It's certainly not unknown in France either. It may be a clbutt thing, as you suggest, but I don't think so, rather a sort of education: I'd buttociate it with the little knife-holders some people use. They're seen as higher clbutt and possibly pretentious, while on the contrary it's a cheap and efficient way of not getting the tablecloth dirty. I know we did it at home, perhaps because of my parents' education, but also certainly because if you have seven people around the table you'd end up washing the cloth after every meal if you didn't.
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As for swapping cutlery, I'm trying to think of my rules for doing it. I think I'd have the fork in the right hand to hold the meat still while the knife in the left one cuts it, for instance. When there are several small bits, I'd swap so the knife in the left hand would push the food onto the fork in the right hand, which would then easily lift it up to my mouth. It makes sense when you're right-handed and trying to scoop something up from your plate, because it's a heap of small pieces or if you want to catch a little sauce with the food, a bit like using a spoon.
A teacher used this example to illustrate cultural differences: we started at our puzzlement at seeing Asians use chopsticks so expertly, including several uses for which we'd use different sets of cutlery, and he replied they were equally puzzled at seeing the way we play with our knife and fork. Come to think of it, it takes a baby and then a child years to use them more or less properly - and with some adults you hope they'll keep practising.
Is it really never done in the UK?
Greg --
That time's long past, but what would I not give To see the whorehouse where we used to live. No spam: ficus = no(n)
