At Thanksgiving, having the table set before the guests arrive is something that has always been done in my family. Forks to the left of the plate, with knives and spoons to the right and a glass for water in the right corner diagonal to the plate. Part of the American culture that I’ve been exposed to is the etiquette of placing silverware correctly on the table. My grandmother taught me this when I was younger, explaining that it is a life skill every child should know how to do. This is a result of family of orientation, in which I grew up to learn valuable life skills.

Kenneth J. Guest, Essentials of Cultural Anthropology (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016), Page 255.