How to identify the country your fellow diners come from, France, the USA, The UK

 I sat in a restaurant in France, listening to the people at the next table, and looking around the room at other diners.

French Diners & Cutlery

The French were totally at ease, hardly looking at the food or bottles of wine. Locals. Regular diners at that restaurant.

They mop up the gravy with bits torn off their bread rolls.

The French lay their knives and forks diagonally when they finish eating.

I could tell the french by the shapes of their mouths, and they way they shrugged as they talked. Even if you cannot hear the words, the last syllable is emphasized and goes up, along with the shoulders, or a nod.

American Diners and Cutlery

A couple in the distance were not clear. English tourists. No. I could not hear English. Slight American accent? A Frenchman who had learned English with an American accent, talking to an American girlfriend? I was puzzling. Until I noticed the cutlery. They were eating with forks in their right hands, nothing in their left hands. Definitely American.

American travellers are confident. They often talk loudly.

Italians and Hands

The Italians had laid down their cutlery. They were tlaking with both hands. Both hands in the air.

Chinese and Chopsticks

In a chinese restaurant, we could identify the Chinese. They were eating with chopsticks. Tourists were eating with knives and forks, or struggling with the fork and spoon which managemnt offered, until asked for a knife.

Finally, the British

We put our knives and forks together, paralell,  in the six o'clock position. Arms off the table.

Japanese

Japanese women cover their mouths when they laugh. They politely hide the teeth, their gold fillings. Their intonation is monotone, all syllables have the same weight.

For example, the town Hi-ro-shi-ma. It sounds like four separate words,