why do you raise your pinky when drinking tea?
Robert Spencer 
Is it supposed to show you're high class?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 20 | December 12, 2018 6:15 PM |
We don't. It's considered bad manners.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | December 12, 2018 1:24 PM |
It is to signal you're a whore, darling.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | December 12, 2018 1:28 PM |
It's a warning to uncouth Americans to keep their distance or have an eyeball scooped out.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | December 12, 2018 1:30 PM |
I lift my pinkie when I drink champagne. It's involuntary.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | December 12, 2018 1:38 PM |
Is it pink champagne?
Speaking of involuntary, there was a witty bit in the original La Cage aux Folles when Zsa Zia lifts her pinkie.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | December 12, 2018 1:40 PM |
I do. It impresses everyone because they think I'm English and well mannered. Many have commented on it. But I don't do it with coffee mugs. Those I cradle.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | December 12, 2018 2:13 PM |
Wait, I thought that was a gay mannerism rather than a British mannerism. Or, did you mean gay Brits?
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | December 12, 2018 2:15 PM |
Actually, if you are drinking from a teacup it is almost more comfortable to leave your little finger straight as the handle does not accommodate four fingers easily. Nothing to do with etiquette or anything like that.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 12, 2018 2:22 PM |
Hetero Male Brits do that too?
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | December 12, 2018 2:23 PM |
Sticking the pinkie straight out is also a sophisticated alternative. It shows you're a man of the world whose company is sought out by the world's elites.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | December 12, 2018 2:28 PM |
Only your accent, background and education define your class, not you manners.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | December 12, 2018 3:43 PM |
Me eat with my hands and lick up tea out of a dog dish.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | December 12, 2018 4:24 PM |
It has to do with the muscles in your hands and the inter-connectiveness with muscles in the forearm. It's involuntary for the most part and it's not just when you lift a teacup.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | December 12, 2018 4:42 PM |
I hate this affected mannerism. It is never appropriate and feels as awkward as it looks, for a reason.
This “rule” is intended to teach children not to grasp a cup or glass as if to [italic] cradle it. [/italic] (Sound familiar?) It is meant to teach a [italic] child [/italic] to leave their pinkie floating just off-of the surface of the object, a glass for example. You aren’t supposed to hurt yourself, sprain your pinkie, or for God’s sake, draw attention to yourself, by the way you hold a glass.
Nobody looks sophisticated by ostentatious pinkie placement. It makes you look like a trashy moron who was poorly educated and is desperately trying to hide your ignorance and bad manners and assert a perverted sense of superiority.
I once knew someone who did this and it apparently became a habit he couldn’t stop. I imagine that today he has a collection of silk cravats and jewelry. Perhaps a top hat.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | December 12, 2018 4:59 PM |
I just remembered, I used to refer to him, in my head anyway, as “French cuffs”, because all his shirts had them and he made sure I knew it.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | December 12, 2018 5:02 PM |
R16 sprain your pinkie haha
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | December 12, 2018 5:16 PM |
It’s for balance when sipping from delicate China. The model in OP’s photo is holding the teacup all wrong!
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | December 12, 2018 5:22 PM |
Oh, Lord, I just noticed the guy in the picture in the OP is wearing French cuffs.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | December 12, 2018 6:15 PM |
