useful things learned at tonight's etiquette dinner:

1. The blade of the knife is turned inwards (towards the plate) so that you would have to flip it over if you wanted to slit the throat of the person to your right, giving him time to react and defend himself.

2. The fork, however, is still easily accessible for use in assassinations.

3. In Continental-style dining, the tines of the fork are turned upside down when the fork is resting on your plate so that you could not grab the head of the person to your right and slam it down on his plate, thereby impaling him on the tines.*

*This is probably not the reason the tines are turned upside down, but it is a valid point.