The Safety Pea Knife

I've know of the poem since I was a wee tike, I've even, just for the fun of it, tried to eat my peas with a knife, but I've NO IDEA why this is a thing.

Yes, I knew about this too. I also don't get why it was such a big deal when...spoons!

That is also the question I have-why are you eating peas with a knife in the first place? I learned to eat them with a fork, balancing them on a knife seems like a lot of effort! Can anyone think of any other foods eaten this way?

I have this memory of there being a Dudley Doo-Right cartoon centuries ago where, in order to go under-cover, Dudley had to get fired from the Mounties, and the thing he did to justify it was eating peas with his knife.

I always assumed it was just an out-of-nowhere joke. This knife has me wondering if eating peas with a knife was, like, some kind of old-timey cliche?

I read somewhere that if you are at a formal dinner with the Queen of England, don't stare, just watch out of the corner of your eye which spoon or fork she is using. And if you steal some silverware, don't do it from your own place setting.

You found an article on how to steal silverware from the Queen of England? What kind of magazines do you read?? 😉

I realize I'm strange, but I've always eaten peas with my fork -- they fit perfectly on the gaps between the tines.

@Patty -- I once subscribed to a writer's magazine (long since defunct) which had as a monthly feature a list of suggestions for mystery/detective writers on little 'tricks of the trade' which criminals commonly employed. It was meant to let writers present their characters' actions more realistically, but it was also a wealth of illicit information for a budding young mind.

Ah, I see, so you are a master criminal who does not practice his art.

My mom hated it when I peed on my knife.

Ah well, you're all wrong, and so was Rotary. It's not a Safety Knife for eating Peas, it's a Knife for eating Safety Peas! Now all we have to do is figure out what those are...