold the chopstick the normal way and i often put my index or middle finger in between. so the chopsticks DOESNT CROSS each other when u open them to pick something.

i heard if your chopsticks cross each other (the upper part), it means the way u aree holding it is wrong.