# Question about chopsticks



## baking fool (Feb 23, 2008)

When people break apart some disposable chopsticks, WHY ON EARTH do they rub them together?! I use disposable chopsticks a lot & not once have I ever felt the need to do that.


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## Maverick2272 (Feb 23, 2008)

Sometimes when you break them apart, they do so unevenly. Those uneven parts can rub against your skin and be irritating.
That being said, I have never rubbed them together either.


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## Katie H (Feb 23, 2008)

Never heard of or seen the "rubbing together" of disposable chopsticks.  But the reason does make some sense.

Although I just recently learned that proper etiquette for eating communally is that you should use the non-eating end of your chopsticks to remove food from the communal dish/plate/bowl.  Makes sense to me.


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## kitchenelf (Feb 23, 2008)

They rub them together to "rub away" any splinters.  Splinters are seen in inferior chopsticks - so when you do that you are telling the sushi chef and those around that you think they have inferior chopsticks - it's NOT a good thing to do.  Actually, it's considered extremely rude.


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## TATTRAT (Feb 23, 2008)

I am trying to start a table side fire.


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## kitchenelf (Feb 23, 2008)

TATTRAT said:


> I am trying to start a table side fire.



LOL - to heat your eel?


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## Maverick2272 (Feb 23, 2008)

Maybe he is at one of those new fangled 'eat in the dark' restaurants?


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## buckytom (Feb 23, 2008)

if you want to get rid of the splinters, just stick them into the rice bowl when you're not using them...


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## Maverick2272 (Feb 23, 2008)

They are attached at the top, so the only reason I can think of that you would get splinters is if you did as Katie said and turned them around to pick up food from the communal bowl. Then you would be using the end that could have splinters in it. I have never done this, so no problems here!

And if rubbing the splinters off is rude, then wouldn't that be along the same lines as returning a dirty fork? If they serve ones that get splinters, then they deserve to get pointed out for how cheap they are, LOL.


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## GB (Feb 23, 2008)

Kitchenelf hit the nail on the head. It is not a polite thing to do.


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## Maverick2272 (Feb 23, 2008)

I think its more impolite to make people use a cheap and splintery tool

Kinda like saying it would be rude to point out that your fork given to you was dirty, so just smile and use it...


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## GB (Feb 23, 2008)

Well to go along with your analogy, Maverick, there are polite ways and impolite ways of going about something. If you were having dinner at your friends house and they gave you a dirty fork I am sure you have more manners then to wave it around saying "this is dirty". Rubbing chopsticks together is akin to doing that. If someone is worried about splinters then they can discretely remove the splintered pieces instead of making a show of rubbing the sticks together for all to see.


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## Maverick2272 (Feb 23, 2008)

Um, er, yea I have more manners than to do that...

I get what you are saying, makes sense, but you have to admit it just serves to give me more ammo for when I got to MILs house!


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## GB (Feb 23, 2008)

LOL


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## LadyCook61 (Feb 23, 2008)

I've never done that.


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## GrillingFool (Feb 23, 2008)

I have to admit that I am simply astounded that rubbing chopsticks together
is considered rude.

May I ask where? Is it rude in the local $9.99 all you can eat "chinese" buffet,
or just in the multi-dollars a piece sushi restaurant, or at a dinner party or where?

I guess I am just a low class uneducated dilettante, because I have never heard of
this, and can't really wrap my mind around WHERE it would be considered rude.

LOL, I always considered it something like rubbing my hands together in anticipation of
good eats!


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## buckytom (Feb 23, 2008)

this whole arguement is somewhat silly to me.

i've eaten sushi and chinese and every other type of food that is served with chopsticks, and of all of the bamboo chopsticks that i've been given, literally thousands of times, not one has been splintered in a way that i felt a need to rub them together. maybe once i saw a long strand that was easily pulled off.
i think people do it habitually or unconsciously because they've got the "splinter" fear in their head.


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## kitchenelf (Feb 24, 2008)

GrillingFool said:


> I have to admit that I am simply astounded that rubbing chopsticks together
> is considered rude.
> 
> May I ask where? Is it rude in the local $9.99 all you can eat "chinese" buffet,
> ...



It's a fact, nothing I made up.  Just because you don't know something how does that make you a low class uneducated dilettante?  It is rude anywhere chopsticks are used - Japan for one.  I learn something new on here almost daily.  I don't think badly of myself for not having known something previously.

Also, it's not the ends that you break apart that get rubbed together, it's the ends that you eat off of.  The friction supposedly rubs any splinters off.  You are pointing out, publicly, that the owner is a cheapskate.  This was probably more common back when chopsticks were of a lower grade also.  These days most chopsticks are of a better quality.


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## ChadHahn (Feb 24, 2008)

And to think that I thought it was done because that's what Harrison Ford did at the noodle counter in the beginning of Blade Runner

Chad

P.S. This is my first post, long time lurker, first time poster


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## Bilby (Feb 24, 2008)

Welcome to DC, Chad!!!  Blade Runner is casting your mind back a bit! Or is that one of your favourites?


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## expatgirl (Feb 24, 2008)

We eat at more Asian restaurants local and abroad ( mostly cheap ones, I might add, as well as upscale) and I have never seen anyone rub chopsticks together after breaking them apart--


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## ChadHahn (Feb 24, 2008)

Bilby said:


> Welcome to DC, Chad!!!  Blade Runner is casting your mind back a bit! Or is that one of your favourites?



I just happened to watch the movie the other night and noticed the chopstick rubbing and was wondering about it.  I haven't seen anyone else do it.  

I really enjoy Blade Runner although it is a flawed movie.

Chad


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## Bilby (Feb 25, 2008)

Haven't seen Blade Runner for eons! Think I was a teenager and I 'drifted' a few times in it so lost the plot.  Haven't been able to concentrate on it since. Will have to give it another whirl one day and hunt down the chopstick rubbing scene!!


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## ChadHahn (Feb 25, 2008)

I've seen the movie about ten times over the years, starting with at the theater when I was in H.S.  I really like the look of the movie.

You can't miss the chopstick scene, it is the first scene with Harrison Ford and well worth the price of renting. 

Chad


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## Maverick2272 (Feb 25, 2008)

What an amazing turn this thread has taken, LOL. I have seen the movie several times as well. But maybe I should re-watch it and see if he was actually 'making' a statement by doing that...


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## plumies (Feb 25, 2008)

Kitchenelf is correct that rubbing chopsticks together is not proper etiquette in any type of establishment.  But I see it all the time.  I tell friends that if they happen to get a very splintery one, and they feel compelled to rub, do so discreetly under the table, and careful not to start a fire.


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## LadyCook61 (Feb 25, 2008)

ChadHahn said:


> And to think that I thought it was done because that's what Harrison Ford did at the noodle counter in the beginning of Blade Runner
> 
> Chad
> 
> P.S. This is my first post, long time lurker, first time poster


 welcome to DC, Chad.


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## ChadHahn (Feb 25, 2008)

Maverick2272 said:


> What an amazing turn this thread has taken, LOL. I have seen the movie several times as well. But maybe I should re-watch it and see if he was actually 'making' a statement by doing that...



It's hard to say.  He tried to get 4 dumplings and some noodles and the guy would only sell him 2.  He sat down and broke apart his chopsticks and started rubbing them together.  I don't know if it was to get rid of splinters or to thumb his nose at the proprietor.

Chad


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## QSis (Feb 25, 2008)

Could be ignorance, or maybe it's behavior based on old info the person has.  Like waving an instant Polaroid photo in the air (unnecessary and actually bad for the photo) and like shaking a can of spray paint for 15 minutes while walking around the store (unnecessary and REALLY annoying).

Lee


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## GrillingFool (Feb 25, 2008)

ah, after a bit of research I understand.
It is rude in JAPAN.

Gotcha.


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## mikegeorge (Apr 18, 2008)

*Here is the real story*

From Chef Gaku Homma of Domo Restaurant in Denver.
domorestaurant dot com/qanda.html


Q. Am I supposed to rub my chopsticks together before my meal?

A. Some think that rubbing your chopsticks together before a meal is a Japanese custom meant to remove splinters. In fact, rubbing chopsticks together can encourage more splinters than it actually takes off! This ritual originates from an early Charlie Chaplin movie that was popular in Japan before WWII. In this movie, Charlie Chaplin rubs his knife and fork together as a gesture of culinary anticipation. The Japanese people who were fans of the movie at the time, mimicked this action with their chopsticks. After WWII, American GIs returning from Japan brought this American born custom home again! In Japan today it is not a commonly practiced custom.


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## Calya (Apr 18, 2008)

The first time I used disposable chopsticks, I was told to rub them together, so it became habit. A habit which I have since dropped. I see people rubbing their disposable chopsticks together all the time.  I think if you eat at an Asian restaurant they should just give you real chopsticks! =)


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