Table Manners: What You Need to Know
Follow these four simple etiquette tips at your next dinner party.
By Tara Conry from Reader's Digest | July 2009
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1. The bread plate is the one on the left (though on a crowded table, the bread plate on the right may look closer).
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2. The wine and water glasses are on the right.
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3. How to remember this Make an "okay" sign with both hands by touching the tip of each thumb to the tip of your forefinger. Your left hand will form a lowercase b (for bread), and your right will form a d (for drinks). Or remember the acronym BMW: bread, meal, water/wine.
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4. Worst-case scenario If a dinner companion mistakenly uses your bread plate, don’t throw the rest of the table off by commandeering the next nearest one. Discreetly ask the waiter for a new one, or skip the bread.
