Was having a discussion with a coworker and wondering what a lazy susan really is. From the few pictures that I browsed, it appears that a lazy susan in the West is used primarily for condiments.
But when you’re sitting down at a large round table for a traditional Chinese meal and there’s that thing that rotates the food in the middle, would you call that a lazy susan as well?
Yes, the Chinese one is a lazy Susan.
But in using it, there’s a different etiquette here than in the West. In Chinese society it’s gradually turned clockwise, allowing each person a turn to get food from it, rather than in the West, in which the user just turns it quickly at any time to get food/condiments for himself.
That sounds right to me.
Here is some other info. One of our internet peers has thrown out the idea that Thomas Jefferson invented the lazy susan.
answers.yahoo.com/question/index … 041AA2zGRH
I wonder how long it’s been around in Chinese society.
I’ve always thought that Susan should be pretty pissed off having that thing named after her.
It’s for when you host a circle jerk but you only have one copy of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
The Chinese one should be called a lazy Suchen.
Is it for a naked Susan with wasabi in her naval while eating a sashimi and sushi dinner?
Usually waiters are too dumb to know what to with a Susan lying on the table.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]Is it for a naked Susan with wasabi in her naval while eating a sashimi and sushi dinner?
[/quote]
Maybe Jefferson invented it for eating Sally Hemmings.
So we can avoid the dreaded boarding-house reach
Really? I never knew that. I’ve been to quite a few wedding banquets here and have always turned the thing either clockwise or counter clockwise, depending on which direction would get the food to me faster. Didn’t know I committed a paux pas by turning it counter clockwise. Or is this a Chinese, i.e., China, table manner?
The locals I hang out with, i.e. the in-laws, spin it clockwise, anti-clockwise, any wise. The path of least resistance so to speak. Sometimes one has to move fast. DaGe has a voracious appetite.
If I touch her, everyone else let go of her … I spin her every way I want …
Isn’t ‘Lazy Susan’ a doll … like a sex toy?
Really? I never knew that. I’ve been to quite a few wedding banquets here and have always turned the thing either clockwise or counter clockwise, depending on which direction would get the food to me faster. Didn’t know I committed a paux pas by turning it counter clockwise. Or is this a Chinese, i.e., China, table manner?[/quote]
Actually, I think this is true. I was at a big lunch after a golf outing last month and now that I think of it, it’s was spun clockwise and everyone just took a little bit.
[quote=“whitetiger”]This is also a lazy susan
organizeit.com/images/cornerturntable.jpg[/quote]
People are throwing around this “lazy susan” term like… like…
Well I don’t know but we’ve certainly got to draw the line somewhere!
[quote=“whitetiger”]This is also a lazy susan
http://www.organizeit.com/images/cornerturntable.jpg[/quote]
That’s how I originally know the Lazy Susan; real popular in the mid-1900s cornbelt of the USA.
But Lazy Susans kick ass. I use one under my laptop, TV, on the kitchen table…
Where did you get yours?
Really? I never knew that. I’ve been to quite a few wedding banquets here and have always turned the thing either clockwise or counter clockwise, depending on which direction would get the food to me faster. Didn’t know I committed a paux pas by turning it counter clockwise. Or is this a Chinese, i.e., China, table manner?[/quote]
I’ve never heard of any protocol as to the turning direction. The only manners I know of regarding the lazy susan in Chinese meals (ideally) is the turner should turn the dish on the lazy susan to the most honored guest on that table and then turn it around (preferably to the next most honored guest) while skipping himself until last. Honored guests could mean the eldest, the women, the guest of honor, etc.
Far more often than not (perhaps 90% of the time), I see it rotated in the clockwise direction.
