h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Everywhere I've been in China kind people have fished the special titbits out of the main bowl and transferred them to mine with _their_ chopsticks. Great custom, except when the delicacy is sinews or sea slugs. How do you transfer stuff without your sticks? Obviously you're not using your hands. Also, sometimes people transfer stuff directly to my mouth, which used to be _very_ messy before I got adept at removing the food without sucking the chopstick.Always carry a spoon when travelling in the Far East, I say [or possibly a spork? see posts elsewhere)

I think you are referring to the spot in the Entry where it says, "Never ... use them to pass food from one person to another". This is referring to the practice of moving food from one set of chopsticks directly to another set of chopsticks, as this is how bones are handled in funeral rites. From Chopstick to plate is OK, but Chopstick to Chopstick is just wrong. Another note on Chopstick ettiquitte, in Japanese tradition when passing food, or getting food from a "community plate" (that is, a serving plate) one should use the reverse end (the part that does NOT go in your mouth) of the chopsticks to handle the food.

Thank you.
(also I've just used this article as the basis for a remedial speaking lesson. It went very well.More thanx)

Remedial speaking? Is this one of your classes you are teaching in Hong Kong? I hope my response wasn't used as a poor example of how to communicate!

Yes and no (Yes,it's one of the courses and no,you didn't feature) See my journal post if you're interested.